Who's historically the worst team in the NFL among current 32?

August 10, 2025 by CollegeFootballPoll.com staff

When teams endure long streaks of losing seasons, the paper bags come out to cover the heads of many of the fans in attendance.

When the 2025 NFL season kicks off on September 4, several teams will be vying to be the worst. It's not on purpose. They just won't be able to help it.

If preseason NFL win total odds are a reliable indicator, one historically bad franchise will return the bottom. The New Orleans Saints are currently tied at +40000 with the Cleveland Browns as the two least-likely teams to win the Super Bowl. The Browns' best win total odds are +120 for under 4.5. The Saints are +110 for under 4.5.

New Orleans was so bad from 1967 to 1986, they had no playoff appearances and the team was referred to as the "Aint's" instead of the "Saints". Sixteen of those seasons saw the team win no more than 5 games under 11 different head coaches, including Dick Nolan and Bum Phillips. Even NFL Hall of Fame coach Hank Stram only managed to go 7-21 in two seasons.

Jim E. Mora and Sean Payton are the only head coaches who have produced winning records in the Crescent City.

Mora was there for 10 years and went 93-74 from 1986 to 1995, but never won a playoff game (0-4).

Jim Haslett, in his first season as head coach of New Orleans, finally coached the team to a breakthrough division title in 2000, and topped that with the franchise's first playoff win by ousting the St. Louis Rams in a Wild Card game. It was not a sign of better things to come as he also finished under water with a 45-51 mark in six seasons from 2000-2005, concluding with a 3-13 record in '05.

That 3-13 mark led to the hiring of Sean Payton who elevated the club to levels of which it had long been starving. In Payton's first season as head coach, and Drew Brees' first at QB, the Saints won the NFC South and a divisional playoff game as Payton was named coach of the year.

Two so-so campaigns followed before 2009 delivered a Super Bowl XLIV victory over Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts as Brees took the MVP Award. and Offensive Player of the Year honors. After that, there were a lot of decent regular seasons, but no pay-off at the end of the year. The team only had five wild card playoff wins and none beyond that level. Payton finished 152-89 in the regular seasons and 9-8 in the playoffs. He owns well over a third of the Saints' all-time victories.

But the Saints are NOT historically the worst team in the NFL. They are not even the second-worst. In fact, you might be surprised to learn they rank No. 23 out of the current of 32 teams.

The dubious honor of being the worst is bestowed upon the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Despite winning Super Bowls XXXVII (2002 season) and LV (2020 season), the club that began play in the stadium known as "The Big Sombrero" has a historical winning percentage of .410 to top Jacksonville (.417).

Here is the bottom ten of all-time worst franchises by winning percentage.
1 Tampa Bay .410
2. Jacksonville .417
3. Arizona/St. Louis/Chicago Cardinals .422
4. New York Jets .437
5. Houston Texans .437
6. Atlanta Falcons .438
7. Carolina Panthers .454
8. Cincinnati Bengals .456
9. Detroit Lions .461
10. New Orleans Saints .465
Source - Pro Football Reference

Tampa Bay lost its first 26 games as a ballclub, going 0-14 in 1976 and stretching the run to 0-12 in 1977 before getting its first win on the road at where else but New Orleans. The victory pumped so much life into its fan base that it nearly packed the house for its return home and the Bucs didn't disappoint by beating the St. Louis Cardinals 17-7 to end the 2-12 campaign. After a 5-11 mark in 1978, Tampa Bay managed to go 10-6 in 1979, win the NFC Central and oust Philadelphia in the divisional playoff round before bowing to the LA Rams in the NFC Championship game.

The success didn't last and John McKay would finish 44-88-1.

Fourteen consecutive losing seasons would follow under the likes of Ray Perkins and Sam Wyche before Tony Dungy (54-42, 2-4 playoffs) began the turnaround and Jon Gruden brought home Super Bowl XXXVII to cap the 2002 campaign.

Again, the success didn't last and Gruden only managed two Wild Card playoff losses over the next six seasons. He would leave with records of 57-55, plus 3-2 in the playoffs.

Twelve more seasons of futility would pass before the G.O.A.T. arrived to play quarterback in 2020 as he teamed up with the offense mind of head coach Bruce Arians to win Super Bowl LV over the Kansas City Chiefs while becoming the first to win the Super Bowl in their own home stadium. (Ironically, the Rams would the following Super Bowl win in their own stadium the very next season).

Tampa Bay entered the playoffs that year as a Wild Card team and advanced to the Super Bowl with road wins over the Washington Football Team, the Saints and the Green Bay Packers.

Arians retired after the 2021 season and Brady did the same after sticking around to play one year under current head coach Todd Bowles.

Nonetheless, Tampa Bay has won four straight division titles since the last Super Bowl victory, becoming a fixture in the playoffs.

But it still hasn't been enough to overcome the stigma of being historically worst than the other 31 clubs playing ball in the NFL.