NFL's Worst Performances of 2011 (So Far)

Every football season brings a new slate of winners and losers. This list is about the losers. 

I picked 10 NFL players or coaches that have done more than their fair share of ensuring failure for their respective teams. How often are we celebrating these people for their successes? Their failures, collectively, deserve equal time.

Whether it was a game's worth of futility or a single, horrible, game-day decision, these 10 people identified themselves as performance poison. Enjoy the list and tell me who I missed (or mis-ranked) in the comments.

10. Luke McCown's 1.8 QB Rating (Week 2)

I'll be honest, the QB rating is a black box for me, but I'm pretty sure that a 1.8 is really, really bad.

So McCown got the nod in Week 1 after the Jaguars cut their incumbent starter, David Garrard, just five days before the season was supposed to start. McCown's first week was serviceable; he went 17-for-24 and didn't throw any picks as the Jags edged Tennessee in Week 1. 

But in Week 2, the Jaguars went north to play the Jets, and it was all bad news. After going 6-for-19 with four picks, McCown was benched for rookie Blaine Gabbert in the fourth quarter, and McCown has barely seen the field sense. 

To recap, McCown completed six passes to his own team, just two more than he threw to the other team. Yeah, that sounds like a 1.8 to me.

9. Mike Smith Goes for It on 4th-and-1 in OT (Week 10)

Atlanta Falcons head coach Mike Smith spent nearly 30 years as an assistant in the college and pro ranks before getting his own command in the NFL in 2008. He has made the playoffs in two of those three seasons at the helm, and his team appears poised to make it three-out-of-four. 

But some would argue that Smith ran his team right into an iceberg in their home game against the Saints. Facing Drew Brees and company in overtime, the Falcons found themselves facing 4th-and-a-foot from their own 29-yard line. Smith hemmed and hawed for a short while.

We're going for it, Smith said. He sent his offense back out and they didn't get it. The Saints took over on downs and kicked a short field goal for the win. 

Smith owned the decision to go for it, and even though his call made it to the goat farm (not the G.O.A.T. farm, remember), I'm not sure it was a bad call. Do you just put the ball back to Drew Brees, who presumably would drive down the field for the winning score? Of course, if the Falcons convert this, the decision doesn't make the list. But they didn't. So it did. 

8. Chas Henry Does His Donovan McNabb Impression (Week 9)

Sometimes the sneaky thing to do when going for it is to line up in a punt formation and then fake the punt. Such was the mindset of Eagles coach Andy Reid, who was looking to give a team a spark when they trailed the Bears in the fourth quarter of their Monday night showdown earlier this year.

Stuck in no-man's-land at the Chicago 42-yard line, too far away for a Robbie Gould field goal, Reid trotted out his punt team and dialed up the fake. Punter Chas Henry took the snap and found a wide-open Colt Anderson streaking down the left half of the field. The call worked!

Henry let it fly...and one-hopped the pass. Chicago drove down the field and scored, and eventually won the game. That's what happens when you leave your destiny in the hands of a guy named "Chas."

Would you believe that Henry was actually recruited to play Florida as a quarterback? Me neither. But somehow, this still makes more sense than punting to Devin Hester. 

7. Steve Weatherford Makes a Run for It...Again (Week 12)

Steve Weatherford is the Forrest Gump of the NFL. In addition to the Giants punter's ability as a renown directional kicker, Weatherford also boasts a notorious finishing move: a scramble up the middle of the field from punt formation. The problem is that the fake often finishes his own team. 

Weatherford has successfully executed this move at least once before, specifically against Oakland in 2009, when he was with the Jets. But Sneaky Steve was let go by the Jets last offseason when he started calling the play on his own. He snagged an invite to the Giants camp and beat out Matt Dodge for their punting job. And he didn't even have to change his license plates. 

But then, Weatherford got the itch again when the Giants were getting blown out in the Big Easy. Weatherford got the call to execute the fake midway through the third quarter. But when Tom Coughlin tried to check off from it, Weatherford pled ignorant and charged ahead anyway. He didn't get it.

Did the 28-year-old's gaffe cost the Giants the game? No, but it might have cost him a roster spot in 2012. Life is like a box of chocolates, but so are jobs in the NFL. 

6. Chris Johnson Runs with a Much Heavier Wallet

Tennessee Titans Chris Johnson got himself a new contract in the offseason, and after 20(!) 100-yard rushing games in the last two seasons, it was clear that Johnson had outplayed his rookie deal. After holding out for a significant portion of training camp this season, Johnson signed a four-year contract extension in the neighborhood of $53 million.

But once CJ2K took the field for 2011, he started putting up a different set of zeroes. He ran for only 24 yards in the team's opening game, a loss to Jacksonville. In the first two months of the season, Johnson only posted one 100-yard game (against Cleveland). And while the second half of the season has been much more productive than the first, Johnson still dropped stinkers in divisional games against Atlanta (13 yards rushing) and New Orleans (23 yards). 

Johnson not only disappointed the Titans this season, but most fantasy football owners that snagged him with their first-round draft picks. At least somebody made some money on Johnson's season. 

5. Starring Tony Romo as Tony Romo (Week 1)

Tony Romo has spent the last five seasons playing the role of "Tony Romo," a young, inexperienced quarterback with hands of butter and a heart of gold. But Romo's 31 now, and yet he still cuts a figure of a 20-something guy that wanders into the game like a lost nine-year-old at the local mall.

Week 1 was par for the course for Romo. With his team up by seven in the fourth quarter, Romo made an ill-advised (Weatherford-esque, even) rush up the middle, the quarterback fumbled near the goal line and the Jets recovered. Instead of securing the field goal and a 10-point lead, Dallas watched Nick Folk—their old kickernail a last-minute 50-yarder to give the Jets the win.

The Cowboys lost by three, and Romo further extended his own legacy in a way that so few of us ever could.

4. Tim Tebow's Anemia at Arrowhead (Week 10)

We've been Tebowing you to death lately, and you probably remember this stat line from Tebow's game in Kansas City. He went 2-for-8 passing for 69 yards and didn't even complete a pass in the first half. To be fair, his counterpart didn't exactly light it up, either. Matt Cassel went 13-for-28 for only 93 yards. 

This wasn't ranked higher because (a.) the Broncos actually won the game, and (b.) one of those completions was a long touchdown pass to Eric Decker. But still, 2-for-8 is horrendous by any measure. 

3. Stevie Johnson Drops It Like It's Hot (Week 12)

Buffalo Bills wide receiver Stevie Johnson is almost making dropped touchdowns his thing. After dropping what would have been the game-winning touchdown pass against the Steelers last season, Stevie performed a dubious encore almost a year to the day later, dropping what could have been the decisive score against the Jets.

Johnson deserved to be singled out after this game, not because he mocked Plaxico Burress' noted gunshot injury while celebrating a touchdown earlier in the game, but because he immediately segued into mocking Santonio Holmes thereafter. You can't combine two touchdown dances after only one touchdown! That's poor form.  

2. Marion Barber Fumbles, God's Team Recovers (Week 14)

The Chicago Bears were oh so close to putting Tebowmania on ice last weekend, clinging to a 10-7 lead and needing only to run out two minutes of clock to win the game. With Denver out of timeouts and seemingly out of hope, Marion Barber inadvertently stopped the clock when he ran out of bounds with 1:55 to play.

Denver got their stop and Tebow converted two second downs to set Matt Prater up for a long game-tying field goal. The game went to OT, and the Bears won the toss.

Barber was set to atone for his earlier foible, but fumbled in Denver's end of the field. Tebow went 3-for-4 in response, and Prater finished off the Bears with a 51-yarder. 

Do you think the Bears miss Matt Forte? Maybe a little?

1. Jason Garrett Ices His Own Kicker (Week 14)

Jason Garrett is a well-educated man, but he's indecisive. He transferred from Princeton to Columbia, and then back to Princeton. He still holds an Ivy League passing record. I'd tell you what it is, but it's the Ivy League, so who cares? Besides, it's not germane to this discussion, and that discussion really can be started and finished with the same sentence. 

Jason Garrett iced his own kicker with the game on the line. 

With eight seconds left in regulation and the Cowboys needing three points to force overtime, Dan Bailey struck a 47-yard field goal that sailed through the uprights. Unfortunately, Garrett's timeout milliseconds earlier nullified that, leaving Bailey to make a do-over to pull even.

He missed.