Two years ago we would have been near the top of this list. It seems like decades ago now, but in October 2022 Sheila felt the need to hold an impromptu press conference to address criticism of Dan Campbell in particular and the frustration around what was then a 1-5 (and soon to be 1-6) start to the season.
this is a pretty good list. And the Bears could be where the Panthers are if Caleb doesn’t work out. Alot of sucktitude involves #1OA picks that havent’ worked out (Young, Watson, Murray, Lawrence).
I think the Colts deserve an honorable mention. They remind me a lot of former Lions teams. They have a lot of talent but they don’t have it all together.
The Jets seem to be heading the wrong direction.
The Browns have to move on at QB again.
Carolina seems the worst of the bunch though.
Panthers are a mess huh? It would be devestating to be a fan. We got through so many shit years bc if hope of those number 1 picks. They traded them away for Young.
The Jets are a mess but Cleveland takes the top prize for me. That Watson deal might rival the worst in sports history. The people who made that deal should’ve have been fired, rehired, and then fired again. Then they should be bound, lubed, and dropped into a maximum security prison yard. Even after that they would’ve only paid about 25% of their restitution.
I don’t think they deserve the lube.
And as shitty as many Lions teams were… We’ve had 15 years of Stafford/Goff… A lot of teams can never find a qb.
Ya organizationaly we knew the stafford lions werent going anywhere significant. Best chance was the 2014 team but the offense was… not great…
The shift in the organization that we have seen has given legitimate hope to many if not all lions fans and we saw the result of two playoff wins while being one terrible half of football away from making it to somewhere this team has never been.
The panthers and browns likely need to make a similar shift in their organizations as they seem to be chasing a failing vision statement.
It’s nice to see a list like this and not wonder if we are #1 or #2. Thank you Seila!!!
Love you Sheila.
Even when it happened people couldnt believe it. Everyone saw this coming, except Cleveland
A rare sports article where the writer clearly put some thought and research into it, and backed up opinions with facts! I am rubbing my eyes right now, and I agree with his list and order. As I was reading it, I was thinking that Cleveland has to be the most hopeless situation and it is. The beauty with the NFL is that with parity, every year your team has a chance. Maybe not a great chance, but a chance. Cleveland does not have that chance this year. Not only that, through complete negligence and stupidity, they do not have hope next year, the year after, and the year after that. That’s some seriously amazing mismanagement. I would say you could make a good argument that Jimmy Haslam is running the Browns like he actively hates them, and is trying to destroy them from the inside out.
I would put the Panthers at 2, and the Jets closely behind at 3. Both have owners who are treat their teams as their personal play things. They have their pets installed at certain positions who ultimately call all of the shots, and everyone else becomes expendable. Tepper takes the lead based on the fact he is openly antagonistic to his own fans, and they force drafted Young and any prospective coach will have to deal with that mess in the future.
For the Jets, the owner sold his soul to Aaron Rodgers and it’s a power couple nightmare until Rodgers retires.
I would put Shad Khan at #4, but at least he tries. I think Kahn’s issue is he needs real football guys to come in, but Kahn clearly cares. To me, Kahn is more incompetent, whereas a Haslam is more malicious.
I would say this. I would replace the Cardinals on this list, and instead add the Dallas Cowboys. Here is another organization where the owner treats the team as his own personal toy, and worse than that, Jerruh has turned the Cowboys into a reality tv show where he stirs up drama just for the clicks and talking head points. It’s not a coincidence at all that he literally waited until right before the season started to sign Dak’s extension. That whole thing has been done for months, but Jerruh drew it out just so people would keep asking when the deal would get done.
In terms of hopelessness, it’s real with them. They’ve paid so much money to Dak, CeeDee and coming to Parsons, they are going to be like the 2010s Lions team where you have 3 people absorbing all of your cap, and the rest of the team is bargin bin filler. Dallas built a hell of an offensive line which powered their team for the past few seasons, but that offensive line has now fallen apart and with it went Dallas’ offense. They got away from what was making them successful, they overpaid their skill guys who aren’t elite, and now the whole team is heading for a downturn.
@Air2theThrown i can’t fully hold the colts responsible for Andrew Luck just suddenly leaving. That set them back a ton. I think they were on their way until that point. I imagine that was probably their equivalent of us losing Barry with no notice.
Which is why I took the stance of defending both Stafford and Goff when the majority of the Fan base seemed to want to move on.
I just don’t think fans realize how hard it is to find a decent QB and your energy is better spent giving them a surrounding cast.
I thought Cleveland moved on from Baker too quickly. It appears the Jets did with Darnold. We see teams like Seattle resurrecting players like Geno Smith.
Surrounding cast matters…. Find a QB with some promise and surround him with talent. If he can’t get it done bring in an aging vet like Tampa did with Brady or Denver did with Manning. Those skilled veterans will want to come on board if you have the pieces in place.
I get it … but that’s kinda what I mean. Every time that teams seems like they’re a step away they take two steps back. Just like a lot of Lions teams have done in the last 35 years.
It kinda goes back the last 14 years or so.
They lost the Super Bowl and declined to 10-6
2010 they go 10-6 and decline again in 2011
to 2-14.
They then follow that up with 3 winning seasons of 11-5 but can’t get back to the SB.
Then they decline 3 years and fall below 500. Winning just 4 games in 2017
2018= 10-6
2019= 7-9
2020= 11-5
2021= 9-8
2022= 4-12
2023= 9-8
Which is why I say they remind me of the SOL Lions of the past. Every time you think they’re close or heading in the right direction they fall apart.
I don’t know if that deal has rivals. It’s easily the dumbest one I can think of. it’s a real albatross for the Browns.
The full details are kind of astonishing:
Browns get:
Plus the Browns are the laughing stock for giving a fully guaranteed contract.
Texans get:
After giving that all away they’re at the point where they have to move on from him too. So he will be a post June cut if he is cut like many people think he will be. Then the Browns will be forced to strip the roster down and a massive rebuild.
Browns will stink for years.