The Best of the Worst

After a grueling research session, the Geek has compiled a list of the worst National Football League since the AFL/NFL merger. Ever wonder who the worst team ever is? Do you think you already know? Well, you probably do, but that's the way these lists go sometimes. Spend all that time waiting to be surprised, and then it doesn't happen. The ten worst teams will be listed, with a little background on each one. The rules for compiling this list went like this.

To be considered, a team had to have the worst record in the league and could not have won more than 3 games in that season. Examples include in 1975, the Saints and Chargers both had records of 2 wins and 12 losses, tied for the worst record in the NFL. Neither is considered to be the worst team ever, because they weren't even clearly the worst team in that season. In 2003, nobody in the NFL had less than 4 wins, therefore no team is considered from that season. Everybody ready for some bad football? Today, we'll be counting down numbers ten to six, so here we go...


10. The 1972 Houston Oilers
With a 1-13 record, this club didn't have much of anything going for it.  Their only win came in week 3, a 26-20 home win over Joe Namath and the New York Jets, who would miss the playoffs.  The '72 Oilers were outrushed by over 1000 yards over the course of 14 contests, and had a turnover ratio of minus 13. Quarterback Dan Pastorini was in his second year in the NFL, and future Hall of Famer Ken Houston  would play his final game as an Oiler in 1972.


9.The 1991 Indianapolis Colts 
It's hard to believe that a team whose roster included Jeff George and Eric Dickerson would only average 8.9 points per game on offense, but Dickerson was past his most effective seasons and George had not reached his yet.  Outrushed by more than 1000 yards, these Colts scored just 14 touchdowns and allowed 46.  A decent passing game and a respectable minus 3 turnover ratio keep them from being worse than ninth on this list.  Their only win was a 28-27 triumph at the Jets in week 11, helped along by a Clarence Verdin kickoff return for a score.  The interim coach for the last 11 games was Rick Venturi, whose record in three stints as either an NFL or major college head coach yielded a record of 3 wins, 48 losses and a tie.  Ted Marchibroda would take over as coach and the Colts improved to 9-7 in 1992.

8. The 1990 New England Patriots
Rod Rust's head coaching career started with a close loss to the Dan Marino led Dolphins and then a win against the Colts.  It ended after his Patriots closed out the season with a 14 game losing streak. Steve Grogan, in his 16th and final NFL season, led the Patsies to their only win.  Legendary Pats offensive tackle Bruce Armstrong was the lone Pro Bowler on the team, making his first of six appearances.  The team gave up more 25 more sacks than they got, and (i'm sensing a theme here) were outrushed by more than a thousand yards.  The worst ever edition of the Patriots scored 19 touchdowns, while allowing 50.  Longtime Syracuse University coach Dick MacPherson was hired the next year and seemed to begin a turnaround until the bottom fell out in 1992.  All of this led to Bill Parcells starting to put his grocery list together in 1993.

7. The 1971 Buffalo Bills
So apparently O.J. Simpson wasn't a 2000 yard rusher out of the chute.  He was the leading rusher for the Dennis Shaw quarterbacked Bills in 1971, but rushed for less than 800 yards.  The most astonishing stat to look at is that the '71 Bills turned the ball over 48 times and had a turnover ratio of -26 in a 14 game season.  Their only win came against the New England Patriots in Week 11 27-20.  As if being down almost 2 turnovers per game wasn't bad enough, Buffalo also finished last in the league in points scored and points allowed, and yes, they were outrushed by over a thousand yards.  The next season Lou Saban would return to Buffalo and do a pretty good job rebuilding them, and two years later the Juice would have his record breaking season.


6. The 2009 St. Louis Rams
Ah, so now we get to the more recent stinkers.  The '09 version of the Rams are different from the others on our list so far in that they're running game was pretty good.  Steven Jackson, the workhorse running back and lone Pro Bowler in St. Louis in 2009, held up his end of the bargain as the Rams superstar.  Due to injuries at the quarterback position and bad play by the backups, St. Louis was outpassed by a thousand yards, and new coach Steve Spagnuolo's blitzing defense only generated 25 sacks.  Their one win came in week 8 against the Detroit Lions, 17-10.  Strange that if the Lions win that home game, they would not be the only 0-16 team in NFL history.  The Rams were able to win a game, but the first year of Spagnuolo's tenure was certainly painful to watch.

So there you have numbers ten to six.  Stay tuned... the top? five worst teams since 1970 will be coming soon!