How many NFL teams have finished 1 - 15 or worst?

Answer 1

Since the National Football League went to a sixteen-game regular season in 1978 (except for the strike-shortened nine-game 1982 season), ten teams have finished with fewer than two wins:

1. The 1980 New Orleans Saints
   • The 1980 Saints emulated the 1976 Buccaneers by starting 0-14 before a narrow win over the New York Jets
2. The 1989 Dallas Cowboys
3. The 1990 New England Patriots
   • They started 1-1 before being affected by sexual harassment accusations and going 0-14 for the rest of the season
   • Both the 1990 Patriots and 1989 Cowboys are sometimes regarded as close to the NFL's all-time worst teams
   • However, both played tougher schedules than any other team that went 1-15 or 0-16
4. The 1991 Indianapolis Colts
   • a very strong candidate for the title of worst NFL team ever because:
     • their only win was 28-27 at the New York Jets
     • they scored only 143 points in 16 games
     • they played the weakest schedule of any 1-15 or 0-16 team
5. The 1996 New York Jets
6. The 2000 San Diego Chargers
   • started 0-10 before beating the Kansas City Chiefs 17-16
7. The 2001 Carolina Panthers
   • the first team to lose fifteen in a row in one season; their only win was in the opener against the Minnesota Vikings
8. The 2007 Miami Dolphins
   • were widely tipped to go 0-16 and began 0-13 before beating the Baltimore Ravens in overtime
9. The 2008 Detroit Lions (0-16)
   • first non-expansion team to go winless in a full season since 1944

10. The 2009 St. Louis Rams

    • their 6-42 record from 2007 to 2009 is the worst in NFL history for three seasons in peacetime
    • with a relatively weak schedule the 2007 to 2009 Rams, like the 1991 Colts, could claim to be as bad as recent winless NFL teams especially over longer periods

No season has ever had multiple teams go 1-15 or 0-16, nor has any franchise suffered the ignominy of a 1-15 or 0-16 season more than once.