The National Football League has seen its share of great years, and more than its share of spectacular team accomplishments and player milestones. Records come and go, but each one leaves fans of the game marveling at the new levels of athletic prowess that can be achieved. 2008’s campaign in the NFL was one such season, and it resulted in the establishment of a new record that was once all but unthinkable. In that season, the Detroit Lions managed to accomplish a feat that other teams pray they never repeat, as the team went winless throughout the entire regular season and ended up setting the new low season record for the League: 0-16.

Winless Teams of the Past

In the first years of the NFL, there were many winless teams. In fact, during the decade of the twenties, there was at least one squad each year that managed to lose every game. From that point on, however, the feat became somewhat less common. The 1934 Cincinnati Reds lost their first eight games, and ended up being disbanded before the season was completed. Then, in 1942, Detroit went 0-11 on the season, which was followed by the Cardinals of Chicago losing all ten of their games the next year – something that the Card-Pit team would repeat in 1944. Dallas’ 1960 team was winless, as was the 1976 team from Tampa Bay and the Baltimore Colts squad that played in the strike-plagued season of 1982. After that, no team would go winless again – that is, until the 2008 season ended.

Low Expectations

It is not like anyone expected the Lions to win the Super Bowl or anything. They have been a mediocre franchise for some time, but most fans and analysts anticipated that they would at least win a handful of contests. After all, it had been fully one-fourth of a century since the last NFL team had failed to find at least one victory in their season. To make matters worse, many fans actually expected that the team might win more than a handful of games, as they burst out of the gates by winning four pre-season contests in a row – something that should put to rest for all time the idea that pre-season games have any merit in properly evaluating any team’s chances for success during the regular season.

Lost Opportunities

Many fans will look back on 2008 – if they look back on it all – as a season of lost opportunities. There were indeed chances for the team to avoid its winless fate, as many games – including the matchup with Minnesota in the sixth week – could have been won had one or two plays brought different results. Few of the games that season were blowouts. The Lions even had a chance to stay in the final game of the season against the Packers, until they proved themselves incapable of halting the Packers offense in the final quarter of play. That failure was emblematic of the Lions’ entire season – which now stands alone as the worst in NFL history.

Author Bio: Ivan Jamison is a big sports fan. You can check out his Detroit Lions Watch or his St. Louis Cardinals Watch or his New York Yankees Watch

Category: Sports
Keywords: Detroit Lions