It’s amazing how one statement can inspire. Of course, that statement came from the SA Forums.

It started with this man’s quest to find the best NFL team of all time. That transposed into this man’s quest to find the worst team. While picking which teams were the worst teams in each franchise’s history, a simple observation by a poster started the gears grinding:

I would like to nominate the 1958-2007 Detroit Lions.

That’s a whole lot of awful (Well, excluding the Barry Sanders years). While I won’t argue the merits of the Lie-downs history, there has to be an absolute worst year. And so, using the godsend that is WhatIfSports.com, I’m going to run a mini-tournament. 4 teams, best of 5 series, and one team will be crowned the most awful.

Here’s the teams I’ll be using (and their seeding):

1. 2001. The first year of the Millen regime. He brought Marty Morningweg in to coach, and turned a 9-7 team that had seemingly rebounded from losing Barry Sanders into a shocking 2-14 disappointment.
2. 2002. The second year of Millen’s reign. Joey Harrington had been drafted as the quarterback of the future, and hope was in there air. Unfortunately, the team was one win better than the year before.
3. 1942. The only Non-Millen team I’ve put in here, this team has the dubious distinction of going completely winless through 11 games. The team scored only 38 points all season (4 rushing TDs, 1 passing), and was shut out 5 times. Their defense gave up 263 points. I’m seeding them 3rd, because I’m convinced that in a 16 game schedule, they’d back into at least 2 wins.
4. 2007. But… WHY? The team that had us convinced they could win 10? I’m putting them in here basically for my own evil intentions. I want to see just how fraudulent this team was.

And here’s the ground rules:

1. Each round will be best-of-5. I’ll run all 5 games, just for giggles.
2. I’ll saddle each of the modern-era teams with pass-happy offense. The boys from 1942 will run a balanced O.
3. In the interest of fairness, the sims will be run at a neutral, indoor site. How’s the RCA dome sound?

Depending on how this works out, I may do some more mini-tourneys before March runs out. Although I might just stray past sports and just enter the realm of the weird. Sorta like KSK’s Mock Drafts.

Results from 2001-2007 comes tomorrow!