It is human nature to attach oneself to the two extremes of quality. The best and the worst; incorporating this into a game obsessed over by millions worldwide is inevitable. When it comes to the these extremes, there are a wide variety of arguments to make. Some may say the 1972 Dolphins—the only team to go undefeated in the modern era—is the best team ever by merit of their overall record. Yet there are a decent mix of teams throughout NFL history that can be considered “the worst team” by that same criteria.
Some will argue the 1976 Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who went 0-14. Others would argue the 2008 Detroit Lions, who went 0-16. Even the 2017 Cleveland Browns, the last 0-16 team, holds that “special” distinction in fans’ hearts. With deeper research, however, those curious to find the worst the sport has to offer will unearth horrors beyond comprehension. A team so foul, so unfit for the field that they disgrace the very uniforms they throw on for games. Viewer discretion should be advised.
The Worst NFL Team: The 1944 Chi/Pitt Cardinals/Steelers
Those not well-versed in NFL history may look at the above header and think, “Wait, what? Is that one team or two?” Before getting into the grimy goop of their inadequacy, let’s set the table.
In 1944, America was in the grips of war—the country was aiding in the fight against Nazi forces in Germany and the Axis Powers in World War II. Due to this, a swarm of players signed to NFL rosters either voluntarily joined the war effort or were drafted into it. This, in effect, left many teams with incomplete rosters unfit to play games with. What were they to do?
Merge, of course! The prior year, the Pittsburgh Steelers and Philadelphia Eagles combined to make the “Steagles” of 1943, who had a solid season at 5-4-1. With the war still ongoing in ’44, the Steelers did it again, only with the then-called Chicago Cardinals. The Chicago/Pittsburgh Cardinals/Steelers didn’t have a great ring to it, though, so they went by “Card-Pitt.” This will be how they are referred to for the remainder of this article.
What Makes Them the Worst NFL Team?
It might be wiser to ask what didn’t make them so bad. Would make for a fun afternoon research project.
To start, they went winless at 0-10. In ten full games of action, they could not muster a single win against their opponents, which, as history has shown, is an incredibly rare feat. Oftentimes, even the worst teams “accidentally” win from time to time.
To fully understand what made them so bad, we’ll need to look deeper. Thankfully, the people over at Pro-Football-Reference have an incredibly in-depth database of statistics of all things NFL. This makes it much easier to research and formulate the history of football. All data provided from this point will use that site as a major source.
Passing
Taking a look at the passing efficiency of this team will make Ryan Leaf’s rookie season tolerable to stomach. Between five players attempting passes throughout the season (with the leading passer being the team’s starting fullback), they combined for 8 passing touchdowns and 41 interceptions. That is not a typo—41 interceptions. In ten games. They averaged at least 4 interceptions a game. Per the Wikipedia page linked above, that is the third-highest number of interceptions thrown by an offense in NFL history.
That’s only the most egregious aspect; none of their passing numbers are flattering whatsoever. The total passing numbers look like this:
- 258 pass attempts with 87 completions (33.7% accuracy)
- 1,257 total passing yards (4.9 yards per attempt)
- Combined quarterback rating: 21.2
None of the quarterbacks participating in this offense were any good, but one stands out just a bit more than others in terms of incompetence. John McCarthy, who started two games (presumably) at quarterback… and punted occasionally! They have no record of ever playing in the NFL before or since 1944 (though this could be due to incomplete data). Perhaps this is a valid precursor to just how much he stunk it up.
In seven games, attempting only 67 passes, he was intercepted 13 times. Nearly 20% of his passes were intercepted, which was the highest on the team outside of someone who only attempt 7 passes. Ah, and he threw 0 touchdown passes. 0-13 TD-INT ratio. Sporting a 29.9% accuracy rate and a 3.7 yards per attempt average, his total quarterback rating plummeted to a spectacular 3.0. A level of terribleness one can only dream of.
Point Differential
In terms of points scored, they were 8th. With points scored against them, they were 10th. Both figures are out of eleven total teams, so they were not the worst in either category. What they were the worst in—historically so—was point differential.
108 points scored to 328 points allowed. That is a -220 point differential over ten games, making it an average of -22 margin of defeat per game. The Card-Pitts were, on average, getting blown out every game by nearly three scores. That is, per Bleacher Report, an NFL record.
Looking closer at the statistics for games within that season, it paints an accurate assessment of the overall. Seven of the ten games the Card-Pitts played only saw them score 7 or fewer points, with one shutout. The most ironic part is that their first game of the season was the closest they would ever come, falling to the Cleveland Rams 28-30. They would only score 20 points two more times for the rest of the season.
What’s really telling is how easily their opponents defeated them on a weekly basis. In the three games after their season debut, they were outscored 14-91. Their most humiliating defeat came in the final week of the season, when the Chicago Bears demolished them in a 7-49 rout that saw the Card-Pitt defense give up 308 rushing yards. Their closest game outside of their battle with the Rams was a 20-35 loss to the Packers in Week 11.
A Bizarre Twist in 1944
Perhaps some solace that can be taken from this is that there was actually another winless team in 1944. The Brooklyn Tigers, a team that would go defunct the following year, also went 0-10 and had a worse offense in terms of scoring. Scoring only 69 points the entire season (an average of one score per game), they were shut out three times in ten games. Their only saving grace was their defense, which gave up just 166 points (5th in the league; -97 point differential).
If this were only a matter of offense, the Tigers may have a stronger argument for worst NFL team in history. Alas, that substantial difference in points and historically interception-heavy passing attack make the Card-Pitts the best at being the worst.
In Conclusion
Nobody likes being “the worst” at something, particularly in a sport as competitive as football. Even so, in favor of preserving the history of the game, someone has to take up the mantle. When it comes to setting an example of what not to do in a given season, the 1944 Card-Pitts were in a league of their own. For the sake of leaving a new generation of football enthusiasts unscarred, let’s hope that level of atrociousness never appears again. We can always look back, after all.