It feels like there are always a handful of NFL teams that can't ever get anything going for them; teams are constantly shuffling through QBs and head coaches and have had minimal playoff success when they finally reach the playoffs. Some of these teams have bright futures ahead of them and could reverse the course of their franchises, while other teams will likely remain in purgatory for several years to come. Here are the 5 WORST NFL teams since 2000:
Jacksonville Jaguars:
Record since 2000: 151-243
Despite the Jacksonville Jaguars recording the third-worst record in the NFL since 2000, I'm putting them in the fifth spot on this list because the Jaguars are only 29 years old, the second-newest NFL expansion team. That being said, this team is still yet to make a Super Bowl or reach the AFC Championship more than once.
The Jaguars have had some elite defenses in previous seasons but have never figured it out at the quarterback position. It doesn't help that the Jags have been one of the NFL's worst drafting teams of all time, wasting almost as many first-round picks as the Raiders. Quarterbacks they drafted in the first round, such as Byron Leftwich, Blake Bortles, Blaine Gabbert, and more recently, Trevor Lawrence, have had their moments but were never consistent enough to be franchise quarterbacks. The Jags have been able to field a handful of good teams during the past 24 years, but those good teams have been few and far between.
Washington Commanders:
Record since 2000: 163-229-2
Unlike most of the other teams on this list, the Commanders were a respectably successful team prior to the current millennium. But from 1997 to 2023, the Commanders suffered what is likely the worst ownership for an NFL team ever. It's tremendously difficult to be a successful team with an owner who micromanages and subsequently has no interest in building a winning team. That accurately describes Dan Snyder and why the Commanders have won just 41% of their games since 2000. The astonishing amount of scandals that Snyder faced during his tenure tops any other owner in North American professional sports. Aside from Snyder, though, this team can't get it right at the game's most important position, having 16 different starting quarterbacks since 2000.
In 2012, when the Commanders finally made the playoffs with upstart QB Robert Griffin III, the grave mishandling of his health sent the team back into its very familiar losing culture. Despite the plethora of failures this team has endured since 2000, the Commanders actually have a bright future ahead of them. Washington is currently 5-2 this season, with rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels playing quite similarly to RG3.
Las Vegas Raiders:
Record since 2000: 159-235
The Raiders kicked off the new millennium with a hot start, winning their division in 2000, 2001, and 2002, even reaching the Super Bowl in 2002. However, the Raiders have not gotten anything going for them since that early 2000s dominance and are still suffering the Super Bowl hangover. The Raiders could have easily been off this list if they had changed their playbook after firing head coach John Gruden. Instead, they faced their former head coach in Super Bowl XXXVII with the same playbook and subsequently endured a beatdown.
The main reason the Raiders only have two playoff appearances since that Super Bowl is the team's horrendous drafting. Of all 26 of the Raiders' first-round picks since 2000, just five have made the Pro Bowl. Although Vegas's most embarrassing draft bust since 2000 is easily Jamarcus Russell, a 5-star recruit quarterback out of LSU, expected to be a generational talent. He, instead, was a generational bust, throwing an abysmal 18 touchdowns to 23 interceptions during his short-lived NFL career.
More recently, the Raiders had an extremely disappointing 2022 season. Vegas was expected to make a deep playoff run after signing Davante Adams but instead went 6-11, continuing the team's never-ending rebuild. As you can see, moving the team to Las Vegas did not help matters.
Record since 2000: 148-243-2
Currently, the Lions are one of the best teams in the NFL and have a bright future ahead of them, sitting at 5-1 and only three points away from making the Super Bowl last year. However, the Lions never even got close to this much success from 2000 to 2022, being the second-worst NFL team since 2000. Aside from their NFC championship appearance in 2023, the Lions have had just five winning seasons since 2000. You would think that a team with Matthew Stafford slinging bombs to Calvin Johnson would win at least one playoff game, but you would be wrong. Detroit made the playoffs three times with this core but couldn't win one of those postseason contests.
And without Stafford and Johnson on the roster, the team suffered some pretty low lows. The Lions went 39-121 from 2001 to 2010 and became the first NFL team to have an 0-16 season. However, the most laughably bad part of these painful 22 years has to be the organization firing head coach Jim Caldwell because "9-7 wasn't good enough." After Caldwell was replaced with Matt Patricia, the team fared miles worse than 9-7, going 14-33 during Patricia's tenure.
Cleveland Browns:
Record Since 2000: 137-256-1
Since 2000, the Cleveland Browns have been far and away the NFL's worst team, posting an abysmal record of 137 wins, 256 losses, and one tie. The most success the Browns have seen during the past 24 years has been four playoff game appearances and a mere one win in those four games. At their height, the Browns were an 11-win team with minimal Super Bowl upside but minimal success in the playoffs. And at their lowest, the Browns went 4-44 over the course of three seasons and became one of two NFL teams to endure a winless 0-16 season.
After a 1-15 season, the team's head coach, Hue Jackson, said that if the Browns lost every game the following year, he would jump into Lake Erie. After the Browns failed to win a single contest in 2017, Hue Jackson kept his word.
The only explanation for a franchise performing this poorly over a 24-year span is horrendous management, top to bottom. That is what Cleveland has experienced, as the Browns have shuffled through 12 head coaches in 24 years. That's a different head coach every 2 years. Another great way to ruin your franchise is to waste your first-round picks, and the Browns are once again a culprit of this. Since 2000, only 9 of their first-round picks have made the Pro Bowl. Of every quarterback they drafted in the first round, not a single one has stayed on the team for more than 4 seasons.
And if none of that was bad enough, the Browns made possibly the worst free agent signing in NFL history in 2023, giving Deshaun Watson $230,000,000 million guaranteed to play like hot garbage and keep the franchise in purgatory.
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