UPDATED, Oct. 4, 2019, 01:00pm
An NFL team really has to display a major degree of incompetence to go 0-16. Only two teams have accomplished football’s Golden Sombrero (Por Cuatro): the 2008 Detroit Lions and 2016 Cleveland Browns. So which team will be next?
The Pittsburgh Steelers won’t have Ben Roethlisberger for a while, but at least they don’t have to worry about finishing 0-16. The Steelers ran into the Cincinnati Bengals, a team that was even more inept than they have been, and the Steelers dispatched them with ease, 27-3.
So the Steelers have been booted out of The Potential 0-16 Club, but the Bengals (0-4) stay in, and they were so awful in the loss to Pittsburgh that they needed to be bumped up a couple of spots in the race for the team most likely to lose ‘em all.
The Dolphins (0-4) won’t plummet to 0-5 this week because they don’t play. But the next game is huge for 0-16 purposes: at home on Oct. 13 against the horrid Washington Redskins (0-4), who basically packed it in a desultory 3-24 loss to the New York Giants.
But the Jets (0-3) are back in action. They play the Eagles (2-2) in Philadelphia, where the fans treat mismatches like this one like public floggings. This would have been one of those old “trap games,” but the Eagles just won at Green Bay and should be fired up. And the Jets are the Jets.
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Shall we catch up again on The Potential 0-16 Club? Here is an update, from bad to even worse.
5. Broncos (0-4).
Next Loss: At Chargers (2-2), Sunday, 4:25 p.m.
They’ll Lose By: Chargers by 6½.
Last Week’s Loss: 24-26 at home to Jacksonville.
Most Winnable Upcoming Game: The Broncos play the Titans on Oct. 13 at home, but look what happened when they played Jacksonville at home — as a 3½-point favorite.
Ugly Number: The Broncos, who lost to the Jaguars on a field goal as time expired, have lost 24 of their last 32 games. The only other team who has been that bad over that period of time is the Jets, also 8-24.
Coaches Corner: “There's no pity parties in the NFL, you know. We've just got to keep going," Vic Fangio said. "Those losses are our own doing. Injuries don't have an effect on those. We've just got to keep going. But nobody's feeling sorry for anybody here.”
4. Jets (0-3).
Next Loss: At Philadelphia (2-2), Sunday, 1 p.m.
They’ll Lose By: Eagles by 14.
Last Week’s Loss: None. Bye week.
Most Winnable Upcoming Game: Nov. 3 at Dolphins. Then they get the Giants, who don’t look as pathetic as they looked two weeks ago.
Ugly Number: The Jets are dead last in the league in offense, mustering just 196.7 yards per game — or 28.3 yards fewer than the No. 31 Dolphins.
Coaches Corner: "There's just a lot of gray right now," Adam Gase said Monday of his quarterback, Sam Darnold, who has missed the last two games with mononucleosis. “There’s a lot of boxes that we've got to check before we can say, hey, we're rolling on Sunday. It's not an ideal situation. It's one of those things where it's the sooner the better that I have an answer." UPDATE: Gase waited until seeing test results Friday that indicated that Darnold had not fully recovered. So they plunge in against Philadelphia with Luke Falk at QB.
3. Bengals (0-4).
Next Loss: Vs. Arizona (0-3-1), Sunday, 1 p.m.
They’ll Lose By: The Bengals are somehow favored by 3½ points, but it is a home game, and Arizona is winless, too.
Last Week’s Loss: 3-27 at Pittsburgh.
Most Winnable Upcoming Game: Here we go. If the Bengals don’t win this one, their next chance to win a softie won’t come until Dec. 3, when they play host to the Jets (0-3).
Ugly Number: This is the first time the Bengals have started 0-4 since 2008, when they lost their first eight games. But they went 4-3-1 in their last eight games, so a turnaround has happened before!
Coaches Corner: "To be quite honest, it starts with me," Zac Taylor said. "I've got to make sure the standard is higher than what it is right now because I haven't done a good enough job, and there's certainly things that I've got to improve on."
2. Redskins (0-4).
Next Loss: Vs. New England (4-0), Sunday, 1 p.m. Yikes.
They’ll Lose By: The Patriots are favored by 15½ points.
Last Week’s Loss: 3-24 to the Giants.
Most Winnable Upcoming Game: The schedule gets much easier in just one week. The Skins go on the road to face the Dolphins (0-4).
Ugly Number: The Redskins were flagged for seven holding penalties (three offense, four defense) against the Giants, one of which was declined.
Coaches Corner: “I’ve got to wait before I complain about the referees, I’ve got to make sure we’re not doing them,” Jay Gruden said. “We’ve preached them, we showed them on tape, we’ve talked about them, tried to practice, but at the end of the day, if you’re holding the guy, they’re going to call it. So, I have to find out why we’re doing it, when we’re doing it, and if we’re doing it.”
1. Dolphins (0-4).
Next Loss: Vs. Washington (0-4), Oct. 13, 1 p.m.
They’ll Lose By: No line yet, but don’t be surprised if the ‘Skins are favored.
Last Week’s Loss: 10-30 to the Chargers at home.
Most Winnable Upcoming Game: Nov. 3 at home against the Jets.
Ugly Number: The Dolphins have been outscored in the second half this year, 81-0. Miami had a 7-3 lead for 3 minutes 47 seconds of the first quarter against the Chargers. It was the Dolphins’ first lead this year.
Coaches Corner: “I would say there’s some improvement. ‘Trending the right way’ – I don’t know if that’s the phrase I would use,” Brian Flores said. “At the end of the day, this is a production business. It’s about wins and losses, and we’re not doing very well in that department.”
