Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

From 1970-1977, which of the worst records teams did you consider the worst of the worst in the era after the merger but before the 16-game schedule and the rules changes that made the passing game more viable?

1970:
AFC- Boston Patriots, 2-12 (Ironically, they won in week 1 against Don Shula in his first game with Miami)
NFC- New Orleans Saints, 2-11-1 (One of those wins, though- Dempsey's 63 yarder against a playoff Lions team!)

1971
AFC- Buffalo Bills, 1-13
NFC- New York Giants, 4-10

1972
AFC- Houston Oilers, 1-13
NFC- Philadelphia Eagles, 2-11-1 (Saints had same record, but lost H2H)

1973
AFC- Housotn Oilers, 1-13
NFC- New York Giants, 2-11-1

1974
AFC- Baltimore Colts, 2-12
NFC- New York Giants, 2-12

1975
AFC- San Diego Chargers, 2-12
NFC- New Orleans Saints, 2-12

1976
AFC- Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 0-14
NFC- Seattle Seahawks, 2-12

They were expansion teams, so I may give them a pass and instead go with the 2-12 Bills and 3-11 Giants


1977
AFC- Kansas City Chiefs, 2-12
NFC- Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 2-12 (And 3-11 New Orleans, since they did lose to TB)

The 1974 Falcons should get (dis)honorable mention.

What was the deal with those 1971 Bills? Allowing Harvey Johnson to coach them again after a disastrous 1968 "interim" stint of 12 games. Surely his previous track record should've disqualified him.

I guess if we rule out the expansion teams I would go with the 1971 Bills. Last in offense, last in defense. Only win was by 7 points. They had some players on offense in OJ, Briscoe, and Moses. OJ was just on the cusp of breaking out. But other than that that team was terrible and you could run at will on them.

ChrisBabcock wrote:The 1974 Falcons should get (dis)honorable mention.

The 1975 Browns were 3-11, starting out 0-9, with two of their wins coming against the 2-12 Saints and 5-9 Chiefs. The only "good" win was an upset of the Bengals in Cleveland. Cincy was a 9-point road favorite.

The 1972 Patriots won back-to-back early games by a point each (beating the eventual NFC champion Redskins!) and the Saints.

The 1970 Bills weren't much better than the '71 version. They were 3-10-1. They upset the Jets by three in Week 3, beat them (without Namath) three weeks later, then blew out the Pats the following week. Somehow, they managed a 17-17 tie against the eventual Super Bowl champion, the Colts.

Bill Peterson's Oilers were embarrassingly inept mostly due to Peterson's ineptitude.