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It used to be that the league's bottom-feeders were just that; at the bottom. 

But this season, those "bottom-feeders" appear to have crept up and now make up at least a quarter of the league.  Last season five teams finished with 12 or more losses.  This year, as many as eight or nine teams have a realistic shot of losing at least that many games. 

What's more alarming is that most of the league's worst teams don't simply appear to be unlucky or injury prone—they legitimately look like they don't belong on the professional level.

For perhaps the first time in NFL history, you could argue that the NFL's worst eight teams and the top eight from the BCS don't differ very much in terms of talent.

Realistically, could Oklahoma have more "pro" level players on offense than the Cleveland Browns?

And yes, there is a difference between being an "NFL Pro" and being an "NFL Pro on the Cleveland Browns."

As the league has expanded to 32 teams the watered down talent level has recently become obvious

I'm not claiming that a college football team could ever realistically beat an NFL team, the difference however is becoming closer and closer to negligable.

Last season you had the Lions, Rams, and Chiefs as the three teams that were clearly in a class of terrible by themselves.  The year before that, it was the 1-15 Dolphins and the 3-13 Rams—and before that, the 2-14 Raiders.

This year, it appears that at least eight teams account for the worst of the worst.

For example, there were two teams last season that were outscored by more than 200 points: The Lions and Rams.  Before that, a team hadn't been outscored by more than 200 points since the 2003 Arizona Cardinals.

It hasn't happened to two teams in the same season since 2000 when the Cardinals and Cleveland Browns achieved that feat.

This year, six teams are on pace to be outscored by at least 200 points.  Yes, six teams.

So who are these teams and who is the worst of all?  Here is a breakdown:

Not Quite Bad Enough

There are a handful of teams in the league that are bad football teams that find themselves in the middle of the pack thanks to this season of supreme awfulness.

Normally, these teams would be somewhere in the bottom quarter in the league in terms of talent-level and play.  But they have "lucked out" and instead are just bad and inconsistent football teams that will likely neither make the playoffs (except in some extreme cases) nor get a top 8 pick in next years draft. 

But don't be mistaken, these teams do stink.  Just not as bad as the teams that are about to be listed.

These teams include the entire NFC West, excluding the horrendous St. Louis Rams.  The Cardinals, Niners, and Seahawks all find themselves unable to win on a consistent basis and sometimes on the wrong end of a blowout. 

One of these teams will make the playoffs, but none of them are good.  While the Cardinals were nearly champions of the world last season, and could very well make another surprising run this season, they still only sit two games ahead of the 2-5 Seahawks for a reason.

Inconsistency has seen the Cardinals beat the Giants on the road one week and then lost to the Panthers at home the next. 

A tough schedule has taken a toll on the 3-4 Niners, but it only goes to show that if they were in any other division and didn't get to play the Cards, Hawks, and Rams (their only three victories,) they could easily find themselves with a top 5 pick.

In their two victories, the Seahawks outscored the Rams and Jaguars a combined 69-0.  In their 5 losses, the score has been 66-147.  In other words, they've been dominated.

Speaking of the Jaguars, they got two of their three victories over then-winless Tennessee and St. Louis.  They also got blown out by the not-so-good Seahawks 41-0 and gave the Titans their first win of the season yesterday. 

The Bills and Panthers also have found themselves on the wrong end of some scores (Bills 3, Browns 6) this year that have shown that they too could've perhaps been among the worst if it weren't for this phenomenon of very bad teams.

Now, for the very worst of the worst.  Breaking down the case for what makes these teams so bad and what the bright side is (if there is one.)

The Washington Redskins

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