The 10 Worst NFL Teams of the Last Decade
4. 2009 Detroit Lions
nERD: -14.67
Record: 2-14, 4th in NFC North
2009 was a really bad season for some teams, a veritable “haves and have nots” kind of year -- and it’s not finished yet. The 2009 Detroit Lions had a rough go of things, as they earned only two wins against the laughably weak NFC West and AFC North this year. Head coach Jim Schwartz was brought in to clean up the mess, and he led the Lions to an improved 2-14 record this year. But we’ll get to 2008 soon enough.
This year's NFL Draft was kind to the new regime, as the first overall selection and a bunch of extra picks allowed them to select quarterback Matthew Stafford, tight end Brandon Pettigrew, safety Louis Delmas, weak-side linebacker DeAndre Levy, wide receiver Derrick Williams, and defensive tackle Sammie Lee Hill in just the first four rounds. Unfortunately, the Draft would turn out to be probably the high-water-mark of this season.
Among the 41 qualifying quarterbacks, rookie Stafford ranked 33rd and backup Daunte Culpepper 29th in Total NEP per play. Stafford showed some flashes of brilliance in his rookie year, but on the whole, his -0.14 Passing NEP per drop back showed a need for refinement.
Running backs Kevin Smith and Maurice Morris ranked outside the top-40 in Rushing NEP per play among the 59 qualifying running backs this year, with -0.09 and -0.11 rates respectively. Even Calvin Johnson was outside the top-50 at his position in Total NEP per play, among 90 qualifying wide receivers. All in all, the Lions’ 28th-ranked offense by Adjusted Offensive NEP per play wasn’t historically terrible, but it was hard to watch.
The real killer was their dead-last defense. This unit did little to acquire new talent outside of the NFL Draft, with linebacker Larry Foote the sole exception. It’s hard to win games when you can’t prevent the pass, and the Lions put up the fifth-worst Adjusted Defensive Passing NEP per play rate since 2000. Fortunately, these few years of abject awfulness would lead to a finally competitive team in just a few more seasons.
