There is bad and then there is awful. Here are 28 teams that fit the latter category.
1966 New York Giants
The New York Giants started the season with a tie against the Pittsburgh Steelers, 34-34, and it went downhill. The only victory came, 13-10, when the Giants downed the Redskins after falling behind 10-0. Earl Morrall found Aaron Thomas for a 29-yard TD pass in the fourth quarter. The Giants were outscored by 17 ppg. They allowed opponents 1,000 more yards in offense while running three more plays.
1967 Atlanta Falcons
The Falcons came within one point of a winless season. They defeated the Vikings to up their record to 1-5-1 when Tommy Nobis intercepted a pass and returned it 41 yards for a TD to make it 21-13 in a 21-20 victory over the Vikings. Overall, Atlanta went 1-12-1 and its point differential was a minus-247.
1969 Steelers and Bears
The Pittsburgh Steelers and Chicago Bears each went 1-13. Pittsburgh actually won its first game, 16-13, when Warren Bankston scored on a 6-yard run in the fourth quarter against the Detroit Lions. That was it for the “W” column. Along the way, the Steelers managed to help the Bears ruin their imperfect season, falling to Chicago 38-7, at Wrigley Field. The Steelers somehow fell behind a team that was 1-7 38-0. Chicago that day opened the scoring with a TD by the late Brian Piccolo.
1971 Buffalo Bills
The Buffalo Bills defeated the New England Patriots, 27-20, after coming into the game with an 0-10 record. Wayne Patrick was the leading rusher with 76 yards for the Bills. The second-leading rusher, who scored on a 7-yard run in the fourth quarter, O. J. Simpson with 61 yards on 14 carries.
1973 Houston Oilers
Fred Willis caught a 13-yard TD pass from Lynn Dickey in the fourth quarter to give an 0-7 Oilers team a 31-27 victory over the Baltimore Colts. The Oilers finished the season with another six straight losses and were 1-13. The Oilers were a minus-248 on the season in point differential. Dan Pastorini made 10 starts and lost them all, of course.
1976 Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Welcome to the NFL. You wanted an expansion franchise, Tampa Bay, you got one. And it learned the start is rough, going 0-14. By the way, when checking the standings you will find the Buccaneers at the bottom … of the AFC West. Their quarterback was Heisman winner Steve Spurrier, who went 0-12 as a starter. The closest Tampa Bay came to victory was back-to-back three-point losses in weeks six and seven …
1976 Seattle Seahawks
… One of the teams that beat the Bucs by only three points was the Seattle Seahawk team that finished 2-12. The Seahawks, also an expansion team, were outscored by 200 points. In addition to beating the Bucs, the Seahawks topped the Atlanta Falcons, 30-13.
1980 New Orleans Saints
All that separated the Saints from an 0-16 season was a 21-20 road victory over the New York Jets at Shea Stadium. Tony Galbreath scored on two 1-yard TD runs in the fourth quarter, the second tying the game at 20-20 and Benny Ricardo hit the PAT for the victory. The Saints were outscored by 196 points and outgained by 1,200 yards. Archie Manning started all 16 games.
1981 Baltimore Colts
Both the Baltimore Colts and New England Patriots were 2-14. However, the Colts earn this spot by finishing with a point differential of, minus-274. They also allowed almost 1,900 more yards than they gained. Their lone victories came at the expense of the Patriots by a combined total of three points to open and close the season. Sandwiched was a 14-game losing streak.
1982 Baltimore Colts
The Colts obviously wanted to prove the year before was no fluke as they went winless with a tie in the strike-shortened 1982 season. That’s 0-8-1. Opponents scored 123 more points than Baltimore. The lone tie came when the Colts somehow erased a 20-6 deficit in the fourth quarter against Green Bay on a Mike Pagel TD pass and Randy McMillan 1-yard run.
1986 Tampa Bay Bucs
Tampa Bay makes another appearance thanks to a minus-234 point differential in a 2-14 season. The Bucs beat the Lions and Bills, who combined for nine victories. The starting quarterback in 14 of the games, 12 losses, was Steve Young, who went on to find considerably more success in San Francisco.
1989 Dallas Cowboys
Jimmy Johnson and Dallas got off to a 1-15 start and were outscored by 189 points. Troy Aikman took the brunt of it in his rookie season, losing all 11 of his starts. Former Miami star Steve Walsh led the team to its only victory, a 13-3 victory over Washington.
1990 New England Patriots
Jason Staurovsky accounted for 10 points on three field goals and a PAT as the Patriots defeated the Colts, 16-14, in the second week of the season. This was a far cry from the Colts-Patriots rivalry games but it did give New England its lone win of the season. The Pats were outscored by 265 points. Marc Wilson and Tom Hodgson each went 0-6 as a starter. The only QB to grab a “W” was Steve Grogan.
1991 Indianapolis Colts
The Colts came into Giants Stadium 0-9. The Jets were 5-4. So, of course, the Colts found a way to win their lone game of the season, 28-27. Indianapolis scored 21 points in the third quarter, two of the TDs on Jeff George passes, and held off Gang Green, which managed two short Pat Leahy field goals in the final 15 minutes. George started all 16 games for Indy in the dreadful run.
1996 New York Jets
The lone Jets victory of the season came on the road, at Arizona, as they built a 17-0 lead and staved off the Cardinals. The winning quarterback was Frank Reich, who went 22-of-31 for 254 yards and a TD. Overall on the season, the Jets started three quarterbacks, Reich, Neil O’Donnell and Glenn Foley. They were outscored by 175 points.
2000 Cleveland Browns
No surprise the Cleveland Browns appear multiple times on this list. The second year of the team when reincarnated was worse than the first by point differential (minus-220 to minus-258). Cleveland won two of its first three before falling into a losing pattern and winding up 3-13. The Browns actually started a Super Bowl-winning coach in eight games as Doug Pederson went 1-7 at quarterback.
2000 San Diego Chargers
The Browns had company in the awful department in 2000. The San Diego Chargers went 1-15, only defeating the Kansas City Chiefs after losing 11 in a row to open the season. John Carney hit a 52-yard field goal with 2:14 left to give SD a 17-16 victory. The Chargers were outscored by 171 points. Their quarterbacks were Ryan Leaf (1-8), Jim Harbaugh (0-5) and Moses Moreno (0-2).
2001 Carolina Panthers
The Panthers’ season got off to an incredible start. Steve Smith returned the opening kickoff 93 yards for a touchdown in a victory over the Vikings. And, if the season only ended there. The next 15 games led to 15 losses. Chris Weinke went 1-14 as a starter. Someone named Matt Lytle took the other loss. Carolina was outscored by almost 10 ppg.
2004 San Francisco 49ers
Tim Rattay and Ken Dorsey were a far cry from Joe Montana and Steve Young. That led to a 2-14 season, which saw the Niners win their games by the same score, over the same team, in the same way. Todd Peterson kicked field goals of 32 yards and 31 yards as SF downed Arizona twice, 31-28. Talk about bizarre.
2007 Miami Dolphins
Cam Cameron’s Dolphins went 1-15. It took a trio of quarterbacks Cleo Lemon, Trent Green and John Beck to build to that mark. Lemon was the only one to get a victory, in overtime no less. With Miami 1-13, Lemon found Greg Camarillo for a 64-yard score against the Baltimore Ravens. Miami was a minus-170 for point differential on the season.
2008 Detroit Lions
Arguably the worst non-expansion team in history. The Lions went 0-16. And they did it in a definitive style. They were outscored by 249 points, which is better than 15 ppg. Rod Marinelli went through Dan Orlovsky, Jon Kitna and Daunte Culpepper at QB. They had four — 4! — interceptions on the entire lost season.
2009 St. Louis Rams
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Talk about bad. How about a team that went 1-15 and it lone win was against the Detroit Lions that were 0-16 the previous season. The Lions came into the game 1-5 and left with another “L.” The Rams went on to lose eight in a row to finish the season. Another trio of quarterbacks took the beating: Marc Bulger, Kyle Boller and someone named Keith Null.
2010 Carolina Panthers
John Fox and the Panthers went 2-14. Another trifecta of losing quarterbacks saw Jimmy Clausen, Matt Moore and Brian St. Pierre take 50 sacks. The victories came against San Francisco and Arizona, teams that also could not find their ways to the winner’s circle.
2011 St. Louis Rams
Former Giants defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo did not have much success in St. Louis. The Rams went 2-14 in 2011 and were last in offense averaging 12.3 ppg. Sam Bradford, A.J. Feeley and Kellen Clemens were the unfortunate quarterbacks. The highlight had to be Steven Jackson, who rushed for 1,145 yards.
2012 Kansas City Chiefs
Matt Cassel and Brady Quinn each went 1-7 as the Chiefs finished 2-14 under Romeo Crennel. They were outscored by 214 points on the season. One victory came against a Saints team that fell to 0-3 with its overtime loss and the other was against a 3-8 Panthers team. Perhaps the most stunning stat is Kansas City threw 8 TD passes all season, which is about two good weeks for Patrick Mahomes.
2016 Cleveland Browns
Hue Jackson, I = 1-15.
2017 Cleveland Browns
Hue Jackson, II = 0-16.
