Detroit Lions edge closer to the wrong kind of “perfect season”

No NFL team has ever finished the regular season with a 0-16 record. The Tampa Bay Bucs went 0-14 in 1976, but that was in the days of a less hectic schedule, and it was their first ever season in the league.

With a couple of games left of the 2008 campaign, the Detroit Lions are still looking for that elusive win. The 0-14 Lions stand on the brink of setting a record that will stand forever.

A Lions fan with a black sense of humour has even made up a t-shirt claiming ‘Yes, we can’, with the 0-16 legend beneath it (pictured). Needless to say, the garment has become a cult item in Detroit, where it seems some locals are, perversely, rooting for the “perfect season”.

The Lions host the New Orleans Saints (7-7) next Sunday and finish the season on 28 December at their big rivals, the Green Bay Packers (5-9). If they are to get a win next to their name, the Saints game would seem to represent the best chance; New Orleans can’t reach the play-offs and so their only motivation is the fear of losing to the worst team in the league.

“It’s frustrating,” Lions lineman Jeff Backus says. “But we’re 0-14 and somehow we’ve got to find a way to win sometime in the next two weeks, because we’re running out of time.”

We hope Detroit does it - we mean lose every single game. If they end the season 1-15, who will remember them? Lions fans, no one else. But if they finish with a perfect 0-16, no one will ever forget them.

Go Lions, you can do it.

Anorak

Posted: 17th, December 2008 | In: Sports Comment | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed: RSS 2.0 | TrackBack | Permalink