Top 10 Worst NFL Teams of All Time

Everyone loves a top-10 sports theme and I’ve got one here for you.  To clear something up, all teams are in the Super Bowl Era, teams before that were usually bad so I didn’t get into that.

10.  2007 Miami Dolphins 1-15-0

I know what most people are thinking, but you have to admit watching them this year rivals the worst performances we’ve ever seen. 

Nick Saban, after repeatedly denying the head coaching job for Alabama, somehow foresaw what was to become of the Dolphins and jumped ship after the 2006 season.

Four players were arrested and three were released. 

After hiring Cam Cameron to become the seventh head coach in franchise history, Cam immediately fired seven of 11 coaches and terminated the contracts of anyone that was of value including Daunte Culpepper, Sammy Morris, Randy McMichael, Kelly Campbell, and many other worthless players. 

The Dolphins finished with a record of one win and 15 losses.  One win against the Baltimore Ravens in overtime ended the losing streak.

9.  2001 Carolina Panthers 1-15-0

It started with an overweight rookie quarterback drafted in the fourth round, Chris Weinke. It also relied heavily on fumble- and injury-prone Tim Biakabutuka (try saying that 6 times fast…) – until he suffered a broken foot.

But they won their opener as a 10-point underdog before impressively reeling off 15 consecutive losses.

"We have a long way to go, but this reminds me of '96 when we were the only ones who believed we were going to have a good year," Carolina tight end Wesley Walls was quoted by the Greensboro News & Record. "We're going to build on this."

8.  1990 New England Patriots 1-15-0

The Pats were a well-balanced team, stinking equally on both sides of the ball.

The defense ranked 27th in points and yards (out of 28 teams). The offense ranked 26th in yardage and 28th in points, scoring 47 fewer points than the next-to-worst scoring offense.

Sexual harassment charges were brought against three players by a female reporter. There was a bar room brawl between Irving Fryar and Hart Lee Dykes (their No. 1 pick a couple of years before) resulting in an eye injury that would eventually end Dykes' career.

The last game of the season was a home game against the Giants. Knowing no local fans would go to the game, the Patriots promoted the game in the New York-area instead.

It resulted in their best attendance figures of the year, but everyone was a Giants fan so it felt like an away game in Foxboro.

 7.  2000 San Diego Chargers 1-15-0

Ryan Leaf who is infamous about his tantrums was the second-worst QB in the league at the time next to Akili Smith from Cincinnati.  Throwing only 11 touchdowns and 18 picks, he led his team to the worst record in franchise history.

Jeramine Fazande led his team in rushing with only 358 rushing yards which is 28 yards a game.  This team was not only horribly disfigured on offense but on defense as well.

Allowed 27.5 points per game and allowed 440 points in a season.  Watching this team play was like watching a train wreck. Excitingly bad.

6.  1993 Cincinnati Bengals 3-13-0

The things you learn researching the worst teams in history. David Shula, son of Mr. 14-0, lasted four-plus seasons as head coach of the Bengals.

This was Year two of the “Nepotism Experiment,” and it didn't go well.

David Klingler, the team's No. 1 pick in 1992, replaced Boomer Esiason at QB and discovered NFL defenses were tougher than Eastern Washington's.

The Bengals finished last in points, second to last in yards and rushed for just three TDs all season (Eric Ball, Derrick Fenner and Ostell Miles tied for the team lead with one). Harold Green, who had actually been a Pro Bowler in '92, led the team in rushing while averaging 2.7 yards per carry.

The defense actually allowed the fewest pass completions in the league, but that's only because it was so easy to run on.

5.  1982 Baltimore Colts 0-8-1

The Colts' QBs had five total touchdown passes on the season (all from Pagel), 10 interceptions and 1,608 yards.

The 1982 Baltimore Colts also ranked 28th in total offense and dead last in points scored with 113. Keep in mind the Colts only played nine games that year so they were pretty bad. 

In a 20-0 loss to Buffalo, the Colts did not cross mid-field the entire game.  If the season went on any longer, the Colts would be the worst NFL team to have ever set foot on a field. 

Seriously they were that bad.

4.  1991 Indianapolis Colts 1-15-0

 The 1991 Colts ranked last in points scored and yards gained. Not to be outdone, the defense was the third-worst in the league.

All this didn't help the career of Head Coach Ron Meyer, who was let go after starting the season 0-5. Interim replacement Rick Venturi couldn't do much better, leading Indianapolis to a 1-10 record the rest of the way, and was replaced in the offseason by Ted Marchibroda.

How bad were the Colts?

In 1991, Eric Dickerson was the leading offensive threat with 536 rushing yards and three TDs.

The 1991 Colts averaged 8.9 points per game.

On Nov. 10, the Jets (8-8) opened up a 14-0 lead on the Colts, only to allow four touchdowns on three TD passes from Jeff George and a kickoff return by Clarence Verdin.

This 13-minute explosion by the Colts equaled their TD production from the previous nine games combined.

The Jets were in it at the end, but a Donnell Thompson sack of Ken O'Brien kept New York out of field goal range and out of the game. Final score: Colts 28, Jets 27.

Jets coach Bruce Coslet summed it up by saying in The New York Times, "I thought we were beyond performing like this in this type of game. Apparently, I was wrong."

3.  1973 Houston Oilers 1-13-0

To say the Oilers season was miserable would be an understatement, as Coach Bill Peterson is fired after a 0-5 start.

The Oilers, whose record under Peterson was a humiliating 1-18, would be led the rest of the season by Hall of Fame coach Sid Gilman. However, not even Gilman could help, as the Oilers lost their next two before beating the Colts 31-27 in Baltimore for their only win of the season.

The Oilers gave up 447 points, the most in the NFL, and scored only 199.

Things were so bad in Houston that the most exciting development was the invention of the first flak jacket for football, to protect QB Dan Pastorini's ribs. (He set an NFL record for being sacked the most times in 1971, broke it in 1972, and broke it again in 1973.)

2.  2001 Detroit Lions 2-14-0

Pretty dang bad. 

You could just say the wrong man for the wrong job. 

A West Coast Offense with a team that apparently had no offense at all.  They benched their best QB, which wasn’t much to begin with, for Ty Detmer who threw seven interceptions against the Browns in one game. 

They did not bench him, though.  Surprise, surprise.  Anyhow, the Lions did extremely poorly on both sides of the ball, receiving lackluster performances from each player.

1.  1976 Buccaneers 0-14-0

Shut out five times. 

Were outscored 412-125 on the season. The average margin of victory for the opposition was 20.5 points per game, and four times during the course of the season, the competition scored 40 points or better.

John McKay, Tampa Bay's first coach, once said of the execution of the Bucs' offense, "I'm in favor of it."

Pat Toomay

One of his favorite moments was the team plane arriving home at 4 a.m. after a 49-16 loss at Oakland in Week 12.

Team officials promoted ticket sales for the inaugural season with the slogan "Bucs Fever. Catch It."

"We start to file off the plane and there are three fans at the foot of the stairs, and they're totally wasted," he said, again erupting in laughter.

"As we come down the stairs, two of them unfurl this gigantic banner of the Bucs logo, and the most inebriated of the three steps in front of the other two and he starts the chant: 'What have we got?' And all three in unison say: 'Bucs fever!' I thought I was going to cry."

There you have it, my top-10 worst teams. If you have a comment on whether or not I was right or wrong, then I would love to hear about it. Give it to me.