By this point, we all know the Miami Dolphins’ start to the 2019 season is bad. That’ll happen when you lose by 49, 43 and 25 points through the first three contests. But here’s the thing — the 2019 Dolphins make bad teams of years past look like playoff contenders. Two teams in NFL history have gone 0-16 — the Detroit Lions in 2008 and the Cleveland Browns in 2017. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers went 0-14 in 1976.
And none of them can hold a candle to the kind of sorry start the Dolphins have put on display. Through three games, the Miami Dolphins have a negative 117 point differential — good for the third worst through three games in NFL history.
The other two? Each season took place within five years of the end of World War I. It’s been a while.
The stat, which ESPN Stats & Info credits as coming courtesy of Elias Sports, is a stunning figure. The Louisville Brecks lost their first three games in 1922 by scores of 38-0, 39-0 and 59-0 and by 1924 they were out of the NFL. The Rochester Jeffersons served as an NFL franchise from 1922-1925, never winning a game during their tenure in the league.
So the last time the NFL has seen teams this glaringly bad in the score sheet, each one was out of the NFL within just a few years.
Thankfully that’s almost impossible to imagine happening with the Dolphins — who instead must hunker down and keep plugging away until this season can mercifully come to a close.
