# List of winless seasons

A winless season is a full competitive season in which a team records no wins, the antithesis of a perfect season.

| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| NFL since the 1970 merger | Four teams: the 1976 Tampa Bay Buccaneers (0-14), the 1982 Baltimore Colts (0-8-1), the 2008 Detroit Lions (0-16), and the 2017 Cleveland Browns (0-16)<sup>[1](https://www.pro-football-reference.com/pfr-blog/2024/02/teams-with-worst-records-in-nfl-history/)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[13](https://www.colts.com/team/history/by-the-decade/1980s)</sup> |
| First 0-16 | The 2008 Detroit Lions, the first NFL team to lose every game in a full 16-game schedule<sup>[2](https://www.yardbarker.com/nfl/articles/could_the_miami_dolphins_go_0_17_nfl_winless_history/s1_17098_44428074)</sup> |
| 17-game era | No NFL team has finished 0-17 since the league expanded to 17 regular-season games in 2021<sup>[3](https://unanswered.io/guide/nfl-perfect-or-winless-seasons-16-0-0-16)</sup> |
| Worst single-season scoring | The 1976 Buccaneers scored 125 points and allowed 412, were shut out five times, and carried the NFL-record 26-game losing streak<sup>[4](https://www.nfl.com/news/those-1976-buccaneers-know-all-about-losing-09000d5d80da4a52)</sup> |

## Winless seasons in the NFL

**Early-era winless teams.** Winless seasons appear throughout the NFL's early decades, when schedules were short. The StatMuse database of the worst single-season records includes the 1934 [Cincinnati Reds](https://www.edgepedia.org/cincinnati-reds) (0-8), the 1929 and 1928 Triangles (0-6 and 0-7), the 1927 Bisons (0-5), the 1926 Pros and Colonels (0-4 each), the 1925 Tigers and Badgers, the 1924 Jeffersons and Marines, the 1923 Jeffersons and Brecks, the 1922 Panhandles and Crimson Giants, and the 1921 Flyers (0-2).<sup>[5](https://www.statmuse.com/nfl/ask/nfl-teams-worst-record-ever-in-a-season)</sup> The Rochester Jeffersons went a combined 0-21-2 over four seasons from 1922 to 1925, though in none of those seasons did they play more than seven games.<sup>[6](https://americanfootball.fandom.com/wiki/Imperfect_season)</sup> World War II produced winless seasons for the Chicago Cardinals in 1943 (0-10) and the Card-Pitt combination in 1944 (0-10), along with the 1944 Tigers (0-10) and the 1942 Lions (0-11).<sup>[5](https://www.statmuse.com/nfl/ask/nfl-teams-worst-record-ever-in-a-season)</sup>

**The modern list.** Following the 1970 merger between the AFL and NFL, four franchises have finished a season without a victory: [Tampa Bay](https://www.edgepedia.org/tampa-bay) in 1976, Baltimore in 1982, Detroit in 2008, and [Cleveland](https://www.edgepedia.org/cleveland) in 2017.<sup>[1](https://www.pro-football-reference.com/pfr-blog/2024/02/teams-with-worst-records-in-nfl-history/)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[13](https://www.colts.com/team/history/by-the-decade/1980s)</sup> Winless seasons also occurred under earlier schedule structures: the 1960 [Dallas Cowboys](https://www.edgepedia.org/dallas-cowboys) went 0-11-1, the 1976 Tampa Bay Buccaneers went 0-14, and the 1982 Baltimore Colts went 0-8-1.<sup>[7](https://www.nfl.com/_amp/browns-can-take-heart-in-promise-of-2008-s-0-16-lions-0ap3000000736584)</sup> The 1960 Cowboys and 1982 Colts seasons included ties, which is why their records are not written as simple 0-loss marks.

**The 1976 Buccaneers.** Tampa Bay's expansion debut season became the standard for winless campaigns in the 14-game schedule era. The team was shut out five times and outscored 412-125, an average margin of almost three touchdowns per game, and its 26-game losing streak spanning the 1976 and 1977 seasons remains the longest in NFL history.<sup>[4](https://www.nfl.com/news/those-1976-buccaneers-know-all-about-losing-09000d5d80da4a52)</sup>

**The 2008 Lions.** Detroit became the first NFL team to lose all 16 regular-season games, finishing 0-16 under the 16-game schedule in place from 1978 to 2020.<sup>[2](https://www.yardbarker.com/nfl/articles/could_the_miami_dolphins_go_0_17_nfl_winless_history/s1_17098_44428074)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[8](https://wiki.umoh.org/article/nfl-teams-that-went-winless-all-time/)</sup> The Lions joined the expansion 1976 Buccaneers as only the second team since the merger to finish a full-length season winless.<sup>[8](https://wiki.umoh.org/article/nfl-teams-that-went-winless-all-time/)</sup>

**The 2017 Browns.** Cleveland finished 0-16 one season after going 1-15, becoming the second team in league history to finish 0-16.<sup>[9](https://time.com/5658435/nfl-cleveland-browns-comeback/)</sup> The team did not record its next win until week 3 of the 2018 season, and went 1-35-1 between its three wins through four seasons, with consecutive 17-game losing streaks.

**The 17-game era.** The NFL expanded its regular season to 17 games in 2021, and no team has yet lost every game under that format.<sup>[1](https://www.pro-football-reference.com/pfr-blog/2024/02/teams-with-worst-records-in-nfl-history/)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[3](https://unanswered.io/guide/nfl-perfect-or-winless-seasons-16-0-0-16)</sup> Near-misses remain more common than the full winless season: in the 16-game era from 1978 through 2020, 11 teams went 1-15.<sup>[1](https://www.pro-football-reference.com/pfr-blog/2024/02/teams-with-worst-records-in-nfl-history/)</sup>

## Other American football leagues

**Arena football.** Six winless regular seasons have occurred in [Arena Football League](https://www.edgepedia.org/arena-football-league) history. The Memphis Pharaohs' second season was one of those six; the franchise then relocated to [Portland, Oregon](https://www.edgepedia.org/portland-oregon) to become the Portland Forest Dragons.<sup>[10](https://arenafootball.fandom.com/wiki/Memphis_Pharaohs)</sup>

**Canadian football.** Only one team in CFL history has gone winless, and that was in 1949, when the schedule was only 12 games.<sup>[11](https://news.sportsinteraction.com/cfl/story/2026-cfl-odds-are-the-ottawa-redblacks-the-worst-team-in-cfl-history-944608)</sup> There have been no imperfect seasons since the CFL was officially founded in 1958. The closest any CFL team has come is the 2003 [Hamilton Tiger-Cats](https://www.edgepedia.org/hamilton-tiger-cats), who went 1-17; three other seasons since 1958 saw a team win a single game under shorter standard regular-season schedules.

## Other sports

Winless seasons extend well beyond gridiron football.

## Related records and near-winless seasons

A winless season sits at one end of a spectrum of poor seasons that lists of this kind usually distinguish. In English association football, Derby County's [2007-08 Premier League](https://www.edgepedia.org/2007-08-premier-league) campaign, with one win and 11 points, remains the benchmark for worst top-flight season rather than a winless one; Aston Villa's 17 points in 2015-16 is the closest any side has come to Derby's tally.<sup>[12](https://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/derby-county-200708-worst-premier-league-season-ever)</sup>

## References

1. [Teams with the Worst Single-Season Records in NFL History, Pro-Football-Reference.com](https://www.pro-football-reference.com/pfr-blog/2024/02/teams-with-worst-records-in-nfl-history/)
2. [Could the Miami Dolphins Go 0-17? NFL Winless History, Yardbarker](https://www.yardbarker.com/nfl/articles/could_the_miami_dolphins_go_0_17_nfl_winless_history/s1_17098_44428074)
3. [Has Any NFL Team Gone 16-0 or 0-16? Perfect & Winless Seasons, Unanswered](https://unanswered.io/guide/nfl-perfect-or-winless-seasons-16-0-0-16)
4. [Those 1976 Buccaneers know all about losing, NFL.com](https://www.nfl.com/news/those-1976-buccaneers-know-all-about-losing-09000d5d80da4a52)
5. [NFL Teams Worst Record Ever In A Season, StatMuse](https://www.statmuse.com/nfl/ask/nfl-teams-worst-record-ever-in-a-season)
6. [Imperfect season, American Football Wiki](https://americanfootball.fandom.com/wiki/Imperfect_season)
7. [Browns can take heart in promise of 2008's 0-16 Lions, NFL.com](https://www.nfl.com/_amp/browns-can-take-heart-in-promise-of-2008-s-0-16-lions-0ap3000000736584)
8. [NFL Teams That Went Winless [All Time], Wiki](https://wiki.umoh.org/article/nfl-teams-that-went-winless-all-time/)
9. [It's Time. The Cleveland Browns Are Ready to Start Winning, TIME](https://time.com/5658435/nfl-cleveland-browns-comeback/)
10. [Memphis Pharaohs, Arena Football League Wiki](https://arenafootball.fandom.com/wiki/Memphis_Pharaohs)
11. [2026 CFL Odds: Are the Ottawa RedBlacks the worst team in CFL history?, Sports Interaction](https://news.sportsinteraction.com/cfl/story/2026-cfl-odds-are-the-ottawa-redblacks-the-worst-team-in-cfl-history-944608)
12. [Derby County's shocking 2007/08 revisited, FourFourTwo](https://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/derby-county-200708-worst-premier-league-season-ever)
13. [The Official Website of the Indianapolis Colts](https://www.colts.com/team/history/by-the-decade/1980s)

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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Sports, games, and recreation › Association football › Football competitions and records › Records and substantive reference › Professional gridiron records and reference (NFL, CFL, arena)*

*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 21, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 21, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 21, 2026*

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