The NFL is considered by some to be the most competitive league in the world of sports. Shocking upsets are commonplace and in any week any team, within reason, can beat any other.
It’s not easy to finish 16-0, just like it’s not easy to finish 0-16.
It takes bad management, a substandard roster, poor coaching, an uncompromising schedule, a few key injuries and just the right amount of bad luck to put together an “imperfect season”.
The 2008 Detroit Lions are regarded as the worst team in NFL history. They hold the record for most losses in a single season and are the first non-expansion team to lose every game in a full season since World War II.
The Lions ended 2008 having lost 23 of their last 24 regular season games, going back to the previous year. Detroit truly were awful. Their roster was shockingly bad, save for a young Calvin Johnson who somehow had 1300 yards receiving and 12 touchdowns.
It’s been a few years since we’ve had a team to compare to the infamous ’08 Lions, but the Oakland Raiders have tentatively thrown their hat into the ring of shame and mediocrity.
The Raiders are a fundamentally bad team, and they have been that way for more than a decade. But is this current crop of Raiders among the worst teams in NFL history? Are they destined for imperfection?
Unfortunately for the long-suffering fans of the silver and black, all signs point to yes. Let’s have a look at a few key stats for the 2014 Oakland Raiders through seven games.
The Raiders are 0-7 and the only winless team in the NFL. They rank last in rushing yards with 69 yards a game despite throwing $3.5 million at Maurice Jones-Drew in the off-season to compete with Darren McFadden in the backfield.
They are 22nd in passing despite constantly playing from behind. They are 28th in turnover differential with minus six. They are second last in total yards of offense, and last in total points.
They are just agonisingly bad.
Raiders fans have seen some of these rankings and figures before, so why is that 2014 may be the Raiders worst season to date?
Firstly, the schedule. Usually a team as bad as the Raiders can catch a break and play a team almost as bad as them at home to break their duck. It just hasn’t worked out that way for the Raiders. The home games, the ones the organisation would have been budgeting to win, have been against teams with a combined record of 12-2.
They sent one game to London, where they were resoundingly beaten by the Dolphins, and have lost winnable games away against the Jets, Patriots and Browns.
And things are only going to get harder. The Raiders face more difficult games at home to end the season, hosting the Broncos (6-1), Chiefs (4-3), 49ers (4-3) and the Bills (5-3), and are on the road against the Seahawks, Chargers, Chiefs and Broncos.
The Raiders’ only chance to win a game this season might come away against the Rams in Week 13 or at home against the Bills in Week 16. Realistically they could get blown out in both. The reason for that brings me to my next point. Talent, or lack thereof.
For some reason in the off-season the Raiders went out and signed a bunch of well-known, possibly over the hill veterans. They were fed up with drafting busts and thought they would instead pay overs for a bunch of players with little more to give but open to one last payday before they retire.
The Raiders finally had some cap space so they went mad in free agency, signing Justin Tuck, LaMarr Woodley, Charles Woodson, Maurice Jones-Drew, Antonio Smith, Donald Penn and Matt Schaub among others to try and add established talent to the roster.
I remember seeing a tweet in the pre-season that read, “The Oakland Raiders have the best team of the 2009 season”. If only it weren’t 2014.
The problem is very few of these moves have worked out. James Jones has been excellent and has arguably made rookie quarterback Derek Carr look much better than he is at times. Jones-Drew has been ineffective, Schaub, like high-priced free agent Matt Flynn before him, has hardly played, and the Raiders run defense has struggled to contain backs while giving up 130 yards a game.
Even when the Raiders play well, like they did against the Chargers in Week 6, they cannot sustain it for 60 minutes. And that comes back to preparation, execution and coaching.
The Raiders cut ties with Dennis Allen after an 0-4 start this season and placed Tony Sparano in charge on an interim basis. Sparano stepped in, shook things up and buried a football, but the appointment has so far failed to spark the Raiders sufficiently enough to provide a win.
And, even without Allen, the coaching staff continue to make questionable decisions. They threw the ball a whopping 56 times and ran it 22 times against the worst run defense in the NFL in Cleveland in Week 8.
But these issues are just the tip of the iceberg for a franchise that has been stuck in a rut since John Gruden was traded to the Buccaneers in 2002. The Raiders need to be completely rebuilt and relocated. Their roster needs an overhaul, their coaching staff needs new blood and their management need to be held accountable for years of failure.
In the meantime the Raiders need to start focusing on beating the Rams, the only team they have left to play with a losing record, or the Bills. If they don’t the 2014 team will go down in infamy as the worst bunch of a horrible decade.
Phil Branagan
Roar Rookie
Bad Teams comes from Bad Management, no matter what competition the team is in. If you go back two decades the Patriots were the laughing stock of the AFC in the NFL. To their credit, the last thing the previous owners did was hire Bill Parcells, who started the transition that Pete Carroll and then Bill Belichick continued. Same with the Seahawks; they hired Carroll as head coach and backed him 100 percent. Meanwhile the Raiders are stuck in a time warp of reliving their past glories (a bit like Richmond in the AFL). To give the management some credit, at least they did not try to hire Deion Sanders and OJ, or buy a DeLorean off a crazy white-haired scientist and recruit Mike Ditka... They need to look at what other teams have done (like Denver under John Elway), clean out their football department, hire some back office talent and start again.
Sam Rigney
Expert
The Bills are good now. There is a major difference between the Bills and Raiders, the AFC West has been shared around pretty evenly between the Chiefs, Broncos and Chargers since 2002, while the Raiders have been awful. Whereas, the success of the Patriots has directly affected the Bills chances of making the playoffs since 2001. The Bills have had some lean seasons over the past decade but they are not the train wreck the Raiders are.
Philipp
Roar Rookie
What about the bills then. the last time they made the Playoffs was in 1999, will they never come good again as well. Please stop talking such nonsense that the Raiders will never come good again. nobody knows when or if the Raiders will be in the Playoffs. The 49ers were a hopeless team and turned it around. With smart managment the raiders can achieve the same. The Raiders Managemant has been the worst in the NFL, the only explanation for the Carson Palmer Trade is that someone mixed up Palmer and Peyton Manning. But the Raiders have a new General Manager since 2012, so I hope those ridiculous trades dont happen again. If the Raiders rebuild through the Draft from now on then I hope they could return to the Playoffs.
Sam Rigney
Expert
If I was Mariota I'd be concerned the Raiders were currently winless and heading for the no 1 overall pick. He is a good chance of succeeding as a pro quarterback at pretty much any franchise but Oakland. But if you are the Raiders and Mariota makes himself eligible you have to pick him.
Jt dragon
Guest
Maybe I'm mistaken, because I don't follow it religiously, but it seems like the raiders have been very poor for a very long time. Every other team seems to have good and bad seasons but the raiders ....
Sam Rigney
Expert
The draft and the salary cap are supposed to ensure everything in the league eventually evens out, and to a certain degree it does. The Lions were the worst team in football six years ago and since then they've been good, the 49ers didn't have a winning record for seven years, but then made three straight deep playoff runs. This rule seems to apply to anyone except New England (10 from 11 AFC East titles since 2003) and the Raiders (haven't made the playoffs since 2002). The Raiders have had so many early first round picks that they should be a playoff contender by now. But how many have them have worked out? The jury is out on Mack and DJ Hayden at present. But JaMarcus Russell, Darrius Heyward-Bey, Rolando McClain among others have all been massive disappointments. The Raiders management don't seem to know what they want. Some years the stockpile draft picks to fill the talent void, some years they trade them away mid-season for an ageing quarterback in the hope he will miraculously save their season. Bottom line is that franchise is never going to be good again. Not in its current state. It's a small market, players don't want to go there, management is bad, no one wants to coach there, defense is bad, offense is bad. Time for the Davis family to cash out or move the team out of LA. Things will never change otherwise.
Steve
Guest
I can see either scenario playing out - really depends on how they view the draft board in a few months time. Right now, I'd hold Carr and trade the no 1 pick for a bunch of depth adding picks. Carr seems decent enough and with stronger pieces around him I think could be a long term franchise QB.
Worlds Biggest
Guest
I would trade Carr for picks, if he is as good as you guys seem to think he will yield a couple of decent picks. Or they keep him and trade down the Number 1 pick for a bunch next year and the year after. It's a tricky one for sure, however I would be going with Mariota.
Chop
Roar Guru
What would you do with Carr then if you take another QB in Mariota? Carr has been the only highlight of this season for Oakland and he's proven he's up to the NFL. I'd be trading the #1 pick for as many 1st/2nd round picks as I could get to try and build some talent around Carr.
Chop
Roar Guru
Agree relocation won't change their roster. But disagree with you that Tampa, Tennessee or Jacksonville are worse than Oakland. I can definitely see them going 0-16. Derek Carr is a future franchise player with some decent talent around him. Pity it will probably be 5 years before they are ready to achieve anything. They have a chance to reset in the post Al Davis era and I think they'll be a better going forward, but it won't be this season.
Worlds Biggest
Guest
They need to start afresh, wipe the slate clean and rebuild the whole organisation. To do that a relocation makes all the sense in the world particularly to LA where they still have a large fan base, not to mention the obvious commercial benefits. Apart from a couple of decent seasons they have been abysmal in there second reincarnation in Oakland. As far as solving Management problems, I'm not sure Mark Davis is capable of much as an owner. They continue to flounder under his tenure. A move to LA would certainly assist in attracting higher quality candidates in the front office, coaching and players. if you gave them a choice to live in LA or Oakland, well you know the answer. In regards to Carr, he looks a decent prospect but he isn't in Mariota's league. If Carr has a good season they could garner a couple of draft picks for him in a trade. I am of the belief you build through the draft. Passing on a franchise QB like Mariota would illustrate the Raiders are just being, well themselves !
Chop
Roar Guru
Except that Oakland isn't San Francisco, they're close but the supporter groups are completely different. It's the same with the Giants and Athletics in the MLB....
Philipp
Roar Rookie
Agree that they need a good coach. But I actually dont think that even a good coach could be much better with the current roster. The Raiders have to rebuild the team via the draft and I think this years draft was a good start. Carr looks like he could be the Quarterback of the Future. If they get the No 1 Pick it would be madness to select Mariota as long as Carr continues to play well, instead they should trade down with a team like the Rams or the Bucs who need a new Quarterback. They need as much draft picks as they can get
Philipp
Roar Rookie
Could you explain to me how exactly a relocation would solve the management problems? Then I disagree that the Raiders are the worst team in the nfl. I dont think they are worse than Tampa, Tennessee or the Jaguars. they only lost by 3 to the hyped chargers and by 7 to the Patriots and their worst loss was a 24 loss to the Dolphins. Tampa Bay lost 56-14 to the Falcons. But if I look at the remaining games I agree that 0-16 is a real possibility. this is a tough schedule. Also i think you are a bit harsh on the management. I dont understand all this salary cap stuff but the raiders are still suffering from incredibly bad decisions from previous years. The Problem is that there is simply not enough talent on the Raiders Roster at the moment. therefore I can understand the free agent signings in the offseason. The positive so far this season is that Derek Carr looks like he could be the longterm Quarterback. He has been much better than the other rookie Quarterbacks this season. And Khalil Mack also looks like a very good player.
Worlds Biggest
Guest
The Raiders are one of if not the most dysfunctional outfits in US Sports. There draft record and free agent signings in recent times has been disasterous. Any franchise worth there salt would have relocated years ago. Oakland is a small market with an outdated Stadium. It's a no brainer they relocate back to LA. Even if the Rams get there first, surely the NFL would be chomping at the bit to have two teams in the second biggest city again. Reggie McKenzie can't last beyond this season. The Raiders need to break the bank to bring in the best GM and either Gruden or Harbaugh ( hopefully not ! ). Go back to basics starting with the draft, rebuild the team via shoring up the interior O & D lines. That said I would draft Mariota and then use the rest of the picks on the lines. Smart free agaency is the next cab off the rank. The list goes on and on.
PGNEWC
Guest
Move back to LA maybe ? Always thought SF was a Niners town
Kevin
Guest
Sparano is hardly going to help them succeed either .. Poor buggers best of throwing a squillion at harbaugh and hoping he can squeeze some juice out of the orange