Could the Jacksonville Jaguars Finish the 2013 NFL Season Winless?

While the Jacksonville Jaguars aren’t the lone team with a 0-3 record at this juncture, in light of their three uninspiring defeats to open the season—by a combined 64 points—one question has to be asked: Will they finish the 2013 season winless?

To find such an answer, we’ll have to look at the one team that has accomplished the dubious feat of going 0-16, the 2008 Detroit Lions.

As much as Lions fans and NFL purists alike would like to scrub their memories clean of this horrid season, the truth is, it holds the key in determining Jacksonville’s fate this season.

With that said, let’s see how Jacksonville stacks up against the worst team in NFL history.

Quarterback Play

With Jon Kitna, Daunte Culpepper and Dan Orlovsky starting games for the Lions, Detroit actually had quarterbacks who had relative success in the NFL—just not in the 2008 season.

The trio led an offense that finished 30th in the league in total offense and 27th in scoring. Furthermore, Detroit’s quarterbacks combined to throw 19 interceptions and were sacked 52 times.

As sad as these statistics are, Detroit’s bungling band of quarterbacks are an upgrade over the anemic duo that is Chad Henne and Blaine Gabbert.

I could go on and bandy on about how Henne and Gabbert have led the NFL’s worst offense in 2013, but such statistics wouldn’t do their horrid play justice.

But I’ll tell you what will—or who will—Tim Tebow.

Jacksonville’s quarterback play has been so bad that fans are calling for the franchise to sign the ex-Florida star who, get this, only completed 36.7 percent of his passes this preseason. Talk about desperate.

There’s no doubt here, the Jags have the quarterbacks under center who can lead them to zero wins this year.

Defense

Contrary to the Lions’ belief, championships aren’t the only things defense wins, it wins regular-season games, too.

It’s clear that this fact was lost on Detroit in 2008. With the 32nd-ranked defense in total yards and points allowed, it’s no wonder that the Lions finished the year winless.

Heck, if not for the Minnesota Vikings, Detroit would have given up an atrocious 34.6 points per game; that’s nearly five touchdowns a game if you’re keeping count.

As much as it pains me to say so, I have to admit that the Jaguars defense isn’t as bad.

While it is 29th in scoring defense, it is a respectable 19th in total yards. With the Jags ranking in the middle of the pack defensively, they may be able to hang around in the games against lesser opponents.

Schedule

Saving the all mighty schedule for last, as SBNation.com’s Matt Grecco shows in the following table, the 2008 Lions had the second-hardest schedule in the league.

Team	Opponent				Opp. - Record				Opp. Opponent				SoS
	W	L	T	Win %	W	L	T	Win %	W	L	T	Win %
Browns	145	108	3	0.572	133	104	3	0.560	2063	2005	28	0.507	0.5505
Lions	143	113	0	0.559	127	113	0	0.529	1998	2087	11	0.489	0.5354
Bengals	141	114	1	0.553	130	110	0	0.542	2095	1967	34	0.516	0.5404
Chiefs	137	118	1	0.537	123	116	1	0.515	1991	2101	4	0.487	0.5203
Jaguars	137	118	1	0.537	126	113	1	0.527	2058	2021	17	0.505	0.5262
Rams	136	119	1	0.533	122	117	1	0.510	1950	2127	19	0.478	0.5149
Steelers	133	120	3	0.525	129	108	3	0.544	2109	1959	28	0.518	0.5230
Ravens	132	121	3	0.521	127	110	3	0.535	2107	1961	28	0.518	0.5203
Raiders	133	123	0	0.520	122	118	0	0.508	2005	2083	8	0.490	0.5098
Texans	132	123	1	0.518	124	115	1	0.519	2086	1993	17	0.511	0.5155
Chargers	132	124	0	0.516	124	116	0	0.517	2003	2085	8	0.490	0.5071
Eagles	131	124	1	0.514	125	115	0	0.521	2038	2024	34	0.502	0.5097
Packers	129	127	0	0.504	119	121	0	0.496	2044	2041	11	0.500	0.5027
Vikings	129	127	0	0.504	123	117	0	0.513	2042	2043	11	0.500	0.5026
Giants	127	126	3	0.502	123	114	3	0.519	2062	2006	28	0.507	0.5036
Cowboys	126	127	3	0.498	119	118	3	0.502	2062	2006	28	0.507	0.5010
Colts	127	128	1	0.498	123	116	1	0.515	2100	1979	17	0.515	0.5036
Seahawks	127	128	1	0.498	115	124	1	0.481	1982	2097	17	0.486	0.4940
Saints	127	129	0	0.496	119	121	0	0.496	2006	2082	8	0.491	0.4943
Panthers	125	131	0	0.488	121	119	0	0.504	2026	2062	8	0.496	0.4907
Cardinals	124	131	1	0.486	117	122	1	0.490	1990	2089	17	0.488	0.4869
Buccaneers	123	133	0	0.480	116	124	0	0.483	2032	2056	8	0.497	0.4860
Patriots	123	133	0	0.480	118	122	0	0.492	1988	2097	11	0.487	0.4825
Redskins	121	132	3	0.479	113	124	3	0.477	2090	1978	28	0.514	0.4902
Bears	121	134	1	0.475	114	125	1	0.477	2074	2015	7	0.507	0.4855
Jets	120	135	1	0.471	113	126	1	0.473	1992	2097	7	0.487	0.4762
Dolphins	118	138	0	0.461	113	127	0	0.471	2002	2083	11	0.490	0.4707
Falcons	117	138	1	0.459	112	127	1	0.469	2058	2034	4	0.503	0.4736
Titans	117	138	1	0.459	114	125	1	0.477	2122	1955	19	0.520	0.4795
Broncos	117	139	0	0.457	109	131	0	0.454	2055	2033	8	0.503	0.4722
Bills	116	140	0	0.453	107	133	0	0.446	2024	2061	11	0.495	0.4672
49ers	114	141	1	0.447	105	134	1	0.440	2026	2053	17	0.497	0.4637

While these numbers are a little skewed—considering that by losing every game, their opponents' win percentage is naturally going to be higher—it speaks to the notion that the already bad Lions were dealt a bad hand by the scheduling gods.

Although a small sample size, Jacksonville’s opponents’ winning percentage currently stands at .565.

Still, looking past the current records and simply looking at the teams the Jags play, the Cleveland Browns are the only team that strikes me as an opponent Jacksonville can beat.

But considering that this game is on the road, I’m not too confident that the Jaguars can even do that.

Final Verdict

While we’ve compared the two and come to the conclusion that Jacksonville isn’t as bad as Detroit on all fronts, it still could go winless. Scratch that, the Jaguars will go winless!