Could The Winless Lions Beat The Last NFL Team to Start 0-14? And Who Were They??

The last NFL team to start a season with 14 straight loses before the Detroit Lions did it this very year was the 1980 New Orleans Saints.  It got me thinking what a true accomplishment losing 14 straight is.  It also got me wondering if 2008’s Detroit Lions played that historic Saints squad, who would win?

I think the first thing we can all agree upon is that most likely there would be a winner.  Being the true losers they are however, I do feel I must mention that I see some potential for a tie that would wipe out both teams’ chances for a rare win.

Be that as it may, let’s take a look at the two teams.  The 1980 Saints finished up 1-15.  They got their lone win in game 15 by beating the Jets by one point.  Did I mention that the Jets managed to win only four games themselves that year?  The rough year resulted in a mid-season coaching change and after 12 losses in a row, head coach Dick Nolan was let go.  The vastly more successful Dick Stanfel went 1-3 to finish out the year.

In contrast, Detroit seems unlikely to let Rod Marinelli go until after the season.  Reports are, in fact, that he’s kept the team together and fighting despite the non-relenting losses.  Good for him.  I’ve read he’s a good guy who doesn’t deserve this fate.  But, how many of us would trade places with him right now?

THE STATS

The ’80 Saints weren’t good on offense or defense.  They were significantly better on O  than D however.  They managed to score 18 points per game (21st out of 28 teams in the league at that time).  Call their offense a D or C-. 

Whatever you call the offense, there’s nothing to call their defense other than failing, F all the way.  They were dead last in the NFL giving up 30 points per game.  Some of the Saints’ more impressive losses that year were: 22-3 to Chicago, 40-7  to St. Louis, 41-14 to Atlanta, 45-31 to LA’sRams, 31-13 to Atlanta again (who loses to Atlanta twice in a year let alone getting slaughtered both times?).

Contrast that with Detroit’s putrid performance this year and it’s eerily similar.  Detroit is scoring 17 points per game, which is good for 27th place out of 32 NFL teams today.  So the Lion’s offense is bad, but the D is historically horrific.  Detroit is last in the NFL on defense and to date is giving up an average of 32 points per game.  Detroit’s best losses are: 35-21 to the Falcons of all people, 48-25 to Green Bay minus Favre, 31-13 to San Fran while still under Mike Nolan (Dick Nolan’s son – eery!), 34-7 to Chicago, 38-14 to Jacksonville, 38-20 to Tampa Bay and best of all 47-10 to Tennessee.  Yikes!

Going strictly by the numbers, you have to give an edge to the Saints.  1980’s Saints scored more points (1 per game) and gave up less points per game (2) than today’s Lions.  And the Saints were markedly higher in team offense coming in at 17 in the league versus the Lion’s current 27th place.

THE PLAYERS

But of course, statistics never tell the whole story.  There’s the human element.  Let’s compare some of the more noteworthy players on both rosters…  They are not all terrible.

The Saints had Archie Manning at quarterback.  Archie is known as a great QB who suffered terribly by being destined to spend most of his time with a Saint’s franchise that hadn’t figured out how yet to approach mediocrity.  If there is any karma in the world, the proof might be in the pleasure the success of his sons in the NFL have given him.  But back to Daddy Manning’s career… in 1980 he finished third in the league for yards thrown.  He was just under 4,000 yards that year.  That’s not too much of a surprise, as Archie had made the Pro Bowl in ’78  and ’79.  But, 1980 must have worn on him.  After that year, Manning started in New Orleans for only one more season.  Then, he played out the string by going 0-10 over three seasons during which he spent time in New Orleans, Houston and Minnesota.

In the backfield with Manning, you see the names of Tony Galbreath and Chuck Muncie listed.  When you see that and know how many yards Manning gunned for that year, you begin to wonder how the Saints could have been so inept offensively.  Galbreath was only 26 and rushed for about 300 yards that year while showing his true worth in the passing game.  He had 57 catches.  Then you look at Chuck Muncie’s line and you see that he went for over 800 yards rushing that season.  Unfortunately, very few of them were for the Saints as he was traded to the Chargers early in the year.

Why was Muncie traded?  I’ve heard two versions.  After the ’79 season, Muncie asked for a trade despite having made his first Pro Bowl (he’d go onto two more as a Charger).  Muncie said there was too much racism in New Orleans in one report I read.  In the other report, from a Louisiana newspaper, it gave credit for the bad trade to Muncie’s coke problems and resulting disruption to the Saints’ team.  Whatever the case,  the loss of Muncie hurt the Saints.  They didn’t have much of a ground game without him and it helps us get a better idea why Manning was throwing the ball so often.

Also notable on that Saints team?  Wes Chandler was a 24 year old receiver who caught 65 of Manning’s passes.  He too was later traded to San Diego and achieved even greater success there.  Stan Brock was a rookie tackle who despite winning only one game in his first year would go on to play in 234 games in his career, starting over 220.  Not a small feat for a tackle or any NFL player.

In Detroit this year, the quarterback has been a three headed monster: Jon Kitna, Dan Orlovsky and Dante Culpepper.  Kitna was injured early in the year and despite putting up gaudy stats in years past under Mike Martz’ tutelage, Kitna at 36 was no Archie Manning.  Orlovsky at 25 got a chance to break into the starting lineup and he has been the best of the three (80.3 passer rating compared to Kitna’s 72.2), but the losses never stopped coming.  Then Dante Culpepper, 30ish and presumed retired, came back only to understandably play poorly (63.9 passer rating while barely completing 50% of his passes in the 2008 version of the NFL).

Like Muncie, Detroit has a big name at running back, Rudy Johnson.  Only like Muncie, he’s done very little for Detroit this year.  At 29 and with his former Cincinnati glory behind him, Johnson looks done.  On the bright side, rookie Kevin Smith is averaging over four yards a carry while totaling 773 years to date.  Here’s to future days, people!

Speaking of which, there’s Calvin Johnson.  He’s all of 23 has 65 catches for over one thousand yards and almost 18 yards per catch.  This is all without a quarterback.  Oh, and did we mention that Roy Williams, another wide receiver who had been counted on by the Lions for future stardom was dealt to Dallas in mid-season?

It’s interesting and makes sense that both teams lost big time players to injuries or trades during their runs to OH and 14.  Looking at the key players on both sides, and acknowledging I’ve focused on offense (but does either D scare you?), I think it all comes down to which version of each team you pick.  I think the fair thing is to assume  the two teams would play as they were after losing straight 14 games.

So, that’s no Muncie for New Orleans.  No Roy Williams for Detroit and Dante at QB.  Hmmmm… 

Here again, I have to go with New Orleans.  Neither team would be able to stop the other.  Detroit would be able to run more effectively but it’s not like they’re a great rushing team.  Archie Manning would be at QB getting balls to a young Wes Chandler and Tony Galbreath all day.  Detroit would have Dante Culpepper, unfairly but of his own will thrown into a starting job, dragging down the performance of Calvin Johnson.  This is even more true following the Williams’ trade.  The Saints would concentrate whatever defense they could muster to slow down Johnson.  I think they would do it just enough to eke out a win.

Verdict:  1980’s Saints beat 2008’s Lions.

What do you think?

BONUS QUESTION

Could either team lose to Tampa Bay’s debut squad which achieved the losing perfection of an 0-14 season record?

Short answer.  No.

The ’76 Bucs were absolutely awful.  They scored at a 9 point per game rate.  That’s half of what the ’80 Saints and ’08 Lions managed!  Defensively, Tampa is actually a little better than both of our other losers.  The Bicentennial Bucs gave up just under 30 points a game, but maybe people just stopped trying to score.

Looking at the Tampa roster, it’s a crime the NFL or any professional league would have allowed a new team to come into their league so barren.  There are almost no notables on the team.

Steve Spurrier, AKA “The Ol’ Ball Coach” started at quarterback but Spurrier was always better in college than the pros.  He won a Heisman in college and then was mostly a backup with San Fransisco in the NFL, although he did thrown 18 TDs in just nine games one year.  Anyway, like Manning, the losing most have gotten to him and that was his last year with any significant NFL playing time.  Unlike Manning, Spurrier retired and never played again. 

Smart move.  Next year, Tampa managed only two wins.

More Important Than McCain! The NFL Is Back!

If summer has to end than at least we can console ourselves that it’s time for some football.  And I’m not talking that rinky dink distantly related cousin know as college football.  I’m talking NFL, baby!

Just a few thoughts, as it’s late and I’ve just finished a long McCain post. 

First, as a Giants’ fan.  What a great night!  After all the doubting and injuries to the D-Line, Big Blue comes through even after being the only team unable to convince someone to come out of retirement (Michael Strahan).  It pains me to say it, but I still don’t think they’ll be defending their Super Bowl crown come February 09.  But, I’m going to keep rooting for them to do it no matter what!  Comon sense and you can’t stop me!

This has been a weird start to the NFL season already.  Maybe the NFL is trying to match the kind of drama we’ve seen in the presidential race so far.  Here’s a few odd ways to kick off the season.

OK – the biggest one first.  Favre in green is one thing.  Farve in Jet green is unbelievable.  Still not going to turn out too well though…

The last name “OCHO CINCO” will be on an NFL jersey this year.  I thought Chad Johnson made a lot of noise about never playing for the Bengals again.  I guess he just meant under the name “Johnson”.

Detroit signs Rudy Johnson formerly of the aforementioned Bengals only to have him show up and accuse the guy he’s replacing at RB, Tatum Bell, of stealing the contents of his luggage.  Whatever happened to going the Steve Smith route and just punching out your teammate?

And here’s a sure sign of the coming end of the world.  Several credible sports columnists have clearly begun smoking crack and have predicted that the Philadelphia Eagles will win the Super Bowl.  Their predictions gloss over Donovan McNabb’s injury tendencies.  Plus, even if he stays healthy, who’s he throwing to?  He’s got no wide receivers.

Finally, Dante Culpepper who not long ago posted one of the greatest QB seasons ever, decided to retired.  He claims that teams aren’t giving him a fair shot.  I loved Dante during his time in Minnesota and I do think he’s got a point that there are other guys in the league getting shots that have never achieved the things he has.  However, he’s ignoring his two bad knees and two bad seasons in Miami and Oakland.  Finally, he’s proof positive that when you act as your own agent or lawyer, you’ve got a fool for a client.

No matter, I’m sure it won’t be too long before Culpepper un-retires.  Maybe he can replace Brett Favre in a year or two when he bails out on the Jets!

And here’s wishing a happy football season to all (except the Cowboys and their fans)!  Did you really expect anything less from a Giants’ fan?

PS – Does anyone else find it odd that the Miami Dolphins are now led by a tuna?  Sorry, it’s late and I’m lacking the judgement to resist.