NFL: 3 worst teams since expansion
There are legendary teams NFL fans can rattle off at the drop of a hat: the 1985 Chicago Bears, the 2007 New England Patriots, the 1972 Miami Dolphins, the 2000 Baltimore Ravens.
These NFL teams are synonymous with excellence and brilliant play over the years. They’re fondly remembered as some of the best units the NFL has ever seen and are often brought back for reunions and jersey retirement ceremonies.
Conversely, there are NFL teams on the other side of the coin who are remembered for their abject failures and inability to do anything right, teams who basically had no chance to compete once the coin toss got over. These NFL rosters were so bereft of talent that top-tier SEC college football teams might have had a chance of taking them down.
Three worst teams in NFL history:
While it’s always exciting to remember the better teams in NFL history, let’s take a look at three of the worst ones since the merger. It won’t be pretty, but it should remind fans that things can always be worse.
Without further ado, let's get started:
#1: 1976 Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Conversations with Buccaneers fans in the past year or so usually take place on cloud nine, so it’s difficult for younger fans to remember that they were once the laughingstock of the NFL for many decades.
In their first 23 years of existence in the NFL, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers only made the playoffs four times. In this period, they won ten or more games in a season only twice.
The worst of their NFL campaigns came in their very first season in the league in 1976. Head coach Rich McKay walked into a situation that was impossible to navigate. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers went 0-14 that season and lost those games by a combined deficit of 287 points.
There weren’t many positives to take away, but McKay kept his sense of humor that year and in the ensuing tumultuous seasons. When asked about his team’s execution that time, he said, “I’m in favor of it.” When asked to summarize games, he used to quip: “We didn’t tackle well today, but we made up for it by not blocking.”
#2: 2008 Detroit Lions
It took a little while for a team to go winless in an NFL season, but in the 2008 edition of the competition, another team emulated the 1976 Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Detroit Lions had a brutal NFL campaign that season, but unlike the Buccaneers’ depressing campaign, the Lions' season could not be so easily forgiven.
The Detroit Lions had taken a couple of blue-chip prospects at wide receiver high in the NFL draft, making their -249 point differential that season a little difficult to fathom.
Roy Williams and Calvin Johnson were prototypical physical specimens at the position, and while Johnson went on to have a stellar career, their presence did not make much of a difference. The Detroit Lions' season was summed up by an embarrassing play by QB Dan Orlovsky, who is now prominently featured on ESPN’s NFL coverage.
#3: 2017 Cleveland Browns
Unlike the first two teams in this list, the 2017 Cleveland Browns didn’t have their doors completely blown off. They lost four games by three points each and fell in their final game of the season by four points. So they were in quite a few games, but they matched the 2008 Detroit Lions’ record for futility at 0-16.
While their struggles were shared among a few quarterbacks that tumultuous season, one signal caller absorbed the brunt of the impact in Cleveland in 2017.
Rookie DeShone Kizer was given the keys to the offense by head coach Hue Jackson, but he was clearly not ready for primetime. The team went 0-15 in games Kizer started, with the player finishing the year with 22 interceptions and only 11 touchdowns.
It was a season to forget, but the Browns drafted Baker Mayfield in the subsequent NFL draft, a move that would pay rich dividends almost a decade later.