The 25 worst NFL groups from the fashionable period

Roster-wise, this staff doesn’t belong right here. The Chiefs despatched six gamers to the 2012 Professional Bowl, together with Jamaal Charles and Justin Houston. And the 2013 Chiefs, outfitted with the newly arrived Andy Reid-Alex Smith duo, completed 11-5 and commenced the ascent that launched them to the NFL mountaintop. However Kansas Metropolis’s Scott Pioli- Romeo Crennel energy construction ran a semi-talented 2012 staff into the bottom. The Chiefs completed 2-14 and had been outscored by a franchise-record 214 factors. Matt Cassel and Brady Quinn mixed for eight TD passes. 

The Dolphins (1-15) required an extra time walk-off landing to keep away from stealing the 2008 Lions’ thunder. The Nick Saban-era Dolphins whiffed badly at quarterback, botching a Drew Brees pursuit and signing Daunte Culpepper. The ’07 staff barely tried; the outcome mirrored it. A second ugly-looking Trent Inexperienced concussion left Cleo Lemon and John Beck on the helm. The Dolphins ended up dropping to the Culpepper-led Raiders when the ex-Viking totaled 75 passing yards and two INTs. Corridor of Famer Jason Taylor’s 11 sacks had been irrelevant in Cam Cameron’s one-and-done season. The Tony Sparano-Chad Pennington pair had Miami within the 2008 playoffs.

Struggles with non-Patriots franchises displayed Josh McDaniels‘ bigger-picture points; this season is his greatest manufacturing black mark. The one-and-done Rams offensive coordinator oversaw a unit that threw 9 TD passes. This occurred regardless of 2010 Offensive Rookie of the Yr Sam Bradford beginning 10 video games. This Rams version (2-14) was not even the worst of Steve Spagnuolo‘s three St. Louis squads, but it surely ranked final in scoring (two 20-point video games all 12 months) and twenty sixth defensively. Steven Jackson someway nonetheless rushed for 1,145 yards. Jeff Fisher, jokes and all, elevated the Rams from this disastrous place starting in 2012.

Due to a stunningly unhealthy Rams exhibiting in Week 15, the Jets averted an 0-16 season. However they had been nonetheless outscored by 214 factors. The commerce of Jamal Adams and C.J. Mosley’s opt-out wounded the Jets protection, and Yr 2 of the Adam Gase-Sam Darnold pairing tanked former No. 3 choose’s inventory. Gregg Williams’ stupefying all-out blitz name price the Jets a win over the Raiders, resulting in the DC’s instant ouster. The Jets’ upset win in L.A. then price the franchise Trevor Lawrence, however of their protection, it’s uncommon for a staff to win two video games and never maintain the next 12 months’s No. 1 choose. The miss haunted the Jets shortly, as their Zach Wilson funding produced mega-bust standing.

These Jaguars reached three wins, however they earned one other No. 1 total choose after a worse season than their 1-15 2020 providing. At the same time as this squad rostered Trevor Lawrence, City Meyer’s presence stunted the prospect’s progress. Lasting lower than 11 months as Jaguars czar, the previous nationwide champion was ill-equipped to teach an NFL staff to the purpose it grew to become poisonous. A litany of scandals plagued Meyer, who grew to become the primary rookie HC in 43 years to be fired earlier than season’s finish. Lawrence threw one TD go between Halloween and New Yr’s Day. Even after the Jags fired Meyer, they misplaced 50-10 to the Patriots en path to a minus-204 differential.

These Chargers almost beat the 2008 Lions to the 0-16 punch. The Ryan Leaf-saddled staff wanted a game-winning area purpose to beat a Chiefs staff beginning a backup quarterback (44-year-old Warren Moon) to keep away from an 0-fer. These Bolts rostered Junior Seau and Rodney Harrison and misplaced eight one-score video games, serving to Mike Riley obtain a 3rd season as head coach. However this was the top of the road for Leaf, the 1998 No. 2 total choose who threw 18 INTs in 11 video games. The Chargers minimize him months later and used their No. 1 draft slot to commerce down and purchase LaDainian Tomlinson and Drew Brees. Good got here out of this mess.

Though the Payments had O.J. Simpson and proficient wideouts Haven Moses and Marlin Briscoe, they went 1-13 — the worst file in franchise historical past. An offseason commerce of defensive lineman Ron McDole to Washington brought about a rift between coach John Rauch and proprietor Ralph Wilson, resulting in Rauch’s summer time resignation. Substitute Harvey Johnson, who went 1-10-1 as a Payments interim HC in 1968, didn’t fare nicely. Buffalo ranked final offensively and defensively. Dennis Shaw completed with an 11-26 TD-INT ratio, and Simpson ended a 3rd straight season below 800 dashing yards. Lou Saban’s 1972 return helped lead Buffalo out of this gap.

One of many NFL’s most quietly depressing stretches featured the post-merger period’s second winless season. These Colts went 0-8-1, and whereas they may have gained a sport had a strike not intervened, their minus-123 level differential strikes to minus-246 when extrapolated to a full season. The Colts used Mike Pagel as their starter all through, with No. 4 total choose Artwork Schlichter starting his run as a infamous QB bust. Frank Kush’s first Colts staff was so unappealing it prompted John Elway to deploy his notorious baseball leverage play to keep away from taking part in in Baltimore in 1983. The Colts left for Indianapolis in 1984.

Two Corridor of Famers had been on this staff; it mattered not. Though Warren Sapp was close to the top, the Raider protection rating third in yards allowed prevented this squad from “Worst staff ever” discussions. An unenthused Randy Moss was a non-factor on an offense that scored 10.5 factors per sport — the second-worst determine this century. A floundering teaching search led Al Davis to rehire Artwork Shell, who had not coached in six years. Shell’s offensive coordinator rent, Tom Walsh, had not coached within the NFL since 1994. The Raiders didn’t get better in 2007 when Davis traded Moss to the Patriots and drafted JaMarcus Russell.

The Falcons greenlighting a second Marion Campbell head-coaching stint didn’t work out. Swamp Fox 2.0’s first season unfolded surprisingly. The Falcons (3-12) began 5 quarterbacks however had an All-Professional O-lineman (proper guard Invoice Fralic) and noticed Gerald Riggs additionally make a Hawaii journey. Atlanta ranked final on offense and protection however beat eventual Tremendous Bowl champion Washington per week earlier than the gamers’ strike. The Falcons’ scabs gained a sport; their full-timers went 2-10 and had been outscored by 22 factors per contest. Campbell, whose staff was outscored by 231 factors on the entire, nonetheless lasted two extra seasons.

This veers into an odd place, at the very least in comparison with the “every thing is horrible” style that includes a lot of this checklist. These Patriots beat eventual NFC champion Washington to maneuver their file to 2-1. Then, the rollercoaster malfunctioned. New England (3-11) misplaced its subsequent 9, bottoming out towards Tremendous Bowl VII’s different entrant — a 52-0 loss to the unbeaten Dolphins, main to teach John Mazur’s resignation — and completed the season with a minus-254 level differential. That ranks because the sixth-worst all-time mark. Jim Plunkett completed with an 8-25 TD-INT ratio. The Pats did use this catastrophe to draft Corridor of Fame guard John Hannah.

It took video games towards the growth Buccaneers and the 2-12 Payments to raise these Jets to a not-historically horrendous-looking 3-11. That’s deceiving. New York completed with a franchise-worst (for now) minus-214 differential, and QBs Joe Namath and Richard Todd mixed for seven TD passes and 28 INTs. Lou Holtz lasted 11 video games earlier than leaving for Arkansas, giving Bobby Petrino a transparent blueprint. Holtz composed a combat tune and tried different faculty gimmicks earlier than later admitting the NFL was not for him. This was Namath’s twelfth and last Jets season; the franchise shipped him to the Rams in 1977.

In between the Jake Delhomme and Cam Newton eras, the Panthers went by a tough autumn. Compelled to make use of one-time elite recruit Jimmy Clausen and future QB2 mainstay Matt Moore, Carolina completed with a minus-212 level differential. These Panthers mixed for 9 TD passes and had 4 video games with fewer than 80 passing yards. The Panthers (2-14) completed two video games worse than anybody else that 12 months. A second-round rookie, Clausen was carried out as a starter after this season. And former NFC champion coach John Fox was out after 9 years. This season led to the Panthers taking Newton atop a loaded 2011 draft. 

The Buccaneers had entry to Bo Jackson and Steve Younger in 1986. By 1987, each gamers had been happier in California. Irked at Bucs possession, Jackson adopted by with the John Elway plan by spurning a No. 1 draft choose wage for baseball. Younger, a USFL refugee tethered to the Bucs due to the supplemental draft, was pressured to pilot a 2-14 staff. The Bucs ranked final defensively, permitting 20-plus factors in each sport, and adopted this season up by buying and selling Younger to San Francisco and going with 1987 No. 1 choose Vinny Testaverde. The franchise remained woeful for the following decade. 

Archie Manning’s profession grew to become maybe the closest NFL equal to “House Jam”-universe Michael Jordan’s would-be actuality had the Toon Squad not prevailed in that fateful matchup. A high quality expertise tethered to horrible groups, the Manning patriarch completed within the prime 10 in TD passes and passer score in 1980. New Orleans’ protection allowed 487 factors — the second-most in NFL throughout the Eighties — and these Saints, a 12 months away from George Rogers’ arrival, had no 400-yard rusher. The Saints began 0-14 and had been a game-winning Tony Galbreath TD away from 0-16. In Week 14, they blew a 28-point result in the Joe Montana-led 49ers. 

Steve Spagnuolo wanted his reconstruction of the Chiefs protection to rehabilitate his profession. He submitted one of many worst head-coaching tenures in NFL historical past . Spags’ Rams debut ended with a 1-15 file, full with a twenty first century-worst minus-261 differential. Former playoff beginning QB Marc Bulger’s tenure led to 2009, with an damage ushering in much less efficient backups Kyle Boller and Keith Null. These Rams produced extra shutout losses than 20-point video games, however the indefatigable Steven Jackson gained 1,416 dashing yards. The Rams did choose the proper time to backside out; the Lions’ futility overshadowed this descent.

The Oilers erred upon hiring coveted faculty coach Invoice Peterson in 1972, starting a 2-24 span. Peterson made it solely by Week 5 in ’73 — the worst season Houston historical past. The Oilers traded future Corridor of Fame security Ken Houston that 12 months however nonetheless had fellow Canton-bound defender Elvin Bethea. They gave up 31.9 factors per sport — fourth-worst within the Tremendous Bowl period — and the Dan Pastorini-piloted offense wanted a game-winning drive to beat the 4-10 Colts to keep away from an 0-14 slate. Even offensive mastermind Sid Gillman, Peterson’s interim alternative after 5 video games, couldn’t save this bunch.

The Colts’ 1987 Eric Dickerson commerce helped them to the playoffs that season, however the relocated franchise tailed off into the ’90s. Their nadir got here after they scored the second-fewest factors within the 16-game period (143). Indianapolis (1-15) scored double-digit factors 5 occasions and solely did so as soon as throughout Ron Meyer’s 9 video games. The Colts gained in interim HC Rick Venturi’s debut, beating the playoff-bound Jets 28-27. Second-year QB Jeff George began each sport, offering an excellent indication the mega-trade the Colts made to land him was a mistake. This was Dickerson’s last Colts season; the staff traded George in 1994.

An proprietor stealing play-calling duties, teammates feuding, and the top of former MVP Bert Jones’ Colts tenure highlighted a full-on freefall for the then-Maryland-based franchise. After going 7-9 throughout the 1980 season, the Colts set an NFL file by permitting 533 factors in ’81. Mike McCormack’s staff went 2-14, dropping 14 straight video games in between Week 1 and Week 16 victories. Baltimore set a then-NFL file with simply 13 sacks, and the Colts’ minus-274 differential nonetheless ranks second all-time. Throughout the subsequent two-plus years, proprietor Bob Irsay traded John Elway towards his GM’s needs and adopted by on his threats to maneuver the Colts.

The 0-16 Browns’ minus-176 level differential is merely the franchise’s fourth-worst since rebooting. However Hue Jackson’s staff completed three video games again of the sphere in 2017. Possession tried a new-age rebuild method, probably the most blatant tank effort a staff has tried on this period, and Jackson was left with DeShone Kizer at quarterback. The long run journeyman backup led the NFL with 22 INTs, and whereas Gregg Williams‘ protection was not as large of an issue, the long run Jets DC was current for this winless mess too. Proprietor Jimmy Haslam fired de facto GM Sashi Brown that December. Successor John Dorsey was gone barely two years later.

The preliminary Browns 2.0 squad was worse. After the Jaguars and Panthers obtained smoother growth on-ramps in 1995, the NFL panorama was not as pleasant for the Browns’ return. The outcome: a 2-14 season that flirted aggressively with 0-16. Given the opposite groups’ dregs within the ’99 growth draft, the Browns gained 40 yards and recorded two first downs of their opener — a 43-0 loss to the Steelers. The Browns began 0-7, beat the Saints on a Tim Sofa-to-Kevin Johnson Hail Mary, and gained the Steelers rematch two weeks afterward a game-winning area purpose. Opponents outscored this Cleveland squad by 220 factors. 

It someway worsened in Yr 2, regardless of the Browns having one other No. 1 total choose (defensive finish Courtney Brown). This Cleveland version scored a twenty first century-low 161 factors. A part of the explanation behind this: a Sofa damage pressured Doug Pederson to make eight begins. Sofa threw seven TD passes in seven begins; Pederson managed two. 5 of these video games ended with out Browns TDs. This staff additionally endured 4 shutouts. Its 3-13 mark gives considerably of a ground, however Browns 2.0’s sophomore season has a sneaky case because the second-worst staff ever. The Browns fired head coach Chris Palmer on the season’s finish.

Matt Millen’s last season offered a end result of the worst Lions interval, with the Rod Marinelli-coached staff ending with a minus-249 differential and sticking the long-avoided 0-16 touchdown. Calvin Johnson managed a 1,300-yard season, however an evolving QB circuit — long-post-prime Daunte Culpepper, Jon Kitna, and Dan Orlovsky — restricted a lot else from being achieved offensively. Every member of that trio misplaced at the very least 4 video games, and Orlovsky’s notorious security proved key in a two-point Vikings loss. Future Tremendous Bowl starter Cliff Avril was additionally current for this, however Marinelli’s protection allowed 48 extra factors than anybody else. 

As a 13-year-old Tom Brady rooted on a hopeful 49ers threepeat, his future franchise was the NFL’s worst on the Nineteen Nineties’ outset. The second-longest-tenured QB in Patriots historical past — Steve Grogan — sadly concluded his profession on this 1-15 squad. One-and-done Rod Rust gained his debut, misplaced 15 straight, and the Pats completed with the third-worst margin of defeat (minus-265) ever. Grogan began within the lone victory; ex-Raider first-rounder Marc Wilson was current for six losses in what grew to become his last season. The Pats solely fielded the NFL’s second-worst protection, nevertheless. Most of this roster was passed by Invoice Parcells’ 1993 arrival. 

Enhanced by soundbite machine John McKay’s presence, the growth Bucs effort will stay on so long as the NFL does. The ex-USC coach’s two-plus months of two-a-day practices set a foul tone for Tampa Bay’s inaugural season, with accidents additional weakening the NFL’s worst modern-era roster. The 0-14 Bucs’ minus-287 differential is the worst ever. The Steve Spurrier-quarterbacked staff got here inside one rating simply twice — as soon as to the growth Seahawks — and misplaced 5 shutouts. The Bucs didn’t notch their first win till Week 13 of 1977, however McKay’s rebuilt protection did elevate the ’79 staff to the NFC title sport.