Has Every Organization Been the "Punchline" of the League at least Once?

[Captain Bowie]

I think you know what I mean by "punchline". The teams that the majority of the league laughs at, at their ineptitude both on and off the field. In recent years this has been the Detroit Lions, Cleveland Browns, Buffalo Bills.

Has every team suffered this fate at least once? Obviously every team has had very bad years, but are there franchises that when this happened, it just didn't seem to be as big of a joke as for others?

Arizona - Yes
Atlanta
Baltimore
Buffalo - Yes
Carolina
Chicago
Cicinnati - Yes
Dallas
Denver
Detroit - Yes
Green Bay
Houston - Yes
Indianapolis
Jacksonville - Yes
Kansas City
LA Chargers
LA Rams
Miami
Minnesota
New England
New Orleans - Yes
NY Giants
NY Jets - Yes
Oakland - Yes
Philadelphia
Pittsburgh
San Fransisco
Seattle
Tampa Bay
Tennessee
Washington

The ones I've marked Are pretty much from my time watching football.

Click to read more...

 

[EpochLink]

Washington Redskins under Dan Snyder, absolute trainwreck of a franchise under his watch.

 

[CraigBillington]

Denver yes, they were a punchline on the Simpsons.

 

[Crossfire Hurricane]

Tampa Bay for sure. Atlanta was/is a punchline for 28-3 alone.

 

[TomP24684]

Definitely Bears

 

[TomP24684]

Seahawks as well

 

[Hasbro]

Denver yes, they were a punchline on the Simpsons.

Yep Four Super Bowl losses and they were the worst team in the AFL.

Tampa 0-14 lost their first 26 games
Pittsburgh took 40 years to win a playoff game
Chargers-Leaf
New England- Lisa Olsen being harrassed by Pats players, got an SNL sketch
Indy-owned by the Irsays
Philly- had a jail in the stadium and the Field on the Vet was practically a minefield
Minny 0-4 in super bowls
If you count the Oilers for Tennessee hell yes. Choking versus the Bills, Buddy Ryan fighting their OC, the bad early 70's team

 

[Bobby Orrtuzzo]

Too young to know the Rams in LA the first time but in St. Louis outside of the GSOT years they definitely were, especially once that no good piece of shit Kroenke bought em

 

[Roboturner913]

Falcons will never live down 28-3
Cowboys were a hot mess in the late 80s/early 90s and Jerryworld antics over the years still carry the whiff of embarassment
Broncos lost so many big games in the 80s and Elway got labeled a loser who couldn't get it done
Green Bay was the pits from the early 80s until Favre got there. No free agent would go there until Reggie White broke the "color barrier" in Green Bay
Vikings just because they've been to so many Super Bowls and championship games they lost
Patriots were the worst team in football for about 5 years late 80s/early 90s
Tampa started franchise existence with the worst losing streak in NFL history at 0-26

Not all, but most.

 

[BKarchitect]

Chiefs have been a playoffs punchline for 30 years. Choking in the playoffs is our specialty. From Lin Elliott to blowing a 30 point lead against Andrew Luck. From Marty Schottenheimer through Dick Vermeil through Andy Reid. I mean there probably aren’t two better head coaches in recent history who are as good in the regular season and yet as unclutch in the playoffs as Marty and Reid. Their entire HoF worthy careers are summed up by failure when it matters most. And we own both of them.

 

[spintheblackcircle]

28-3

Forever

And ever.

 

[spintheblackcircle]

Not sure what's worse, losing 4 Super Bowls or basically giving one to the Cowboys in the Herschel Walker trade.

 

[John Price]

"Between 1968 and 1975, the Raiders played in 6 AFC Championship games, and lost all six, each to the eventual champion."

 

[Halladay]

There are still so many tortured NFL fanbases. Right now interms of ineptitude on and off the field, it is the Giants.

 

[Hasbro]

Chiefs have been a playoffs punchline for 30 years. Choking in the playoffs is our specialty. From Lin Elliott to blowing a 30 point lead against Andrew Luck. From Marty Schottenheimer through Dick Vermeil through Andy Reid. I mean there probably aren’t two better head coaches in recent history who are as good in the regular season and yet as unclutch in the playoffs as Marty and Reid. Their entire HoF worthy careers are summed up by failure when it matters most. And we own both of them.

That weird year where they didn't have a single TD pass to a WR.

Making Todd Blackledge the second QB picked in the 1983 draft.

Blackledge being the last QB they drafted to record a win for the franchise until Mahommes.

 

[Trap Jesus]

If you're talking based on like an individual season or moment, probably. But it's tough to beat a team like the Lions or Browns who just consistently stayed at the bottom for so long.

Vikings have been in the conversation due to playoff failures. They've got a bit of San Jose Sharks failure going on. I think the low point was 2003 when they started 6-0 and missed the playoffs the last game of the season to a team that would have got first overall pick if they lost. They were up 17-6 with just under 7 minutes left and lost 18-17 on a long bomb with literally no time left on the clock. It's one of the most remarkable collapses of all time.

 

[Filthy Dangles]

 

[spintheblackcircle]

If you're talking based on like an individual season or moment, probably. But it's tough to beat a team like the Lions or Browns who just consistently stayed at the bottom for so long.

Vikings have been in the conversation due to playoff failures. They've got a bit of San Jose Sharks failure going on. I think the low point was 2003 when they started 6-0 and missed the playoffs the last game of the season to a team that would have got first overall pick if they lost. They were up 17-6 with just under 7 minutes left and lost 18-17 on a long bomb with literally no time left on the clock. It's one of the most remarkable collapses of all time.

And they lose in the NFC Championship to the Falcons because the kicker who didn't miss a FG all year......missed a FG.

 

[stempniaksen]

Bit under the radar because no one remembers the Titans, but they were on the losing end of the most lopsided professional football game in league history, losing to the Pats 59-0. I watched most of that game because I'm clearly a masochist and the Pats could have ran that thing up to triple digits if they wanted to. That loss made them 0-6 on the season at that point (they still managed to get to 8-8 because Fischer gonna Fischer) but that's gotta count for something.

 

[Josepho]

The Ravens never really have.

 

[Trap Jesus]

And they lose in the NFC Championship to the Falcons because the kicker who didn't miss a FG all year......missed a FG.

And somehow that may still only be #4 for them in terms of NFC Championship game shitshows: 41-0 loss to the Giants in 2000, 38-7 loss to the Eagles in 2017 and IMO the #1 shitshow 2009 loss to the Saints in OT.

 

[Tuggy]

The Ravens never really have.

 

[Blitzkrug]

Dolphins; Oh absolutely.

The kick off to Miami's run of ineptitude started after they got blown out by the ****ing Jags in a playoff game. The last image we have of Dan Marino is him and his clearly ailing arm throwing ducks to the sideline only to be picked off by a Jag. 62-7.

Since then;

- They've had a near Browns like run on QBs with such legends as Sage Rosenfels, Chad Henne, and John Beck starting games between 2000-2019

- Nearly became the first team to go 0-16 in 2007 if not for a flukey win against the Ravens, which hilariously enough essentially ended the coaching career of Brian Billick

- The whole Ricky Williams saga

- Looking like a legit playoff team in 2013 only to somehow scored a combined 7 points against the Jets and Bills in weeks 16 and 17. All they needed was one win to clinch a spot and were even in the mix for the division title. All of this coming off of a huge win against the Pats in week 15.

-Bullygate

- Staying with the wildcat far too long after it was apparent it was a one year wonder

- Making the playoffs in 2008 with the best turnover ratio in team history, only to turn the ball over 4 times in a humiliating loss to the Ravens

- Hiring Nick Saban, only for him to bail midway through the season

- Drafting Dion Jordan, arguably one of the biggest draft busts of the decade

There's probably more, but there ya go.

 

[Babe Ruth]

Bills were bad in the mid 80s. A couple 2 win seasons, empty stadium, etc. Marv Levy came in & turned them around.. by late 80s-early 90s Buffalo was the best in the AFC. Just not good enough to beat the NFC East @ the end..
Tampa was also a bottom dweller thru the mid 80s. Multiple 2 &4 win seasons, etc. But their creamsicle jerseys were cool.

Mid 80s, Mark Malone' Steelers weren't a 'punchline', but they were a shadow of the Steelers a few years earlier. Terrible towels weren't in high demand..

 

[Goalie_Bob]

Steelers are definite yes.

The first 38 years they were in the league they were truly dreadful. A .383 winning percentage with only 6 winning seasons and one division championship. I'm pretty sure they were the worst team in the league during that period.

And I wouldn't be surprised if that is the worst 38 years stretch ever for any team.