Will another team go winless in 2009?
The Detroit Lions set the bar high in 2008: 0-16. No one had ever done it, no one thought it would be possible, and no one thinks it will happen again.
Right now there are three candidates to possibly reach the mark: the Tennessee Titans, coming off a 59-0 debacle in the snow in New England; the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who have turned the offense over to second-year quarterback Josh Johnson; and the St.Louis Rams, who have now lost 16 straight games after Sunday’s 23-20 overtime loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars.
First, the Titans. With a league best 13-3 record in 2008, no one in their right minds would have predicted such a struggle for the team. The Titans still have the sixth-ranked rushing offense on the heels of Chris Johnson and LenDale White, but their passing offense, led by the stone-footed Kerry Collins, is 24th. However, the critical problem is that the Titans cannot score. If the offense can only score 14 points a game and the defense is giving up 33, it’s going to be difficult, if not impossible, to win games.
It was apparent that the Buccaneers were rebuilding going into this season. They got a new coach, new coordinators, a first-round quarterback, plus a mass exodus of well-loved veteran players. This season, while the scheduling has not been kind, with matchups against the Dallas Cowboys, the New York Giants, and Philadelphia Eagles in the first six weeks of the season, the Bucs still have had winnable games. The Bucs almost broke into the win column in Week 4 against the floundering Washington Redskins, but were thwarted by a 16-point third quarter by the Skins.
With the Lions in the win column, the Rams have now emerged as the NFL’s newest picture of futility. That’s not to say they haven’t come close to a win: they lost to the Redskins 9-7 and were just outlasted by the Jaguars. The problem is that the other games haven’t been close. The team averages a measly nine points per game, and has already been shut out twice. Steve Spagnuolo is supposed to be a defensive genius, but there’s been no sign of it in St. Louis, as the Rams have given up at least 28 points four times this season.
So what’s going to happen to each of these teams? Will one of them go winless?
Glancing at schedules, either St. Louis or Tennessee will finish with at least one win, as the two teams meet at LP Field in Nashville on December 13. Besides that, St. Louis the only other game that can be described as “winnable” for the Rams is Week 8 at Detroit. With matchups left against San Francisco and Seattle, both of whom dominated the Rams the first time around, plus games against division-leading Indianapolis Colts, New Orleans Saints, and Arizona Cardinals, it will be very difficult for this team in disarray to break into the win column. And that’s using “disarray” lightly; when Kyle Boller is your quarterback, I think you’re beyond disarray.
Tampa Bay’s schedule has no obvious wins for them. They will most likely not be favored in a game down the stretch this year. Divisional games are always interesting, so when the Bucs play the Atlanta Falcons (twice), New Orleans (twice), and Carolina Panthers, there’s no telling who could come out on top, but it’s safe to say that not many people are expecting the Bucs too.
Out of these three teams, Tennessee has the least chance of going winless. Besides the game against St. Louis, Tennessee has matchups against Jacksonville, Buffalo Bills, and Miami Dolphins that they could pull out victories in. The team still has talent with Johnson and White running the ball, but the defense misses Albert Haynesworth and has been getting burned in the passing game. Tennessee is good enough to win a game this year, and they can easily pull out three. A 3-13 record is a far cry from the 13-3 record of a year ago, but with Jeff Fisher wearing Peyton Manning, fans will have to take what they can get.
Anything can happen in the NFL. It’s a fact of the league. But no one ever thought a team could go winless through a 16 game season until Detroit did last year. Will we see a repeat performance? History says no, but St. Louis, Tennessee, and Tampa Bay both submit interesting cases in the race for the No. 1 Draft Pick in the 2010 NFL Draft.
Daniel Gallen can be reached for comment at [email protected].