The "Bad Era" of Sports Franchises

[SUPERECWFAN1]

Every era has the "Bad Years". That era of just sadness that cripples a sports fans emotions. One that leaves them really broken to things and how the game is. So as I sit here today , basking in the glow of my favorite sports team winning a championship (2nd time in 4 seasons) I can say ....I survived some lean , hard years as a Kansas City Chiefs fan.





But the Chiefs lean years hasn't been as bad as some sports teams and how some go on rebuilding years for years....and years....and years. As the poor fanbase watches and wishes they can some day hold a championship or hell....have a winning season !

So this thread will examine some of the teams from sports and how bad they really were.






New Orleans Saints 1967-1986

The New Orleans Saints are not a terrible franchise now or haven't been since mid 2000's when Sean Payton and Drew Brees saved the organization. But the team began as an NFL expansion team in 1967 and traditionally then , expansion teams started way behind the barrel. Before the NFL fixed the process by the 1990's for Carolina Panthers and Jacksonville Jaguars.

But then in 1967 the Saints were legit starting from scratch and well...it showed. It would show just how bad the team was from that 20 year stretch.

- From 1967 to 1977 the New Orleans Saints never won over 5 games in a season.
- From 1967 to 1978 the New Orleans Saints never finished above 3rd in the division.
- From 1967 to 1985 the New Orleans Saints had 9 head coaches. The average Saints coach lasted 3 seasons on average.


The Saints were just an awful franchise. One urban legend story I heard sports wise that the Saints once signed a FG kicker who was great in college. He had a pet parrot and told the team how he'd never miss kicks with parrot in locker room. Well he went out one game and missed EVERY kick in a game , costing the team a win. The players basically took the parrot and left a stuffed animal of one. (no idea how true that story is)




Philadelphia 76s : Trust the Process 2012-2017


I'm not a big huge NBA fan. But I do know about teams "blowing up" a roster to assemble draft picks in trades. To try and bring in as much youth as possible. Its about building a young roster who can compete and win. As an example Kansas City this season had a number of rookie starters in secondary , Defensive line , RB and elsewhere. In the NFL the more picks at the wheel , the better you fare.

In the NBA though its not as simple. Where as the NFL has 7 rounds to find talent , the NBA Draft is only 2 rounds. So the need to hit on 1st rd talent is a BIG deal for organizations in NBA.

So the 76ers new GM Sam Hinkie came up with a new concept on deciding to "tank" the seasons and get draft picks. He would start trading away key players for draft picks , with more spins at the wheel , Hinkie realized he may find a few stars to carry the 76ers long term into playoffs. His run had the team tie the 2nd longest losing streak at one point.

All the while fans in Philadelphia seemed to believe in Hinkie's deal. The mantra of TRUST THE PROCESS. Sadly for Hinkie time ran out on him after 4-5 losing seasons as GM and he resigned under pressure. His process would actually pay rewards for the fans. From 2018 to 2022 the team has finished with winning seasons and went deep into post season before losing.

So maybe those terrible years worked out.

[babyblob]

My Bengals were just as bad as a team could get in the 90s. It was god awful going 47-108. We had to suffer through a few bad coaches like Dave "Not his Father" Shula and Bruce Coslet. It didnt get better until Marvin Lewis was hired. And though he is not a great coach he did give us some hope with a couple winning seasons and a few playoff appearances. But the 90s and the first couple years of the 2000's were brutal

I remember during an interview on CBS pregame when they interviews Carson Palmer after he was drafted. Boomer who had led the Bengals to the Super Bowl and is a beloved former Bengal said waht we were all thinking at the time. On air he looked at Carson and said "Glad you had a good career in college because going to The Bengals it is all over now." Lucky he was wrong and we had a couple fun decent years with him. Till the damn cheating POS Steelers injured his knee in a playoff game and he was never the same after that.

From 1990 to 2002 we went 59 and 144. Was the worst time to be a Bengals fan.


My Reds are currently going through a rough time. With a member of the Ownership group that last season on Opening Day mocked the fans and their anger at the bad seasons and said 3 weeks ago at an ESPN Baseball event that The Reds will not be competitive for at least the next 4 years and maybe not even then. I love my Reds but we have had some dark days the last few seasons and It will not get better. But as Phil said "Where am I going to go?"

[frankiedetroit]

The Detroit Lions: 1958-present. Their winningest coach is Wayne Fontes. He has a losing record. They have never been to the Super Bowl. They have won ONE playoff game since 1957. That 1991 game was a 38-6 throttling of the Dallas Cowboys. The Lions whipped the Cowboys twice that year, winning their regular season matchup 34-10. The next season? The Lions finished 6-10. The Cowboys won the Super Bowl.

The Lions made the playoffs in 1983. Their kicker, Eddie Murray, missed a 43-yard FG as time expired, sealing the Lions loss to the 49ers. In 1984, the Lions went 4-11-1. The 49ers won the Super Bowl.

The Lions were the first team to go 0-16. Barry Sanders played 10 seasons. The Lions had six starting QBs during that span. One of them was Rodney Peete. In 1994, the Lions ended the season as the hottest team in football, winning seven straight, including a 44-0 victory over the expansion Jaguars where they were kneeling with 4 minutes to go in the game. Their first round opponent was Philadelphia, whose QB was Rodney Peete. At one point, the score was 51-7. The final was 58-37.

The Lions are the worst team in professional football and in professional sports, topping the LA Clippers and all other challengers because they've been horrible for much longer.