NFL Teams That Have Gone 0-16

Cleveland Browns 0-16 record in 2017 is the latest zero-win season in the National Football League. Their 65th NFL year brought them chaos. 

With that most unsuccessful regular season, the Browns listed themselves as the second team to go with that record and the twelfth to have null wins playing eight or more games in history. 

The team was also the fourth to do so since the 1970 merger of the AFC and NFL. That year the Browns became the only franchise to have 15 or more losses for multiple and consecutive seasons. 

It was their tenth consecutive loss and the first season since 1999 when they lost all home games which speed up the team’s losing streak board to 21 games.

Even NFL marked it as “Total darkness” and “inglorious fate” in one of their articles. Their journey incorporated 0-8 at home games and 0-8 on the road. 

The North Division Team also lost the divisional games by going 0-6 against their opponents from the AFC North. They completed their regular season with a point differential of -176 although the team was projected to have 3.3 wins and maintain a 3-13 record that season but only brought disappointments. 

“From a win-loss perspective, it gets no darker. This season won’t soon be forgotten for what it represents for this once-glorious franchise: A total embarrassment.”, wrote Marc Sessler, the co-host of the ‘Around the NFL’ podcast. 

The Browns paved their way to becoming the recent 0-16 team in NFL history letting the team crumble and struggle through the scoreboard.

The reasons can be many of the few of the many things but who could have been blamed? the coaches? the players? the front office? or the ownership?

The roster was poor from top to bottom. The young players such as Myles Garrett, Gordon, Duke Johnson, David Njoku, Emmanuel Ogbah, and Danny Shelton showed some rays of hope but tumbled down in the Key moments. 

The 2017 season concluded with the team that had just been put upside down, losing in multiple titles, and not getting a slight chance to step in playoffs that year. What can be more disastrous?   

Detroit Lions 0-16 record in the 2008 season made history as the only team to go winless since its expansion to 16 games per season. 

It was in their 79th season in NFL. The third season under head coach Rod Marinelli had a remarkable beginning as they went to play their regular season games, undefeated in the preseason with the hope of improving their 7-9 record of 2016. But all in vain, it proved to be the Lion’s darkest season in history. 

They accompanied the Buccaneers being in the second number to have zero wins in a season full-length period since the merger of AFC-NFL.

To commemorate their 75th season as the Lions in the League, the team had come up with a throwback uniform once used in 1934. The silver lettering-blue jersey went well with silver pants and silver helmets. 

But the change of uniforms didn’t contribute much to the scoreboard. Their Week 11 loss to Carolina Panthers eliminated them from NFL playoff contention.

The loss on the rosters as well as trades might have added to such calamitous results. The release of RB Kevin Jones and DE Kalimba Edwards in March, and the trade of DT Shaun Rogers to the Cleveland Browns in February in exchange for CB Leigh Bodden were some notable losses that season.

General Manager, team president, and CEO Matt Millen was fired on 24 September 2008 which was followed by Marinelli’s dismissal from the head coach position.

Twelve players who started the game for the Lions in 2008 never played again in the League. The mess was to be cleared so almost everyone associated with creating it was eventually released from their duties. 

The fans had even started campaigns and protested outside Ford Field to fire the GM and demanded a significant change in the management team that would really contribute to the play in the near future.

The 2017 season was a true disaster for the team and they got blown over and over again. Even the quarterback Dan Orlovsky committed his own safety and lost the game by two points. 

NFL teams with winless seasons are Dallas Cowboys, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and eight other teams. Colts had the first winless season in 1982.

The last winless club after Detriot Lions in 2008, the Baltimore Colts were playing their 30th season in National Football League. They completed it with 0 wins, 8 losses, and 1 tie which added them to the 12 teams with no wins for the entire season. 

The record of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers was even worse as they managed to lose all 14 games of the season with no wins and no ties in 1976. It was the team’s debut season and the scoreboard went null until the third game and with no touchdowns until the fourth. 

The Buccaneers had to bear 11 losses just by a TD or more. That year their point differential was -287 making it the worst in the history of the League. John McKay was coaching the team during that season.

The Dallas Cowboy’s 1960’s debut season record of 0 wins, 11 losses, and 1 tie pushed them to the bottom of the West Conference keeping their name as the worst record holder for the season. 

The Cowboy’s highest margin of loss in 1960 was in week 4 when the team was playing against Cleveland Browns and had to bear a 7-48 loss on 16 October.

The lowest margin of loss includes week 2 25-27 loss to Philadelphia Eagles on September 30 and week 5 10-12 loss to St. Louis Cardinals on October 23.

The Lions had already gone with a winless season in 1942 before setting another record in 2008. The team’s 0-11-0 record made it the first imperfect season for the team.

The Detroit Lions’ highest margin of loss was L 0-42 score to Chicago Bears on November 22, followed by L 7-38 to Green Bay Packers on October 25 and L 7-35 to Pittsburgh Steelers on November 8.

Only one NFL team the New England Patriots in 2007 went 16-0. The team had to bear a loss in the Super Bowl game for that season later in 2008. 

Including the home, the road, and the score of the playoff combined, the team’s record for the 2007 season was 18-1. They lost the Bowl to the New York Giants.

The Patriots are the only team that has gone 16-0 full season length in the history of the National Football League. It was their 38th season in the League. The squad marked it as their golden year given their record of being the 8th team in history to finish a regular season without a loss and the first to do so since the 1972 full-length win of the Miami Dolphins. 

Playing in the AFC East Division, the squad went on to score 6-0 against their opponents in the divisional round. The team had a point differential of +77 against the Bills, +42 against the Miami Dolphins, and +34 against the New York Jets. 

The team concluded their regular season with a point differential of +315 and the longest winning streak for 2007 was 16 games and didn’t have any losing streak.

Let’s look at some undefeated NFL Teams with 100% records in the history below:

Miami Dolphins – 1972

The Dolphins’ 1972 year was a perfect season as they got 14 out of 14 wins in regular season games and went for a 3-0 playoffs record. 

The team also won Super Bowl VII that year playing against the Washington Redskins with a 14-7 win score. It was their first Super Bowl title ever.

They are still the only team to have maintained a perfect undefeated season track record in the entire League timeline. Their home and road game record for the year was 7-0 and 7-0 respectively and their total record was 17-0 including that of playoffs.

Quarterback Bob Griese and later Earl Morall and players like Nick Bouniconti, Larry Csonka, Jim Kiick, and Eugene “Mercury” Morris contributed significantly to bringing in the title home. They finished their regular season with a point differential of +214.

Chicago Bears – 1934

The Bears’ 13-0 record in 1934 is another top undefeated season record in the history book. That year the team got 5-0 at home games, 8-0 at the road and none in the playoffs. 

Their first loss of the season was L 13-30 to the New York Giants in the Championship games. This loss kept the Bears from a perfect season to be recorded.

Their total touchdowns numbered 37 from 13 games. Bronko Nagruski had 586 rushing yards, 123 carries, and 8 touchdowns alone. Beattie Feathers rushed for 1004 yards and had 8 touchdowns being the only NFL Player with official 1000 rushing yards. 

The Bears went 8-0 record against NFL West opponents during the regular season. The team concluded the season with a point differential of +200 and the longest winning streak was 13 games.

Other teams in the list include:

• Chicago Bears – 1942 (11-0)
• Green Bay Packers – 1929 (12-0-1)
• Canton Bulldogs – 1923 (11-0-1)