PhD in Defeat: Pro Football's Worst Losing Streaks Quiz

Answer: Chicago Cardinals

Here are the basic stats on the streak.
Starts 25-Oct-1942 vs Cleveland Rams (3-7)
Ends 14-Oct-1945 vs Chicago Bears (16-7)

Due to massive roster shortages during World War II, this painful streak included the 1944 season where they were forced to combine rosters with the Pittsburgh Steelers to form a temporary team known as "Card-Pitt".

Answer: Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Here are the basics.
Starts 12-Sep-1976 vs Houston Oilers (0-20)
Ends 11-Dec-1977 vs New Orleans Saints (33-14)

This 1976 expansion franchise would be the only NFL team to lose all its games on a fourteen game schedule as the league went to a sixteen game schedule in 1977. Despite the historically dismal start, the Buccaneers incredibly rebounded to reach the NFC Championship Game just three seasons later in 1979.

Answer: Jacksonville Jaguars

Here are the basics.
Starts 20-Sep-2020 vs Tennessee Titans (30-33)
Ends 17-Oct-2021 vs Miami Dolphins (23-20)

This historic 20-game skid contained the ill-fated NFL coaching career of Urban Meyer. Meyer was hired in 2021 to replace head coach Doug Marrone, who had lost the final 15 games of the Jaguars' 2020 season. Meyer would be fired after just 13 games for a mountain of off-field controversies-including an incident where he kicked his own starting kicker, Josh Lambo, during a preseason practice.

Answer: Oakland Raiders

Here are the basics.
Starts 11-Nov-1961 vs New York Titans (22-23)
Ends 16-Dec-1962 vs Boston Patriots (20-0)

The Raiders closed out their 1961 campaign by losing six straight games. The misery extended deep into the 1962 season as they dropped their first thirteen games, pushing the total losing streak to nineteen. Oakland finally managed to avoid a completely winless 1962 season with a 20-0 shutout over the Boston Patriots in the final game of the year.

Answer: Detroit Lions

Here are the basics.
Starts 30-Dec-2007 vs Green Bay Packers (13-34)
Ends 27-Sep-2009 vs Washington (now) Commanders (19-14)

This historic 19-game skid contained the first time an NFL franchise finished a regular season with a completely winless 0-16 record, a low point hit by the 2008 Lions. After dropping their 2007 finale to Green Bay and all 16 games in 2008, Detroit finally snapped the agonizing streak in Week 3 of the 2009 season with a 19-14 victory over Washington.

Answer: Houston Oilers

The Oilers ineptitude was so bad that it makes this list with two entries.
Here are the basics.
#1
Starts 9-Oct-1972 vs Oakland Raiders (0-34)
Ends 4-Nov-1973 vs Baltimore Colts (31-27)
#2
Starts 19-Sep-1982 vs Pittsburgh Steelers (21-24)
Ends 13-Nov-1983 vs Detroit Lions (27-17)

During the 1972-1973 streak, Oilers starting quarterback Dan Pastorini was so beat up behind a terrible offensive line that he threw 17 interceptions to just 5 touchdowns. Hall of Fame defensive end Elvin Bethea admitted things were so demoralizing during those back-to-back 1-13 seasons that he used to have the trainer go start up his car at halftime of the season finales.

Answer: Dayton Triangles

Here are the basics.
Starts 9-Oct-1927 vs Chicago Cardinals (0-7)
Ends - It didn't

The Dayton Triangles finished their time in Ohio on a miserable seventeen game losing streak, which included a 1929 season where they scored only seven total points. While many believe the team simply folded, the franchise was actually purchased and relocated to New York to become the Brooklyn Dodgers. The franchise finally snapped its historic multi-year skid in week three of the 1930 campaign with a 12-0 shutout over Newark. Therefore, technically, the franchise had nineteen game losing streak.

Answer: Washington Redskins (now Commanders)

Here are the basics.
Starts 30-Oct-1960 vs Cleveland Browns (10-31)
Ends 19-Nov-1961 vs Dallas Cowboys (28-28)

If you change the word to winless streak, this one gets worse. They would go on to lose the next five to stretch the streak to a brutal twenty-four games. After the initial loss to Cleveland in 1960, the franchise failed to secure a victory for over a full calendar year. While they managed to put a bandaid on things by earning a tie with the Dallas Cowboys in late 1961, the team went right back to their losing ways. Washington would post a dismal 0-24-2 overall record during that stretch.

Answer: St. Louis Rams

Here are the basics.
Starts on 26-Oct-2008 vs New England Patriots (16-23)
Ends 1-Nov-2009 vs Detroit Lions (17-10)

If you include the 2007 season with this historic 17-game losing streak, the Rams suffered through three straight seasons with at least 13 losses. Their combined regular-season record over the calamitous three-year stretch was a dismal 6-42, marking one of the most futile multi-year spans in modern professional football history.

Answer: Cleveland Browns

Here are the basics on, what I consider to be the worst regular season run in NFL history. They separated two 17 game losing streaks with just one win.
#1
Starts 20-Dec-2015 vs Pittsburgh Steelers (13-30)
Ends 24-Dec-2016 vs San Diego Chargers (20-17)
#2
Starts 1-Jan-2017 vs Pittsburgh Steelers (24-27)
Ends 9-Sep-2017 vs Pittsburgh Steelers (21-21)

The agonizing run included a completely winless 0-16 campaign in 2017. After dropping back-to-back seventeen-game stretches, the team paused the bleeding in week one of the 2018 season by fighting to a 21-21 tie. Strikingly, their division rivals, the Pittsburgh Steelers, bookended the second skid by inflicting the opening loss, the final loss, and the streak-breaking tie, cementing a horrific 1-34-1 stretch for Cleveland.