The 10 Worst NFL Teams of the Last Decade

2. 2008 Detroit Lions

nERD: -14.82
Record: 0-16, 4th in NFC North

The reign of Matt Millen as general manager ended this season, which was characterized by tons of wasted first-round picks on wide receivers with poor off-field makeup and second-round selections with injury flags. That would all come to a head with a roster that was perhaps the most devoid of long-term talent of any in recent memory. Millen was fired in-season this year, as the Lions trudged through their historically horrendous season.

The good news is that they didn’t have a legendarily bad offense this year. They ranked 26th in the league with a -0.06 Adjusted Offensive NEP per play. There were still some critically terrible moments this season, however, as three Lions’ quarterbacks split snaps this year.

Daunte Culpepper, Jon Kitna, and Dan Orlovsky each took more than 100 drop backs, and only Orlovsky put up a Passing NEP per drop back rate better than -0.19. Culpepper and Kitna would have ranked dead-last and third-worst in this metric among the 40 qualifying quarterbacks with about 10 drop backs more each.

Running back Kevin Smith was actually an offensive bright spot, as he ranked 16th in Rushing NEP per attempt among the 57 qualifying running backs in 2008. Wide receiver Calvin Johnson was also among the top-25 at his position in Reception NEP per target with a 0.72 mark.

The defense was absolutely awful, however, with its 0.18 Adjusted Defensive NEP per play ranking second-worst since NEP began in 2000. Since the AFL-NFL merger, only the 1981 Baltimore Colts allowed more points per game than the 2008 Lions, who also allowed the eighth-most yards per game in the modern era. The Lions’ defense was defined more by what the players who left their team that offseason did, rather than any they acquired: defensive linemen Kalimba Edwards and Shaun Rogers recorded 124 total tackles and 9.5 sacks between them for the Oakland Raiders and Browns, respectively in 2008.

An 0-16 team is pretty bad, but one team is worse by our metrics…