Week 1 losses that ultimately doomed a season

[CSKreager]

We see a lot of instances where a week 1 win can launch a team in a positive direction, but what about the other side?

Teams that have high hopes/expectations, lose the first game, never really get going?

What are some examples of highly touted teams that lost early and never got out of the gates?

I'm not talking about teams that stumbled early and did OK later (i.e. '94 Raiders who got thrashed in week 1 by the 49ers, but played better in the 2nd half of that season)

Here are two I recall;

1980 Bears- Playoff team in '79, lose at Green Bay to start a new decade in improbable fashion (Chester Marcol's blocked FG TD) and never really could get traction (outside of the Dave Williams OT return Thanksgiving win over Detroit, they didn't do much in '80)

1992 Raiders- Art Shell's only losing record during his LA stint. Blow a winnable week 1 game at Denver (The Broncos' only win vs. the Raiders from 1990-1994) and stumble with hideous losses to the Bengals/Browns. Finish 6-10

It's also a carryover team that lost their last 4 games in 1991- Bills/Saints/Chiefs 2x including playoffs, Denver/Cleveland/Cincy/KC to start '92. They go from 9-4 and first place in the AFC West (Remember, they swept Denver who nearly found their way to SB 26 in Minneapolis) to losing EIGHT straight games.

2010 Cowboys- High HIGH hopes. But had a hilariously bad loss at DC to open the season (last play of each half- 1 TD going the other way, a game winning TD taken off via penalty). One win through mid-November, Romo KO'd for year on a MNF game, Wade Phillips fired, basically playing out the string after the Lambeau Field primetime debacle.

[BD Sullivan]

1981: The Browns were coming off their first playoff season in eight years with people talking about going to the "Siper Bowl." In their first game, they hosted the powerhouse Chargers in what though of as a potential AFC title preview. Cleveland got destroyed, 44-14, and never really recovered, stumbling to a 5-11 record.

[Todd Pence]

This happened a few times to defending Super Bowl champions. In 1981, the Raiders were upset by Denver in their opener, and while they won their next two, there was a feeling that the offense had lost its '80 swagger, which was then underscored by them becoming the first team to get shut out three consecutive games since the 1940's. Jim Plunkett, last year's comeback player, played poorly and was benched in favor of Marc Wilson, as the Silver and Black staggered to a 7-9 finish.

The next year, San Fran opened defense of its title, by blowing a fourth quarter lead and losing to the now LA Raiders. In week two, they similarly blew a fourth quarter lead and lost to Denver. Carrying an 0-2 mark into the long strike break had its hangover, and the Niners never quite put it back together the rest of the year. However, they made up for it by being dominant for the rest of the decade and beyond.

The 1987 Giants met the Bears in a highly anticipated opening matchup, and got clobbered. Like the other two teams here profiled, the Giants never came close to finding their Super Bowl season mojo throughout the year. In another strike season, having a terrible replacement team didn't help.

[7DnBrnc53]

1994 Raiders: Got blown out at SF in Week 1 on MNF. Rice broke the TD record, and Napoleon McCallum had a career-ending injury. That seemed to have an affect on them, as they got blown out in Week 2 at home against the Seahawks. By Week 7, they were 2-4, and a team with SB aspirations didn't look so hot. They did recover to get to 9-6 by Week 17, but they lost again to KC at home, and missed the playoffs.

1994 Broncos: Another team with high hopes going into the season. They led SD 24-6 in the second quarter before letting them comeback to take the lead before halftime on a Stanley Richard TD INT. Then, with the score 36-34 and about a minute left, Elway was sacked and fumbled around the SD 3, and it was caught by Junior Seau to seal the game. The next week, they lost an OT game at the Jets, and were blown out at home by the Raiders in Week 3 en route to a 1-5 start. They did climb back to 7-6 late in the year, but lost their final three games, ushering in the Mike Shanahan era.

[74_75_78_79_]

1981: The Browns were coming off their first playoff season in eight years with people talking about going to the "Siper Bowl." In their first game, they hosted the powerhouse Chargers in what though of as a potential AFC title preview. Cleveland got destroyed, 44-14, and never really recovered, stumbling to a 5-11 record.

And then there was the day before, another matchup between two playoff teams from 1980 - Oilers at Rams. Mentioned this game before on another thread. I remember the very end when Rams tie game up with a FG. Looked like overtime only for Houston to return the kickoff for a TD to win, 27-20. Loss didn't seem to "doom" Rams at first. Yes, they lost the following week (to the fresh-off-1-15 'Aints') but would then win 4-in-a-row, one of them in Atlanta who, at that time, still seemed playoff-bound. The following two weeks they lose to Dallas (on Sunday Night when Sunday Night games were...rare) and San Fran. Beat the Lions Week #9 to get above 500 one last time before crumbling rest of way to a 6-10 finish.

Others I mentioned before as well (also matchups between two playoff teams from previous year) - SD losing to Jets in '83 (Jets, like Oilers in '81, not making playoffs either) and Raiders losing to Titans 20 years later.

[nicefellow31]

Good posts!

Being a Redskins fan, I'll throw in the 1980 Monday Night Football loss to the Dallas Cowboys. The Skins had lost the last game of the 1979 season in Dallas in heartbreaking fashion. The team was upset that they weren't allowed to attempt a game winning FG and then post game, Harvey Martin throws a funeral wreath into the Skins locker room. All summer folks in DC were talking revenge. Things didn't get off to a good start with John Riggins beginning his season long holdout during training camp but that didn't totally dampen the enthusiasm. Then opening night Dallas beat them 17-3 with the offense gaining only 58 rushing yards, beginning a trend, and only scoring a FG in the 4th quarter. Team rebounded and barely beat the Giants the following Sunday, but it was all down hill from there. 6-10 season with 4 wins against the awful St. Louis Cardinals (5 wins) and NY Giants (4 wins) and a win against the eventual 1-15 "Aints". Somehow they pulled off maybe the upset of the year with a 40-17 win over the San Diego Chargers and future head coach Joe Gibbs.

[7DnBrnc53]

1992 Lions: The year before, they were 12-4, and lost in the NFC Title Game at RFK, so there were high hopes going into the season. However, they lost to that annoying Harbaugh-led Bear team in Week 1 on a last second TD pass, and they started 1-5 on their way to a 5-11 season.

[JWL]

Vinny Testaverde being lost for the season in Week 1 in 1999 really wrecked the Jets season. Bill Parcells went with Rick Mirer far too long. If he went with Ray Lucas a couple weeks earlier, then maybe it would have been enough to get the Jets into the playoffs.

I don't know if this fits the theme of the thread or not. It can be stated that what happened in Week 1 that year really hurt the Jets. It wasn't so much the loss itself (as in the Jets losing confidence or mojo or some similar thing) but a key injury in the game.

[Todd Pence]

1990 Broncos - coming off three Super Bowl appearances in four years, suffered a tough 14-9 loss to the Raiders in which LA got its only points on two defensive touchdowns. The Broncos slumped to 5-11.

[7DnBrnc53]

1990 Broncos - coming off three Super Bowl appearances in four years, suffered a tough 14-9 loss to the Raiders in which LA got its only points on two defensive touchdowns. The Broncos slumped to 5-11.

That was a bad sign, but the Buffalo and Cleveland losses were the real nail in the coffin of that season, especially the loss to the Bills. That may have been one of the most pivotal games of the 90's.