Who Are The 21st Century's Worst NFL Teams?

The 1976 Buccaneers (0-14) were probably worse, but the Lions fly solo at 0-16. Dan Orlovsky's safety epitomized the Matt Millen era in Detroit, which ended during this ignominious season. These Lions allowed the second-most points ever and, despite employing one of the century's best wideouts in Calvin Johnson, lost 13 games by double digits.

It's a good thing for the 2000s Rams those Lions existed, because they allowed St. Louis' sustained stink to escape the radar. They won 6 games from 2007-09, and their 1 win in '09 came over the 2-14 Lions. Marc Bulger made 2 Pro Bowls, but closed his career starting for each of these teams. He went an astounding 5-30 as a starter during this underrated mess.

This 1-15 catastrophe enabled the Bolts to select LaDainian Tomlinson in the 2001 draft. The lowpoint of the Ryan Leaf era in a season that forced 37-year-old Jim Harbaugh to take over, the Chargers' win came by one point over a Chiefs team led by 44-year-old Warren Moon. San Diego lost 11 games to non-playoff teams. Coach Mike Riley, amazingly, did not get fired.

The year after Nick Saban's shady exit resulted in a 1-15 Dolphins finish under Cam Cameron, who was fired after this infamous slate. Trent Green's injury forced Miami to play both Cleo Lemon and John Beck, and it went about as well as you'd surmise from that sentence. The Fins' win came in OT over the Ravens, but unlike the 2000 Chargers, they bounced back to win their division a year later.

These Raiders managed to get to 2 wins, but their offense surged into so-bad-it's-good territory. Art Shell's second Raiders stint lasted 1 year, featured outdated concepts and produced a measly 10.5 points per game. The fallout: the Raiders draft JaMarcus Russell, then trade Randy Moss to the Patriots for a fourth-round pick a day later. Fun weekend.

The 2001 Panthers lost 15 straight games, but their 2-14 outfit 9 years later was worse. They ranked last in offense, had a quarterback (Jimmy Clausen) complete 53 percent of his passes and lost 12 games by at least 10 points. This got John Fox fired and enabled Carolina to draft Cam Newton in 2011.

The 2012 Chiefs may have been the worst-coached team of the century. This 2-14 squad featured 6 Pro Bowlers who went on to lead Kansas City to the 2013 playoffs. But head coach Romeo Crennel and offensive coordinator Brian Daboll's comically simple game plans rendered these Chiefs a hapless production. Matt Cassel somehow found work after being this poorly directed bomb's lead actor.

A somewhat controversial selection with the Browns going 3-13, this edition scored just 161 points -- the third-worst ever in a 16-game season. Tim Couch and Doug Pederson quarterbacked a team that was shut out 4 times and failed to find the end zone in 6 games. This saga unfortunately concluded with the old Browns (the Ravens) winning the Super Bowl.

They rode a clearly solid game plan to win in Week 1, then lost 15 straight, becoming the first team to do so. Twenty-nine-year-old rookie Chris Weinke did not turn that maturity into victory, completing just 54 percent of his passes. Two-time Super Bowl champion George Seifert never coached again.

After an astounding near-25-year run of success, the 49ers finally hitting rock bottom at 2-14. This was Dennis Erickson's sixth and final coaching season; he never made the playoffs. Erickson's last 49ers version had 1 claim to pride: they owned the Cardinals, winning both games in overtime to avoid going winless. Embarrassing for all parties.