Hall of Shame: Detroit sets dubious mark

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Hall of Shame: Detroit sets dubious mark
12/28/08

Green Bay, WI (Sports Network) - The Detroit Lions finished their 2008 season the way they finished every week of this season, with a loss, and became the first team in NFL history to finish a campaign 0-16.

Just one season after New England became the first NFL team to go 16-0 in the regular season, Sunday's 31-21 loss for the Lions, at the hands of the Green Bay Packers, handed Detroit the first winless non-strike season since the Tampa Bay Buccaneers went 0-14 in 1976, the expansion club's initial season.

It is appropriate that Detroit ended its lost season at the Packers, as its current run of 17 straight losses began in Green Bay on the last week of last season.

The Lions came into Sunday's contest with hope, given that the team had played the Packers tight during a Week 2 loss at Ford Field. In that game, the Lions took a 25-24 lead with 7:41 to play after Jon Kitna and Calvin Johnson connected on a 47-yard score, but Green Bay scored 24 unanswered points and Jon Kitna was picked off three times on the final three drives, with the last two being returned for touchdowns in a 48-25 loss.

The team had a four-week stretch in which it lost by eight points or less, including a 12-10 loss at Minnesota in Week 6, but was beaten by at least 20 points in five games this season and lost by double-digits in 10 games.

The Lions now join the 1962 New York Mets (40-120), the 1972-73 Philadelphia 76ers (9-73) and the 1974-75 Washington Capitals (8-67-5) as the owner of the worst season in their respective sports. However, the Mets and Capitals were both expansion teams when they set their marks.

Despite Sunday's history, this was not the first time Detroit went winless in a season. The 1942 Lions finished the 1942 campaign at 0-11 in a season that saw the war-depleted Lions outscored by a total of 263-38.

The Achilles' Heel of this team was its defense. Going into Sunday's action, the Lions were last in the league in the following defensive categories: total defense (399.1 yards per game), scoring defense (32.4 points per game), rushing defense (169.5 yards per game), touchdowns allowed (59), rushing touchdowns allowed (30), yards allowed per rush (4.99), rushes allowed of 20 yards or longer (23), and interceptions recorded (4).

The team gave up a total of 517 points on the season, which is the second-most in the history of the league, and just 16 points fewer than the 1981 Baltimore Colts, who gave up 533 points.

The offense hasn't been much better, but the team did have two outstanding players in wide receiver Calvin Johnson (78 receptions, 1,331 yards and 12 touchdowns) and rookie running back Kevin Smith (238 carries, 976 yards and eight touchdowns). In addition, kicker Jason Hanson was his usual effective self as his only missed field goal attempt of the season was a block, and he went 8-for-8 from 50-plus yards. Hanson, who also had an extra-point attempt blocked, finished the season with 88 points.

That being said, one of the biggest problems of the offense was that it used five different quarterbacks during the campaign: Kitna, Dan Orlovsky, Daunte Culpepper, Drew Stanton and Drew Henson.

Rod Marinelli, who could lose his job in the coming days, and his club have not won a game since a home win over the Kansas City Chiefs last Dec. 23rd, and are 1-23 in their past 24 games overall, in addition to a a 12-game losing streak as the visitor since notching a win at Chicago last Oct. 28.