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On Sept. 16, the Carolina Panthers shocked the NFL world by announcing that they would be benching quarterback Bryce Young just 18 starts into his NFL career. The former No. 1 draft pick was 2-16 in those starts with more interceptions (13) than touchdown passes (11).
With the then 0-2 Panthers benching him in favor of 36-year-old Andy Dalton, some fans wondered if the sputtering franchise was on pace to become one of the worst teams in NFL history.
While a surprising win over the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 3 saved Carolina from a winless season, it doesn’t change the fact that the Panthers still have one of the worst rosters in the league and will likely be betting underdogs in every game this season. If they finish 1-16 or 2-15 again, few would be surprised.
With Carolina’s recent struggles in mind, here are our picks for the five worst teams in NFL history.
5. 2017 Cleveland Browns
What better way to start this list than with one of the four teams to have a winless season in the Super Bowl era?
The 2017 Browns are an example of taking a rebuild down to the studs, as they followed up their 1-15 disaster in 2016 with a roster that was somehow even worse.
While Cleveland drafted several franchise stalwarts like Myles Garrett and David Njoku this year, it also drafted quarterback DeShone Kizer in the second round. He was an instant bust, throwing an NFL-leading 22 interceptions against just 11 touchdown passes.
With the winless season, the Browns became the first NFL franchise to have consecutive seasons of at least 15 losses. They also set the NFL record for most consecutive losing seasons with their 10th in a row – a streak that ultimately grew to 12.
Although Cleveland eventually turned things around after taking Baker Mayfield with the first pick overall pick in 2018, the defining image of this season was Corey Coleman sitting with his head in his hands after dropping a crucial fourth-down pass in the Browns’ season-ending loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 17.
Stat to know: 15. Kizer started 15 games for the Browns in 2017, going 0-15. He never started another NFL game and appeared in just three more, all with the Green Bay Packers in 2018.
The Browns may have just wrapped up 0–16 in the most Browns way ever. pic.twitter.com/8IvDmXPkd1
— Eleven Warriors (@11W) December 31, 2017
4. 1999 Cleveland Browns
Avert your eyes, Browns fans. After Art Modell ripped the franchise away from Cleveland in 1996, the Browns restarted as an expansion team in 1999. The results were not great, as the team’s 14 losses were the most in club history at that point.
With No. 1 draft pick Tim Couch under center, Cleveland had the worst offense in the NFL, ranking last in both scoring and total yardage. The Browns also had one of the worst defenses in the league, allowing the most yards in the NFL and more than twice as many points as they scored.
They opened the season with a 43-0 loss to the Steelers in a game where they gained just two first downs, and things didn’t get much better from there. They didn’t win their first game until Week 8 when they defeated the Saints on a game-winning Hail Mary from Couch, and Cleveland’s only other win came two weeks later in the form of an ugly 16-15 win over Pittsburgh.
Stat to know: 15. While the Browns took 37 players in the 1999 expansion draft, only 15 of them made the team’s roster. Cleveland’s talent-starved roster was nearly just as bad in 2000, going 3-13.
3. 1990 New England Patriots
Prior to Tom Brady turning the Patriots into the best team of the 2000s and 2010s, they were a laughingstock that struggled to compete in the AFC. The franchise bottomed out in 1990, going 1-15 and finishing with a minus-265 point differential.
New England’s lone win came in Week 2, but it was all downhill from there. The Patriots lost their final 14 games of the season, with 11 losses coming by at least two touchdowns.
While the roster still had some holdovers from the successful New England teams of the 1980s, most of those players were either old or ineffective in 1990. The offense ranked last in scoring, averaging a mere 11.3 points per game, while the defense was second-to-last in both points and yards allowed.
There was also some off-the-field drama that made the season even worse, as three players (and the team) were fined for sexually harassing Boston Herald reporter Lisa Olson the day after the team’s lone win.
Stat to know: 14. New England’s four quarterbacks combined to throw just 14 touchdowns and 20 interceptions in 16 games. By comparison, 20 quarterbacks threw 15-plus touchdowns that year.
2. 2008 Detroit Lions
The only other team to finish an NFL season 0-16, the Lions are so high on this list because of the expectations they entered the season with.
After going 7-9 the season prior (its best record since 2000), Detroit had hopes of finally ending its record-setting playoff drought, which was eight seasons at the time.
Instead, the Lions made history for their futility, giving up a franchise-record 517 points and scoring only 268 points.
Despite having a revolving door at quarterback, Calvin Johnson still managed to rack up 1,331 receiving yards and lead the NFL with 12 receiving touchdowns (no wonder he’s in the Hall of Fame).
Their closest loss came in Week 6 when they fell 12-10 to the Minnesota Vikings. Quarterback Dan Orlovsky famously ran out of the back of the end zone for a safety — an image that will forever haunt Detroit fans.
On the plus side, the Lions used the No. 1 draft pick after this season to take franchise quarterback Matthew Stafford.
Stat to know: 32.3. Detroit’s defense was historically bad, giving up an average of 32.3 points per game – the third-most in NFL history. With 517 points allowed, the Lions were just 16 points away from tying the record for most points allowed in a season.
No matter what happened the rest of the game, this Dan Orlovsky safety would be one of the most memorable bloopers in NFL history.
What made it even worse: the Lions went on to lose by two points…
(Oct. 12, 2008) #DETvsMIN @JaredAllen69 @Vikings pic.twitter.com/uFoDvzHDdi
— NFL Legacy (@NFLLegacy) November 4, 2018
1. 1976 Tampa Bay Buccaneers
This Buccaneers squad made history for all the wrong reasons, becoming the first NFL team to go winless over a 14-game season.
Like the 1999 Browns, Tampa Bay was an expansion team that failed to get any meaningful talent from the expansion draft (largely due to not having medical information for any of the players it drafted), effectively ending the season before it even started.
The Buccaneers didn’t score until their third game (a field goal from Dave Green) and didn’t score their first touchdown until the fourth quarter of their fourth game (a 44-yard fumble return from Danny Reece).
They were shut out in five games and finished with a minus-287 point differential – the worst in NFL history.
Despite getting 12 starts from Steve Spurrier, Tampa Bay used a whopping seven quarterbacks, none of whom proved effective.
Stat to know: 2. Of the Buccaneers’ 14 losses, only three were one-possession losses, all of which came in the first half of the season. Their final six losses were all by at least 17 points, including their worst loss of the season (a 42-0 blowout).
OTD 1976
The Tampa Bay @Buccaneers play their first game in history Week 1 against the Houston #Oilers
The Buccaneers have Steve Spurrier at QB, but they fail to score any points against the tough #Oilers D.
Ronnie Coleman 25-142
20-0 #Oilers
pic.twitter.com/arvlEivAxZ— Old Time Football 🏈 (@Ol_TimeFootball) September 12, 2024
