Which NFL teams were the biggest all-time letdowns?

The Cardinals received the NFC East twice within the Nineteen Seventies, being the one non-Dallas group to take action throughout Roger Staubach’s seven-year run as a full-time starter. This coincided with Don Coryell’s Missouri keep. Coryell coached the Playing cards to a few straight 10-plus-win seasons from 1974-76, however the wheels fell off late within the ’77 slate. St. Louis misplaced its ultimate 4 video games to complete 7-7. Proprietor Invoice Bidwill then engaged in a messy divorce with Coryell, barring him from the constructing. With out Coryell, who grew to become higher identified for his Chargers work, the group’s high-octane offense (that includes Jim Hart and electric back Terry Metcalf) light. The Playing cards didn’t make a non-strike-year playoff subject once more till 1998, lengthy after they moved to Arizona.

Though the Dolphins made the playoffs in 1995, extra was anticipated. The Dolphins, who have been a final-minute missed subject aim from the 1994 AFC championship game, loaded up in Don Shula’s ultimate yr. In 12 months 3 of free company, Miami paid up for wideout Gary Clark, defensive finish Hint Armstrong, and tight finish Eric Inexperienced and gave commerce acquisition Terrell Buckley a brand new deal. Shula’s finale started 4-0, however Dan Marino’s age-34 season slipped to 9-7 and a wild-card slot. Oddsmakers had made Miami that yr’s AFC favourite, however Shula ended up closing out his storied profession with a 15-point loss in Buffalo. 

This group is best identified for its highlights than its win-loss report, due to Bo Jackson’s mesmerizing debut. However the Raiders added each Jackson and future Corridor of Fame broad receiver James Lofton in ’87. In addition they rostered Corridor of Famers Howie Lengthy, Marcus Allen, and Mike Haynes, together with All-Professional tight finish Todd Christensen. However the Raiders went 5-10, trapping the 1983 Tremendous Bowl group’s nucleus in limbo. The principle perpetrator, because it typically goes, was the quarterback place. Jim Plunkett retired, resulting in sixth-round decide Rusty Hilger getting a shot over Marc Wilson. Neither Hilger nor Wilson, a former first-rounder, was efficient throughout the Raiders’ worst season in 24 years. Tom Flores stepped down quickly after.

Coming off back-to-back playoff berths, the Jets entered the ’83 season on the Tremendous Bowl radar. They fell off that perch. The group obtained full seasons from New York Sack Trade cornerstones Joe Klecko and Mark Gastineau however went 7-9. An damage to standout working again Freeman McNeil, nonetheless, restricted Gang Inexperienced’s offense. Veteran quarterback Richard Todd closed his ultimate yr because the Jets’ quarterback with an 18-26 TD-INT ratio, dealing one other blow to a Jets fanbase recovering from the group’s 1983 draft resolution to pick Ken O’Brien over Dan Marino. 

Bert Jones’ 1976 MVP season had the cannon-armed passer ticketed for stardom, and the previous No. 2 total decide hovered on that degree for a stretch. Jones guided the Colts to a few playoff berths from 1975-77 however suffered a shoulder damage throughout the 1978 preseason. After returning for Week 1 of the ’79 marketing campaign, he missed 12 video games due to extra shoulder points. Bob Irsay as soon as posited the passer’s damage was in his head, per Jones, who fired again on the unstable proprietor. Jones even, presciently, mentioned rumors of an Irsay move were a distraction. In the meantime, the Colts went 5-11 throughout a season during which it grew to become clear that they had fallen off the AFC playoff tier. The group by no means made the postseason in Baltimore once more. 

Hovering close to the highest 5 in preseason Tremendous Bowl title odds, these Giants started the franchise’s fast descent. They fell from 11-5 in 2016 to 3-13 in 2017. Odell Beckham Jr.’s season-ending damage harm Eli Manning’s group, however GM Jerry Reese’s batch of free agent defenders from 2016 — Olivier Vernon, Snacks Harrison, Janoris Jenkins (pre-Jackrabbit metamorphosis) — couldn’t supply a repeat effort. The Giants tumbled to twenty seventh in protection and weren’t good with Beckham wholesome. They began 0-5. Possession canned Reese and Ben McAdoo after Manning’s one-game December demotion. Reese’s successor Dave Gettleman drove the group additional into the NFL’s basement.

The NFL’s three-year interval with 31 groups produced bye-week craziness and a six-team AFC Central, and the 2000 Jags landed in a division with two historically elite defenses. The Ravens and Titans rank first and third, respectively, within the 16-team period in factors allowed. Jacksonville’s 1999 protection was not far off, however the unit regressed to sixteenth in 2000. A five-game early-season skid led the Jags — 14-2 in 1999 — to 7-9, regardless of Mark Brunell enjoying 16 video games. Accidents harm the group; 1999 Professional Bowlers and ex-Steeler teammates Carnell Lake and Leon Searcy missed your complete season. Sports activities Illustrated picked the Jags to make the Tremendous Bowl from 1997-99; 2000 successfully ended this successful but disappointing era. 

Dıck Vermeil’s Chiefs assembled one of many nice O-lines in NFL historical past. Tony Gonzalez performed alongside that unit. Kansas Metropolis trotted out elite offenses all through Vermeil’s five-year tenure however couldn’t repair its protection. Buoyed by their offense and Dante Corridor’s return wizardry, the 2003 Chiefs went 13-3. After a 3-8 begin in ’04, a group projected to problem the fast-forming Tom Brady-Peyton Manning AFC aristocracy sputtered to 7-9. Priest Holmes’ knee damage successfully ended his prime, and the Chiefs deemed 2003 first-round decide Larry Johnson unready. Amazingly, Kansas Metropolis trotted out largely the identical protection from its porous ’03 unit. Regardless of a four-Professional Bowler offense, the system failed.

After a 13-3 season within the Tony Romo-Wade Phillips debut, the follow-up lowered expectations for the Romo period. A finger damage sidelined the hotshot QB for 3 video games throughout his second full season as a starter however he was wholesome for the stretch run. The Cowboys supplied up their first Romo-era late-season letdown. The group entered December 8-4 however slunk to 9-7, ending the yr with a brutal 44-6 loss to the Eagles within the “Silver Linings Playbook”-chronicled (type of) do-or-die recreation. This Cowboys group rostered each Pacman Jones and Tank Johnson, and Terrell Owens clashed with teammates (Romo included, January 2008 speech notwithstanding) and OC Jason Garrett. The Cowboys lower T.O. quickly after.

The group that laid the groundwork for “Chargers gonna Charger” is the one post-merger NFL group to rank first on offense and protection. This grew to become an ignominious distinction. San Diego, which received the AFC West from 2006-09, completed 9-7. The Bolts lower LaDainian Tomlinson however noticed an enhancing Philip Rivers and a chief Antonio Gates hold the offense going. The Bolts’ flaw: a putrid particular groups. DVOA ranked the Chargers’ specialty items thirty second; they allowed 4 return TDs and a blocked-punt rating. These Bolts began 2-5, with all 5 losses coming by one rating, and noticed late-season blowouts of the Colts and AFC West champion Chiefs come too late. The Bolts made the playoffs as soon as between 2011-17.

The bedrock of Marty Schottenheimer’s Chiefs groups, Kansas Metropolis’s protection tumbled from first to twenty second between the 1997 and ’98 slates. The group’s Chester McGlockton and Leslie O’Neal signings didn’t sufficiently transfer the post-Neil Smith needle alongside Derrick Thomas. Following an October win in a monsoon, the Chiefs have been 4-1. They misplaced six straight, bottoming out with an unsightly Monday-night loss to the Broncos that concerned a Thomas-centered personal-foul spree, and completed 7-9. This yr additionally grew to become a QB pivot level for the Chiefs, as 1997 signing Elvis Grbac struggled by means of his worst season. The Chiefs, who had earned the AFC’s prime seed in 1997, nonetheless selected Grbac over Wealthy Gannon, the longer term MVP who left in 1999.

Regardless of the agony of “Pink Proper 88,” the Browns nonetheless entered 1981 because the defending AFC Central champs with a reigning MVP. However the Brian Sipe-led Kardiac Youngsters couldn’t recapture 1980’s magic, falling to 5-11. Sipe began 16 video games, and Mike Pruitt and Ozzie Newsome, respectively, supplied 1,000-yard speeding and receiving seasons. However Sam Rutigliano’s group ranked twenty third (out of 28 groups) in scoring. The Browns misplaced seven of their ultimate eight. Sipe led the league with 25 INTs, and the Browns closed out the season with a 10-turnover recreation in a loss to the Seahawks. This nucleus could be principally gone by the point Bernie Kosar arrived 4 years later.

Prematurely anointed after the Odell Beckham Jr. commerce, the Browns noticed their equation bomb rapidly. After the Baker Mayfield-Freddie Kitchens combo led to a glimmer of hope to shut 2018, Cleveland’s resolution to advertise Kitchens backfired. The Browns completed 6-10 throughout a season that noticed Mayfield regress and the group grow to be a dysfunctional mess. This peaked with the Myles Garrett helmet swing, taking an All-Professional-caliber participant off the sphere, and Kitchens quickly exacerbated the turmoil with an ill-advised T-shirt choice. This season started — the Browns’ final in hideous uniforms — OBJ’s midcareer swoon, previous an unsightly divorce, and started to disclose cracks within the Mayfield-Cleveland basis.

Of their first full Herschel Walker season, the Vikings completed 6-10. Minnesota’s underrated late-Eighties groups every reached the divisional spherical, with the 1988 and ’89 squads rating first defensively. That fell aside in 1990. Ace defensive deal with Keith Millard suffered a career-changing ACL tear, although three different Vikes defenders (together with sack grasp Chris Doleman) made the Professional Bowl. Walker rushed for simply 770 yards in 16 video games, with new beginning QB Wealthy Gannon not fairly prepared for primetime. This mixture doomed the biggest trade in NFL history, with the Vikings beginning 1-5 en path to the draft place that additional ignited the Cowboys’ dynasty.

This group’s expectations weren’t fairly on the extent of most groups included right here, however 2013 modified the course of recent Washington historical past. Robert Griffin III beat out Russell Wilson and Andrew Luck for Offensive Rookie of the 12 months honors, deservedly so, however sustained an ACL tear within the 2012 wild-card spherical. Griffin re-emerged for Week 1, solely the whole lot modified. As pressure developed between RG3 and a Mike Shanahan employees that housed Kyle Shanahan and Sean McVay, Washington cratered. The group went from 10-6 to 3-13, resulting in the Shanahans’ exits. This season modified Griffin, who price a bounty to accumulate, from a doable franchise QB to at least one rapidly destined for backup responsibility. 

Picked by many to be the AFC’s Tremendous Bowl consultant, the Titans closed out a Jeff Fisher particular in a 7-9 slate. The second of Fisher’s 5 seven-win seasons noticed Tennessee’s protection fall off a traditionally excessive perch. The 2000 Titans’ 11.9 factors per recreation allowed ranks third within the 16-game period; the ’01 squad tumbled to twenty fifth in its personal season. This got here regardless of the Titans buying and selling a first-round decide for defensive finish Kevin Carter, whom they paired with ascending star Jevon Kearse. Carter completed with two sacks in 16 video games. Steve McNair made the Professional Bowl, however the Titans closed out the yr with losses to the lowly Bengals and Browns.

Maybe the NFL’s defining wheels-falling-off season featured an ageing Raiders group getting outdated collectively. Wealthy Gannon’s 2002 MVP season gave approach to an injury-limited 2003, however the Seventeenth-year QB had the defending AFC champs at 2-5 when he went down. Jerry Rice and Tim Brown’s numbers dipped with Rick Mirer primarily concentrating on them, and the protection’s Corridor of Fame-bound Woodsons (Rod and Charles) couldn’t cease a freefall on that facet of the ball as nicely. The Raiders completed 4-12 throughout a yr during which Invoice Callahan, who known as his experience-laden squad “the dumbest group in America,” went from Tremendous Bowl coach to the chopping block. This ushered in a fairly prolonged stretch of Raider futility.

Coming off an NFC championship recreation berth, the Rams didn’t problem for a Tremendous Bowl. The much-hyped group as a substitute faceplanted with a 5-11 report, keying a woeful stretch that led the group out of Los Angeles. Though Jim Everett made his solely Professional Bowl, the Rams’ protection didn’t match 1989’s degree and completed final in opposition to the cross. The group lower All-Professional cornerback LeRoy Irvin within the offseason however nonetheless rostered future Corridor of Famer Kevin Greene. Nonetheless, the group began 1-4 and dropped its ultimate 4 video games. The Rams’ Everett-Greene-Jackie Slater-Henry Ellard core steadily splintered; the group misplaced at the very least 10 video games from 1991-98.

The group that signaled Dan Snyder will not be factor for Washington gathered a group of ageing superstars; the second-year proprietor’s splurge didn’t produce a winner. Snyder spent to accumulate Deion Sanders, Bruce Smith, Andre Reed, Jeff George, and Mark Provider (the protection, not the wideout). Washington blew Sanders away with 2000’s top free agency deal, solely to see him retire after one season, and gave George a four-year, $18.25 million accord to be Brad Johnson’s backup. Washington, which did have 4 Corridor of Famers on this group (feat. NFL sophomore Champ Bailey), went 8-8. This was a harbinger of a foul soccer century in Washington.

The 1989 Broncos stay the Tremendous Bowl margin-of-defeat kingpins (55-10 on the 49ers’ fingers); their hangover was elite, too. After being the AFC’s solely double-digit win group in 1989, the Broncos completed 5-11 the next yr. Accidents, arrests, and blown leads doomed Denver, however the AFC’s Tremendous Bowl consultant in three of the earlier 4 seasons noticed the conflict between the 2 faces of the franchise — John Elway and Dan Reeves — grow to be the highest storyline. The Broncos misplaced six straight throughout the season’s second half, slinking into an unheard-of (throughout the Elway years) 3-10 mark. In contrast to 1990’s other letdown franchises, the Broncos recovered a yr later by venturing into the AFC title recreation.

Brett Favre’s third unretirement couldn’t produce the Tremendous Bowl-caliber season his second such resolution did. Vikings veterans Jared Allen, Steve Hutchinson, and Ryan Longwell trekked to Mississippi and satisfied Favre to guide one other robust roster, however the Corridor of Famer’s twentieth season was nicely off the extent of his MVP-caliber nineteenth. Minnesota dipped from 13-3 in 2009 to 6-10. Favre’s games-played streak lastly snapped that December and the Vikes’ resolution to reacquire Randy Moss by way of commerce backfired spectacularly. Moss clashed with HC Brad Childress, teammates, and the media (and a Twin Cities-area catering staff) and solely performed 4 video games as a Viking earlier than being waived. Favre retired for good on the season’s finish.

Antonio Brown needed to toil for a bit to topple Terrell Owens for broad receiver-distraction supremacy. Owens submitted a diva masterpiece in 2005. It largely sunk the defending NFC champions. A contract squabble (a yr after Owens signed his first Eagles deal), resulting in the driveway sit-up scene, got here after Owens took photographs at Donovan McNabb and engaged in a shouting match with Andy Reid. The Eagles went 4-3 with Owens however completed 6-10, having adopted the 2003 Buccaneers’ lead (Keyshawn Johnson) by banishing their high-maintenance WR1 midseason. Though Owens later precipitated bother in Dallas, this season served as the principle motive the celebrity grew to become a third-ballot Corridor of Famer.

The lockout condensed the 2011 offseason into a number of late-summer days, and a consensus fashioned across the Eagles — who had made three straight playoff berths — profitable that frenzied interval. Ace cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha, rising nook Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, D-linemen Jason Babin, Cullen Jenkins, and guard Evan Mathis comprised a monster offseason haul. ESPN’s Matthew Berry suggested fantasy GMs to take Michael Vick first total. The controversial QB couldn’t replicate his 2010 Professional Bowl season, and the Eagles — regardless of rating within the prime 10 on offense and protection — went 8-8 to show Vince Younger’s “Dream Workforce” reference right into a punchline. This combustion led Andy Reid out of city a yr later.

Kurt Warner’s Rams unraveling introduced one of many stranger chapters in trendy QB historical past. The 2-time MVP missed 10 video games because of damage, however the Rams have been 0-6 with their celebrity starter. Seen as able to shake off its Tremendous Bowl XXXVI upset loss, St. Louis began 0-5 and will neither rating nor defend. The Warner-led “Best Present on Turf” offense ranked twenty third in scoring; the oft-maligned Ram protection matched that rating in a stunning 7-9 season. Remnants of that stratospheric offense remained, with Marshall Faulk making the Professional Bowl and the Isaac Bruce-Torry Holt tandem every topping 1,000 yards. However Marc Bulger was immediately on the controls. It took Warner (lower in 2004) some time to get well from this season.

Whereas this franchise recovered rapidly and have become one of many NFL’s Twenty first-century flagships, the Browns-to-Ravens metamorphosis left Cleveland soccer in ruins. The Browns have been coming off an 11-5 1994 season, and Sports activities Illustrated projected them to succeed in Tremendous Bowl XXX. Artwork Modell’s November 1995 declaration he was moving the Browns to Baltimore despatched Invoice Belichick’s fifth Cleveland season right into a tailspin. The Browns have been 4-4 earlier than that announcement; they misplaced their subsequent six en path to 5-11. The Browns had paid up for Professional Bowl wideout Andre Rison that yr, however nothing went in response to plan. The Ravens ditched Belichick and Rison in 1996. The Ravens grew right into a mannequin franchise; Browns 2.0 has by no means come shut.