Is it possible for another NFL team to have a perfect season? No, I’m not talking about the 10-0 Tennessee Titans I’m talking about the other end of the spectrum, the 0-10 Detroit Lions. They are on the verge of becoming the first team in NFL history to achieve this magnificent feat.
Around this time last year, we were in a familiar position with the Miami Dolphins. I remember the excitement I felt each week thinking that this was the year. They blew it though. They HAD to win in week 15 against the Baltimore Ravens. This is actually one of the most depressing days of my life.
There have been a lot of 1-win teams in the history of the game, never a winless team. The Lions have high expectations to break through and become that team. Take a look at their schedule; they don’t play a single game against a team with a losing record.
For the better part of my life I was a Lions fan. I grew up in Illinois, but because of my dad, my allegiance had always been to Detroit. The end to that era came a few weeks back. Although I had bragging rights for never being a fair-weather fan, I couldn’t deal with the constant disappoint. It was easier when I didn’t live in Illinois.
Dan Orlovsky made sure to throw the game by stepping out of bounce in his own endzone, resulting in two points for the opposing team.
The real point of this story, besides the PERFECT season, of course, is that Thanksgiving Day football finally has meaning again. As long as the Lions continue their ways against 7-3 Tampa Bay and the Titans can beat the newly improved Jets, we’ll have an epic showdown on turkey day. On that day, we could possibly see two teams continue on their chosen paths, or completely crush the hopes of fans all over the country waiting to see a team run the table by going 0-16.
The Detroit Free Press clearly states for us the way for our beloved Lions to stay the course, here.
Thanksgiving just took on a whole new meaning.
James : I live life on the wild side...that's right, I drink milk right from the carton.
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I live life on the wild side...that's right, I drink milk right from the carton.
Noodles (Noodles) says:
(Posted November 20th, 2008 at 12:05 pm)
Excuse me Sir, obviously some one has not checked their facts thoroughly. There is one team in the history of the NFL that reached the pinnacle of ultimate failure and it may not be who you think. There have been win-less seasons before, but there was usually an element of unpredictability (1982’s strikes shortened season, or the 1960 Cowboys going 0-11-1). So what team has set the record for most losses in a single season? Let’s take a moment to eliminate the teams that may seem like obvious choices. First, The Oakland Raiders-Al Davis may have bad taste in silk jumpsuits, and his teams have come painfully close but no, the Raiders are not the team. Neither are the Miami Dolphins who ruined by year by actually winning the fifteenth game of the season to end up 1-15. Quickly running through the gambit: Houston (nope), Chicago (definitely no), New England, Indianapolis, St. Louis (close, no cigar), Atlanta, New York Jets and Giants, the Packers, Minnesota, Kansas City, Washington, Dallas, Pittsburgh, Tennessee, Jacksonville, Cleveland, Cincy, Philly, San Diego, Seattle, Arizona (you’d think they would have but no), the Saints, Baltimore, Buffalo, Carolina, and San Francisco all have managed to avoid the ultimate dishonor in our recent history.
To all you who are playing at home that makes a total of 29 teams that do not have a recent season in their history where they reigned supreme as the monarchs of mediocrity. With 29 teams eliminated that of course leaves only 1 team. Anyone have a guess? That’s right, The Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Jump into the wayback machine and you’ll see that in 1976, these woeful bastard sons of Blackbeard finished the season 0-14. 0-14. Think about that one more time: 0-14. Now let this bit of information screw with your head. In that magical 1976 season, the first season for that expansion team, they went 0-14. They continued their losing ways the next season, giving them an overall record of 0-26 in their first 2 seasons before finally winning a game in 1977. They were so bad that when the Saints lost to them to give them their first win, the Saints fired head coach Hank Stram.
My hatred for the city of Detroit runs deep as I am a red-blooded Chicagoan who is a rabid fan of all Chicago sports. Geographically and historically there is no city more offensive to the palate of a true Chicago sports fan (St. Louis is close, but not close enough to warrant a tie, New York runs in cycles and isn’t uniform hatred across all sport) than the city of Detroit. I would be the first to run out on the street in a pure state of unbridled enthusiasm, singing praises of the Lions for giving me what I have wanted to see my whole life: an 0-16 season but let us not get ahead of ourselves. Let’s use last year’s Dolphins as an example of keeping assumptions in check. The Lions are not 0-16 yet and there is a slight possibility that they could stop playing like the Temple Owls Men’s Basketball team and more like a pro-football team. Let’s hope they don’t realize the importance of effort, no matter how big the dearth of talent is in Detroit, and become the Kings of Crapola, the Sultans of Shittiness, the Monarchs of Mediocrity, the Paragons of Pathetic. In short, let’s hope they stay the course and remain the Detroit Lions and don’t act Cam Cameron’s 2007 Miami Dolphins and win in overtime on a field goal in week 16, crushing the hopes and dreams of football fans everywhere who want to see the perfect season. Not 16-0, but 0-16.