As most of the football world knows all too well, the Miami Dolphins are 0-12 through the first 13 weeks of the season, and they just blew probably their best chance at erasing the donut. In a game Sunday in which the winless Dolphins were actually favored, they instead lowered their play to a new level of putridity in a 40-13 loss to the New York Jets.
With four games left, the Dolphins are well on their way to doing something no NFL team has ever stunk enough to accomplish: a 16-loss season. In honor of the miserable 'Phins, here are the 10 teams that might make even Miami look good.
10. 1935 Boston Braves. In a season that Boston baseball fans would not even be able to fathom, the Braves went 35-115, giving them the second-worst winning percentage in modern history. It was recorded that a late-July home game against the Dodgers was played before a whopping total of 95 fans. That's one less the Red Sox' win total this year.
9. 1974-75 Washington Capitals. Granted, they were an expansion team, but even that is not an excuse for going 8-67-5. The Capitals managed to use their new team to post by far the worst record in NHL history.
8. 2001 Carolina Panthers. The Panthers were off to a good start to their 2001 season, as they beat the Minnesota Vikings 24-13 in their opener. But things went downhill from there for the Panthers, who lost their final 15 games of the season, the most consecutive losses ever in a season. The Panthers were led by former 49ers coach George Seifert, who was forced to endure having Chris Weinke start all but one game at quarterback.
7. 1991-1992 Prairie View basketball and football. In the early 1990s, Prairie View A&M was forced to deal with severe budget problems. If nothing else, the Panthers proved that you can't win without cash. The football team finished 0-11, continuing what would eventually become an 80-game losing streak, and the basketball team also went winless at 0-28 for a combined 0-39 record for the two programs. In the words of Charles Barkley, "That's terrible."
6. 1990 New England Patriots and 1991 Indianapolis Colts. Who could imagine, watching the AFC Championship game last year, that these two teams were the laughingstock of the league just a decade and a half ago? In 1990, the Pats went 1-15, and in typical Indianapolis style, the Colts swiped that crown the following year.
5. 1992-93 Dallas Mavericks. The Mavericks started the season with just two wins in their first 32 games. The team featured the backcourt duo of Ron Harper and Jim Jackson, but had little talent beyond their top two players. Dallas finished with just 11 wins on the season, but things didn't get any better for the Mavs. Even with a new coach and No. 4 overall pick Jamal Mashburn, the Mavs could only get 13 wins the following year. That's perpetual putridity.
4. 1980 New Orleans Saints. In Dolphins fashion, the Saints started off with a seemingly unbreakable losing streak, falling in their first 14 contests. The team was so bad, fans started the historic trend of wearing paper bags over their heads and gave the team the nickname "the Ain'ts." The 2007 'Phins may be jealous to learn that the Saints broke their losing streak against none other than the New York Jets. Sorry, Cam Cameron... your chance passed you by.
3. 2003 Detroit Tigers. The Tampa Bay Devil Rays can read this and smile, because as horrible as they may be, they are not the worst team of the decade. The Tigers went a mind blowing 43-119 in 2003, setting an American League record for most losses and coming just one away from the Major League record. They finished with a team batting average of .240. That's like an entire team of Julio Lugos.
2. 1972-1973 Philadelphia 76ers. The 76ers were consistently bad in 1972-73: they started the season by losing 15 straight games, and ended it with a 13-game losing streak. They also lost 20 straight, somewhere in between. The Sixers were led by the immortal Fred Carter, the so called "best player on the worst team in NBA history," who averaged 20 points a game. Philly finished with the season at 9-73, leading the local media to call the team the "Nine and 73-ers."
1. 1976 Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Bucs made the move to the NFL along with the Seattle Seahawks in '76, and Seattle went on to win two games more than its fellow expansion team. Meaning ... two. The Bucs are the only team to not record a victory in an NFL season, going 0-14, though the league switched to 16 games in 1983. The closest the Bucs came to winning a game was against - you guessed it - the Miami Dolphins, in a 23-20 loss.
