Here are the longest losing streaks for all 32 NFL teams

Two NFL teams currently are in the midst of double-digit losing streaks. The Cleveland Browns are at 15 straight losses dating back to last season. And the San Francisco 49ers now have dropped 10 straight since the Week 1 win. Each of those are the longest losing streaks in their respective franchises’ histories.

That got us to thinking: What are the longest losing streaks for each NFL franchises? Some might surprise you, but others are either well-known or not that stunning. Wpe listed each team’s streaks (via Pro Football Reference) from most pathetic to least, if for no other reason than to get the bad news out of the way and work our way up to the not-as-depressing history.

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(Note: We did not include the 29-game losing streak for the Chicago Cardinals from 1942 to 1945 because it included the temporary merger of two franchises — along with the Pittsburgh Steelers — during World War II. You can read more about that interesting history here.)

Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Losing streak: 26 games
When: Sept. 12, 1976 to Dec. 12, 1977
The skinny: The expansion Buccaneers lost their first 26 games, which remains the worst streak of infamy in league history. Poor John McKay, who won four national titles in college, somehow kept his sense of humor during the pitiful run. But he had legitimate reason to smile when it ended at the Superdome when the Bucs thumped an overconfident New Orleans Saints team led by Archie Manning (whose pregame comments became bulletin board material for the Bucs). Two seasons later, the Bucs were hosting the NFC title game — a remarkable turnaround. We highly recommend you watch the NFL Network “Timeline” story about the 0-26 Bucs. It’s a really good story.

Tied-2. Detroit Lions
Losing streak: 19 games
When: Dec. 30, 2007 to Sept. 20, 2009
The skinny: The 2007 Lions fell from 6-2 at the midpoint to out of the playoffs at 7-9. And then 2008 brought history: the league’s first 0-16 season (the NFL played 14-game seasons when the Bucs were winless in 1976). The most crushing loss was a 12-10 defeat to the Minnesota Vikings when Dan Orlovsky hilariously ran out of the end zone on his own volition for a safety that provided the winning margin.

Rod Marinelli was fired and replaced by Jim Schwartz, who led the Lions to a thrilling victory over the Washington Redskins early in the 2009 season. In fact, the Lions are the only team on this list to have a losing streak span parts of three seasons. Ugh. But the Lions made the playoffs two years later.

Tied-2. Oakland Raiders
Losing streak: 19 games
When: Nov. 1961 to Dec. 12, 1962
The skinny: There were some dark days in the early years of the franchise, which appeared rudderless as it bounced from stadium to stadium (including two in San Francisco) and went through coaches like dirty napkins. The 1961 Raiders lost their final six games, and the 1962 club picked up right where they left off, dropping their first 13 games in what appeared to be a winless season. But in the finale — actually playing a game in Oakland proper, at Frank Youell Field (capacity 22,000) — the Raiders rose up with a defensive gem, shutting out the Boston Patriots, who were without starting QB Babe Parilli, 20-0. It was the first shutout in Raiders history, and the rainy, sloppy conditions no doubt played a part.

In the offseason, the Raiders hired a 33-year-old head coach and general manager named Al Davis away from Sid Gillman’s San Diego Chargers coaching staff and the rest was history. The Raiders were 10-4 in 1963 but wouldn’t make the postseason until 1967 — and they would miss the playoffs only once in the 11 seasons to follow. (The Raiders also would lose 16 straight from Nov. 24, 2013 to Nov. 16, 2014.)

4. Houston Oilers (now Tennessee Titans)
Losing streak: 18 games
When: Oct. 9, 1972 to Oct. 28, 1973
The skinny: The Oilers actually own two of the six longest streaks in NFL-AFL history, dropping 18 straight in 1972-1973 and then 17 straight almost a decade later to the day. The first streak covered more than a calendar year and resulted in back-to-back 1-13 seasons. Quarterback Dan Pastorini was also the punter, which was convenient — the Oilers topped 20 points only once during the streak. It came to an end with a 31-27 win over the Baltimore Colts on a final-minute touchdown from Lynn Dickey to Fred Willis.

Painfully, the Oilers dropped their final six games of the 1973 season and lost 11 of their next 12 but improved to 10-4 in 1975 and made the postseason in 1978. (The Oilers became the Titans in 1997, and that iteration of the franchise dropped a Tennessee-worst 10 straight in 2014.)

Tied-5. St. Louis Rams (now Los Angeles Rams)
Losing streak: 17 games
When: Oct. 26, 2008 to Oct. 25, 2009
The skinny: Going from Super Bowl contender to bottom of the barrel in the matter of a few years, the Rams went one day short of a year between victories. Although they still had Torry Holt, Steven Jackson and Marc Bulger, the offense struggled badly. Jim Haslett won his first two games after replacing Scott Linehan as head coach but then dropped 12 straight to close out 2008. Steve Spagnuolo took over in 2009 and ended the streak against … the Lions. Yes, the same 2009 Lions that had ended their own streak of sadness.

The Rams dropped their final eight games in 2009 and their first two of 2010, so a loss to the Lions that day would have made the streak an NFL-worst 30 losses in a row. But it didn’t happen, so whatever. The Rams have not been back to the playoffs since. Hey, you wanted this, L.A. (The longest streak in L.A. Rams history was 12 games between 1959 and 1960.)

Tied-5. Washington Redskins
Losing streak: 17 games
When: Oct. 30, 1960 to Nov. 12, 1961
The skinny: After losing the 1945 NFL title game, the Redskins suffered through a long period of ignominy, which bottomed out in the 1960 and 1961 seasons. After a 1-1-2 start (for real) in 1960, they didn’t have to worry about tricky tiebreaker scenarios; this team was just U-G-L-Y ugly. That team lost eight straight, failing to gain double-digit first downs in half of them.

The 1961 Skins were no better, but the hilarious footnote is that the streak ended with a 28-28 tie to the rival Dallas Cowboys, who also were awful back then. So the Redskins actually went 23 straight games without a victory. The bookend wins were both against the Cowboys, too. The Redskins had to wait until the 1971 season to finish about .500 and make the playoffs. They say things move slowly in Washington D.C., but that’s just a ridiculous string of red tape.

Tied-7. Miami Dolphins
Losing streak: 16 games
When: Dec. 17, 2006 to Dec. 9, 2007
The skinny: Want to stump your friends? Ask them who was coaching the Dolphins at the start of their franchise-worst losing streak. Answer: Nick Saban. As rumors were flying about Saban leaving for Alabama — as Saban scolded the media for fueling the chatter — the team dropped its final three games of 2006 to drop to 6-10. Saban indeed left, and his replacement, Cam Cameron, started out 0-13. The offensively inept Dolphins started Cleo Lemon, John Beck and a 37-year-old Trent Green at quarterback that season and punted a lot.

But the streak ended in improbable fashion against the Baltimore Ravens as Lemon hit Greg Camarillo for a walk-off 64-yard TD midway through overtime. (An aside: Imagine Ray Lewis’ reaction that day.) Cameron was fired, replaced by Tony Sparano, who led an incredible turnaround in 2008 with a postseason appearance and an 11-5 record. The Ravens got their revenge in the 27-9 playoff victory that season, and the Dolphins haven’t been back since. Maybe this is the year that streak ends.

Tied-7. Pittsburgh Steelers
Losing streak: 16 games
When: Sept. 28, 1969 to Oct. 3, 1970
The skinny: Surprised? Yes, Chuck Noll might not have known what he was walking into with the mess Bill Austin left him. Noll actually won his first game as coach, 16-13 to the Lions, and then finished his debut season 1-13. Pitt Stadium (this was pre-Three Rivers) was filled with the tears of Pittsburghers, who were watching their beloved team lose almost every game and the steel industry start to crumble around them.

Rookie quarterback Terry Bradshaw helped end the streak against the Bills in his fourth NFL start, although he was 3-of-12 passing for 24 yards in the game and would be benched a few times after that. It worked out OK. Noll and Bradshaw helped build one of the NFL’s greatest dynasties that started with a playoff appearance in 1972 and culminated in four Super Bowl titles from the 1974 season through 1979.

Tied-9. Buffalo Bills
Losing streak: 15 games
When: Nov. 22, 1970 to Nov. 21, 1971
The skinny: Another team that went one day short of a calendar year between victories, the Bills had future Hall of Famer O.J. Simpson and Pro Bowl receiver Marlin Briscoe but little else. Simpson was not yet Simpson, struggling early in his career there, and the Bills would be held to 10 points or fewer seven times during the losing spell. They’d turn things around with a playoff appearance in 1974 before falling back hard; in fact, the Bills would lose 14 straight over the 1976 and 1977 seasons, also with Simpson.

The Bills would make the playoffs again in 1980 and 1981 and lose in the divisional round both times before — goodness — a 13-game losing streak from 1983 to 1984. But then they’d hire Marv Levy, who led the Bills on their run of greatness at the end of the decade.

Tied-9. Carolina Panthers
Losing streak: 15 games
When: Sept. 23, 2001 to Jan. 6, 2002
The skinny: The then-seven-year old franchise had already been to an NFC championship game in its second season and was being coached by George Seifert, so there were not a lot of indications that the franchise was on the verge of collapse. It certainly didn’t look that way when rookie Steve Smith scored a touchdown on a kickoff return the first time he touched the ball in the NFL and 29-year-old rookie QB Chris Weinke led a Week 1 victory over Randy Moss’ Minnesota Vikings at the Metrodome.

But 9/11 rocked the country two days later, and the Panthers lost 15 straight to close out the season. Nine of the 15 losses were by one score. John Fox took over the next season, led them to a 7-9 record in 2002 and had incredibly them in the Super Bowl the season after that.

Tied-9. Cleveland Browns
Losing streak: 15 games
When: Dec. 20, 2015 to present
The skinny: Well, here we are … where to begin? Yes, Johnny Manziel was the last Browns QB to win a game for the franchise. Yes, they’ve had seven different men throw passes for the team this season. Yes, the defense is dreadful. And yes, if they finish the season with four more losses they will not only match the 2008 Lions as the only other 0-16 team but also run their L streak to 19, which would place them tied for second on this list. We’re not even going to tell you that the future is bright because it feels like we’re just unfairly salting the wounds. Besides, Browns fans appear uniquely equipped to handle the sorrow.

Tied-12. Baltimore Colts (now Indianapolis Colts)
Losing streak: 14 games
When: Sept. 13, 1981 to Dec. 13, 1981
The skinny: The early 1980s were a dark time in the venerable history of the Colts’ franchise as owner Robert Irsay started turning his back on Baltimore and the team fell into the doldrums after a nice run in the mid-to-late 1970s. The Colts bookended their season with wins over the New England Patriots and lost the middle 14 in Bert Jones’ final season with the franchise. Former Nebraska star David Humm made his only NFL start (in a 37-13 loss to the Cowboys) and completed 7-of-24 passes for 90 yards and two INTs. Two seasons later, the Colts would bolt for Indianapolis and Baltimore would not have NFL football again for 12 years. The Colts would next make the postseason in 1987 but not return until 1995.

Tied-12. Houston Texans
Losing streak: 14 games
When: Sept. 22, 2013 to Dec. 29, 2013
The skinny: The Texans were 2-0 after an overtime win over the Raiders and looked to keep building on their success in 10- and 12-win playoff seasons the prior two years. But the bottom completely fell out, as the Texans would drop their final 14 games of the season. It included a particularly brutal stretch from Week 7 to Week 13 where the six losses came by a combined 22 points. Head coach Gary Kubiak seemed to take the brunt of the losses, and he collapsed after suffering a mini-stroke during halftime of a home loss to the Colts.

Wade Phillips took over as interim coach to finish out the season, and both men were fired after season’s end. It worked out for them, as they led the Denver Broncos to a Super Bowl title in February. The Texans made the postseason in their second season under Bill O’Brien, in 2015.

Tied-12. New Orleans Saints
Losing streak: 14 games
When: Sept. 7, 1980 to Dec. 7, 1980
The skinny: The “Aints,” as they were known in those days, were among the NFL’s more inept teams, having never made the playoffs in their existence at that point. But they never were as bad as they were in 1980, when they lost their first 14 games before pulling out a one-point victory over the 3-11 New York Jets in a windy snowstorm at Shea Stadium in Week 15 to prevent an 0-16 campaign. Saints players actually drank champagne in the locker room afterward to celebrate.

But with the No. 1 pick in the draft the following spring, the Saints would take George Rogers over Lawrence Taylor — ouch. The franchise would have to wait seven more years for its first playoff appearance and another 13 years after that for its first playoff victory.

Tied-12. New England Patriots
Losing streak: 14 games
When: Sept. 23, 1990 to Dec. 30, 1990
The skinny: Millenials: The Patriots were not always great, you see. In fact, they were perhaps the worst organization in the NFL in 1990, when they won a single game under owner Victor Kiam, a razor mogul whom Patriots fans despised and wanted to use his wares against him. Rod Rust’s one and only NFL head coaching season was an absolute dumpster fire of a year. Where to begin? The week after beating the Colts, 16-14, in Week 2, three partially naked Patriots players harassed and assaulted a female Boston Herald writer named Lisa Olsen, and the team lost every game thereafter that season.

The team had a minus-265 point differential in 1990 and was only the second NFL team since WWII to have at least 11 losses in which they never led in the game. In Week 15, the Patriots somehow managed to fall behind 9-0 to the Washington Redskins before the Redskins even ran an offensive play. It would be another four seasons before the Patriots were back in the playoffs, after Bill Parcells gutted the operation and started from near scratch.

Tied-12. Philadelphia Eagles
Losing streak: 14 games
When: Sept. 20, 1936 to Sept. 21, 1937
The skinny: The country was still five years away from entering WWII, and future NFL commissioner Bert Bell was coaching the team. He won his first game as coach that season, 10-7, and then saw the Eagles score a total of 41 points in the 11 losses to close out 1936. (A sampling of player names from that squad: Eggs Manske, Stumpy Thomason, Swede Hanson and Reds Bassman. Bet they were a motley crew at least.) Bell had convinced the NFL to have a college draft that year, but there was one problem: With the first overall pick, Bell picks University of Chicago star halfback Jay Berwanger, who refused to play for the team.

The streak would last three more games into 1937, when a 6-6 tie to the Chicago Cardinals ended it. Their first draft pick that season, Heisman Trophy runner-up Sam Francis, also refused to play for the team — we’re noticing a trend here. And that club had players named Winnie Baze and Fritz Ferko, so at least their roster was interesting to look at. The Eagles next made the NFL playoffs a decade later in 1947. (If you’re wondering what the modern Eagles record for longest losing streak is, it was a pair of 11-gamers over the 1968, 1969 and 1970 seasons.)

Jacksonville Jaguars
Losing streak: 13 games
When: Dec. 2, 2012 to Oct. 27, 2013
The skinny: Mike Mularkey’s one season as Jaguars coach was a 2-14 disaster, ping-ponging between Blaine Gabbert and Chad Henne at QB as the team dropped all five games in December. Gus Bradley’s first season as head coach treaded over similar themes. New owner Shad Khan definitely “bought low” when he purchased the team prior to the start of the losing streak.

It ended with a road victory over the Titans (the last team they beat before the streak started), but going 2-14 at home over those two seasons definitely made EverBank Stadium an attraction for its pool and the pool alone. The Jaguars have not been to the playoffs since and are currently 2-9, guaranteed of its ninth straight non-winning season.

Tied-18. Kansas City Chiefs
Losing streak: 12 games
When: Nov. 4, 2007 to Sept. 21, 2008
The skinny: The 2007 Chiefs headed to their bye week at 4-3 but lost every remaining game, the most painful of which was an overtime loss in Week 17 to a Jets team that had traded Edwards to the Chiefs the year prior. Three more losses to start 2008 pushed the streak to an even dozen, but that season was even worse: a 2-14 mark after a full-scale youth movement gutted the roster of many of its name players. Imagine a team that collected 10 sacks for the season on defense and brandished Tyler Thigpen, Brodie Croyle and Damon Huard at quarterback, and there are your ’08 Chiefs in a nutshell.

They’d bounce back into the playoffs in 2010 under Todd Haley, fire him the next season, go through a 2-14 campaign under Romeo Crennel two years later and then return to the postseason the next year under new coach Andy Reid. Breaking: The Chiefs are freakin weird, man.

Tied-18. New York Jets
Losing streak: 12 games
When: Dec. 3, 1995 to Oct. 20, 1996
The skinny: Jets fans hurtfully refer to this as “the Rich Kotite era.” Four victories and a minus-326 point differential in two seasons will permanently hurt a fanbase. Frankly, we wish the 1995 team would have been better given that it featured quarterbacks named Boomer (Esiason) and Bubby (Brister). But, alas, they stunk. The 1996ers were worse: 1-15 with the lone win over Arizona Cardinals, a game in which the Jets threatened to blow a 17-0 lead. (Keep reading a few paragraphs down for a fascinating connection with this game.)

But Parcells knows a good trash heap when he sees it. He took over the team that following offseason and had them in the AFC title game two years later. That’s why he’s the man.

Tied-18. St. Louis Cardinals (now Arizona Cardinals)
Losing streak: 12 games
When: Nov. 24, 1977 to Oct. 22, 1978
The skinny: The 1977 and 1978 Cardinals were coached by two legends — Don Coryell the first year and Bud Wilkinson the next — and were a not-terrible 13-17 over those two seasons. But they started out 7-3 before losing four straight to close out 1977, including the Bucs’ first win in Tampa, and started out 0-8 under Wilkinson.

Interesting bit of trivia: The final of those eight losses in 1978 was to the Jets, and in an odd scheduling quirk in the then-unbalanced NFL, it would be the last time the franchises would meet until 1996 — and yes, that ’96 game was the same one that ended the Jets’ 12-game streak that year. (In case you’re wondering, the longest losing streak since the franchise moved to Arizona was 11, spanning the 1991 and 1992 seasons.)

Tied-21. Atlanta Falcons
Losing streak: 11 games
When: Nov. 5, 1967 to Oct. 6, 1968
The skinny: The year-old franchise was 4-16-1 when it ripped off seven straight losses to finish the 1967 season (four featuring seven points scored or fewer) and ran it all the way to a Spinal Tapian 11 the following season. That did in old Norb Hecker as coach; he was fired and replaced by Norm Van Brocklin, who won his second game but saw the al-time franchise record sit at 8-41-1 at one point on his watch.

The Falcons drafted future Hall of Famer Claude Humphery in 1968 but wouldn’t make the playoffs for another decade and three head coaches later.

Tied-21. Cincinnati Bengals
Losing streak: 11 games
When: Dec. 27, 1992 to Nov. 21, 1993
The skinny: Between Christmas 1992 to Thanksgiving 1993, the Bengals didn’t win a game. That was David Shula’s little gift — one of many — to the Queen City during his seeming interminable tenure as head coach. You can see why Anthony Munoz would retire after the ’92 season. Esiason was traded to the Jets (see above), and David Klinger was anointed the starter. Well, that didn’t go as planned. Klingler threw only six TD passes in his 13 starts in ’93. The Bengals beat the Raiders in Week 13 to end the schneid, but Shula and Klinger were run out of town a few years later.

It would be 12 long seasons before the Bengals made the postseason again, and they still haven’t won a playoff game since January 6, 1991, which was nearly 9,500 days ago. Which begs the question: How in the hell is this franchise’s longest losing streak only 11?

Tied-21. Denver Broncos
Losing streak: 11 games
When: Nov. 3, 1963 to Oct. 4, 1964
The skinny: In their early days, the Broncos were among the annual bottom dwellers of the AFL. One reason they sucked in 1963 was that they had the fewest passing yards in the that season and allowed 473 points — second-most all time for a 14-game season. The Broncos allowed 40 passing touchdowns on defense, a record that was not broken until the 2015 Saints stole that record. The Broncos’ head coach was Jack Faulkner, and it was truly an “As I Lay Dying” type of season. They closed out on an 0-9-1 run and opened up with an 1-8 mark.

The team was extremely close to being sold and shipped to Chicago to play second fiddle to the Bears (and play in Comiskey Park, imagine that) before the deal was nixed. And though it would be many years before the Broncos reached the playoffs — the “Orange Crush” Super Bowl team of 1977 — their fans would be very glad they stayed put.

Tied-21. San Diego Chargers
Losing streak: 11 games (twice)
When: Sept. 21, 1975 to Nov. 30, 1975 and Sept. 3, 2000 to Nov. 19, 2000
The skinny: The Chargers were AFL kingpins in the early-to-mid 1960s, reaching five title games in a six-year stretch and winning the 1963 championship under Gillman but became NFL also-rans after the 1970 merger. The 1975 Chargers lost their first 11 games and didn’t turn the corner until Coryell revived the franchise with four straight playoff appearances starting in 1979.

The team bottomed out again in the 1-15 season — with the one win by a single point — generations later in 2000. I maintain that was one of the worst teams in NFL history that few mention as such. That club is famous for featuring the NFL’s worst-ever rushing total for a 16-game season: an impossibly low 1,062 yards. Their solution the next year — draft LaDainian Tomlinson — worked out OK. He helped get them back to the postseason four out of five years starting in 2004.

Tied-25. Dallas Cowboys
Losing streak: 10 games (twice)
When: Sept. 24, 1960 to Nov. 27, 1960 and Oct. 3, 1988 to Dec. 4, 1988
The skinny: The debut season of the franchise was a complete dud: 0-10-1, with the tie against the solid New York Giants at Yankee Stadium providing only the smallest highlight. But first-year head coach Tom Landry eventually built the Cowboys into monsters, starting an incredible run of making the postseason 18 times in 20 seasons starting in 1966 with two Super Bowl rings.

But Landry was also at the end of his run as coach when the Cowboys’ next 10-loss streak hit in his final season of 1988. They ended it with a dramatic win over the rival Redskins, who were the defending champs, in Week 15 at RFK Stadium to knock them out of the postseason race. But it was the end of an era as Jerry Jones bought the team in the offseason, Jimmy Johnson replaced Landry and the Cowboys set forth toward building their new dynasty that started with an 11-win team in 1991.

Tied-25. Seattle Seahawks
Losing streak: 10 games
When: Oct. 26, 1980 to Sept. 6, 1981
The skinny: The expansion Seahawks started out their fifth NFL season by picking off Kenny Stabler five times in a game, rushing for 220 yards in a road win over the Redskins and starting out a promising 4-3 — with all the victories coming away from the Kingdome. Then they lost the rest of their games. Two painful ones included a 51-7 drubbing to the Cowboys on Thanksgiving and a home loss the next week to a bad New York Giants team.

But it’s a stretch of futility that few remember, as the team was somewhat competitive before and after. Chuck Knox took over in 1983 and led the team to the playoffs in his first year as coach.

Tied-25. San Francisco 49ers
Losing streak: 10 games
When: Sept. 18, 2016 to present
The skinny: Chip Kelly’s first season in San Fran got off to a strong start with a 28-0 win over the Rams in their first game with the franchise back in L.A. Kelly even earned praise from the skeptical Bay Area media for how he handled a lack of talent and the Colin Kaepernick controversy that sprung up in the preseason. But since then, Gabbert was benched for Kaepernick and the defense has allowed 30 or more points in eight of those 10 losses.

Kaepernick’s strong play on Sunday against the Dolphins gives some hope he might be getting back to vintage form, and there are winnable games left on the schedule — including Sunday at the 2-9 Bears.

Tied-28. Green Bay Packers
Losing streak: 9 games
When: Oct. 24, 1948 to Oct. 2, 1949
The skinny: So it wasn’t Curly Lambeau’s finest team ever, OK? But what does it say about a franchise that has been around for almost a century that this was their longest losing streak? The Packers struggled to do much of note through the 1950s and didn’t make the playoffs again until 1960, which was the start of a brilliant run under Vince Lombardi. Incredible: The Packers have not lost more than five games in a row since a seven-game slide at the end of the 1990 season into early 1991.

Tied-28. New York Giants
Losing streak: 9 games (twice)
When: Sept. 9, 1976 to Nov. 7, 1976 and Nov. 9, 2003 and Sept. 12, 2004
The skinny: Same as the Packers above — the franchise has played 1,284 games in its history and never lost more than nine straight. The first streak cost Bill Arnsparger his job; he was canned after an 0-7 start to the 1976 season, although the NFL did him no favors by scheduling the Giants on the road five of the first six games. It took the franchise five years to get to the playoffs after that. The next streak also cost a coach his job. Jim Fassel was fired after they lost their final eight games after a 4-4 start.

Tom Coughlin lost his debut, then ended the skid in Week 2 of the 2004 season, although he also came close to matching the streak by losing eight games down the stretch that year. The Giants made the postseason four straight years starting in 2005.

Tied-28. Baltimore Ravens
Losing streak: 9 games
When: Oct. 21, 2007 to Dec. 23, 2007
The skinny: The franchise turned 20 this year, and though the early years were pretty lean before Brian Billick arrived, he led them to a Super Bowl title and made them relevant throughout the 2000s. It felt like Billick got jobbed when he was let go after the 2007 season even with the nine-game losing streak following a 4-2 start. There were two overtime losses in that stretch, along with the Monday Night Meltdown to the Patriots, which kept their unbeaten regular season going.

The Ravens let Billick go, replaced him with John Harbaugh and were back in the postseason the following year, starting a streak of six playoff appearances in seven seasons.

Tied-31. Chicago Bears
Losing streak: 8 games (five times)
When: Dec. 15, 1968 to Nov. 2, 1969; Sept. 25, 1978 to Nov. 12, 1978; Dec. 22, 1996 to Oct. 12, 1997; Sept. 22, 2002 to Nov. 18, 2002; and Nov. 27, 2014 to Sept. 27, 2015
The skinny: Another team that has been around forever without a double-digit losing streak, even with some very lean years in Bears history. Of course, five eight-game losing streaks isn’t all that impressive either. George Halas stopped coaching after the 1967 season, and the Bears fell from 7-7 to 1-13 (with Dick Butkus and Gale Sayers) in 1969. In fact, that was the year Brian Piccolo got sick, prompting the Brian’s Song film. The 1978 Bears were weird: they started 3-0, lost eight in a row, then finished winning four of five.

The 2002 Bears played their home games in two hours from Chicago in Champaign while Soldier Field was being renovated, with Jim Miller, Chris Chandler and (recent Grey Cup champion) Henry Burris starting games at quarterback. All you need to know there. Losing five straight down the stretch in 2014 cost (also a Grey Cup champ) Marc Trestman his job, and replacement John Fox ended the bleeding after an 0-3 start in 2015.

Of note: If this year’s Bears, who have dropped three straight heading into Sunday’s home game against the 1-10 49ers, lose all their remaining games, they would match this eight-game streak. You hear that, Matt Barkley?

Tied-31. Minnesota Vikings
Losing streak: 8 games
When: Dec. 21, 2001 to Sept. 29, 2002
The skinny: Denny Green was let go with one game to go in the 2001 season, so his three losses and Mike Tice’s five (four to start the 2002 season) made up the longest losing streak in franchise history. Over this stretch, the Vikings were known for two things: a good offense with Randy Moss and the uncanny ability to fade late in games.

But for the best NFL franchise never to win a Super Bowl — in our minds, at least — it’s another pretty remarkable achievement to have not had any streaks longer than this. They’ve twice lost seven straight and twice lost six straight but never more than eight.

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Eric Edholm is a writer for Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at edholm@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter!

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