Oakland Raiders and the 20 Longest Losing Streaks in NFL History

It’s A Black Hole All Right, For The 2014 Oakland Raiders

The Oakland Raiders are currently sitting on a 14-game losing streak, the 13th longest of all time and 10th longest since the AFL-NFL merger in 1970.

Whew. After three playoff appearances in 20 years and 11 losing seasons (10 of which with five wins or fewer) and five 8-8 seasons during that time, the Raiders have started this season 0-8. Add those six finishers from last season and voila, Oakland is climbing the ignominious ranking below.

They might even catch…themselves. Back in 1961 and 1962, the Raiders lost 19 in a row, tied for third all time with the more recent Detroit Lions.

But let’s go to the stratosphere of losing streaks – those of 20 or more. There are two, one modern and one – the longest – old time.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers and their ugly uniforms had an equally ugly run – together they lost 26 consecutive in the mid-1970’s.

And it took two teams to forge perhaps one of the worst records to own in football, a team sport all about winning one on any given Sunday. The Chicago Cardinals, first alone, then, due to financial pressures in the early NFL, as merged with the Pittsburgh Steelers, managed to lose 29 in row.

I can’t believe such huge losing streaks can happen again in today’s game. Let’s see how far the Raiders take this one.

Note: These are regular season streaks. Playoff games (if any for these stinkers) are not included.

Photo: Marcio Jose Sanchez, AP via bleacherreport.com