Which NFL achievement is more difficult
By: LOREN NELSON - Sports Editor | ∞
By: MARC FIGUEROA - Staff Writer
Going 0-16
Human beings by nature pursue victory, not the agony of defeat. Hard work eventually pays off. What would be the point otherwise?
Even Loren, my sad sack editor who ranks as the worst hockey player this side of the Great Lakes, will slip one past the goalie every once in a blue moon.
The law of averages will tip the scales at some point and as rocker Tom Petty says, "Even the losers get lucky sometimes."
So if the Miami Dolphins do run the table and supplant the 1976 Tampa Bay Buccaneers as the undisputed kings of 0-fer-dom, Sir Isaac Newton will undoubtedly roll over in his grave while everyone above ground sizes up just how bad an 0-16 team really is in this era of modern football.
I believe it takes a real winner to be a perennial loser. Think about it. And just look at what the Dolphins have had to go through just to reach futile perfection.
The Dolphins really have no business being 0-11 right now. They have lost six games by only three points and have only been blown out twice. Miami scored 31 points against Cleveland and lost, and held Pittsburgh scoreless for 59 minutes and lost.
The Dolphins have lost all of their games by a combined 91 points. The '76 Bucs on the other hand, lost their 14 games by a combined 287 points.
Miami's defense is pretty solid, and its rushing offense ranks ahead of half the league.
The Dolphins aren't as bad as their record indicates, which drives home my point.
These guys are succeeding at losing week after week, which is much more impressive than the undefeated Patriots, who have had to cheat just to stay perfect. The Fish are just plain losers, open and honestly. Now that's saying something.
The sad part of all this is the Dolphins probably will step up and win a game this season, which is going to take all the fun out of harping on this team's ability to royally suck. But a win seems inevitable. After all, four of their remaining five opponents are a mere 15-29, including the 2-9 Jets, whom the Dolphins face today. New York is probably a worse team than Miami, so this debate could be a moot point by tonight.
Regardless of records, though, the human race will not allow Miami to come up with a goose egg. No one was born to lose, except maybe for Loren, who looks about as comfortable on ice skates as a penguin does in Death Valley. There's no debating that.
Marc Figueroa can be reached at marcfig@aol.com.
Going unbeaten
To see how easy it is to keep a losing streak intact, look no further than the right side of this page.
Luckily for me, wins come easily in this forum when your opponent finds a perverse satisfaction from being second best. It should be noted here that Marc wanted to take the 0-16 side of this debate.
M-Fig is to Choosing Sides what the Buffalo Bills are to Super Bowls. He is perfectly suited to be a San Diego sports fan and, as such, argue the merits of a winless season or the unappreciated genius in drafting Ryan Leaf. Losing, he'll tell you, ain't half bad.
The 1984 and '98 World Series were heady times for Marc, as was the Super Bowl to conclude the 1994 season. So what if the Padres and Chargers emerged as losers in each of those years? For Marc, that was the beauty of it. He savors setbacks much as a wine connoisseur sniffs vintage Bordeauxs.
Only a guy who wears an Arizona Cardinals jersey, Montreal Expos baseball cap and has taken to calling himself the Sergio Garcia of sports journalism (greatest writer never to have won a Choosing Sides debate) could argue that a winless season is more difficult to achieve than an unbeaten one.
We all know, ad nauseam, about the 1972 Miami Dolphins being the only NFL team that can toast to perfection. This year's New England Patriots, at 11-0, appear poised to join them.
But not so fast. The 1998 Denver Broncos reached 13-0 before being stunned by the 5-8 New York Giants. In 2005, the Chargers stung the 13-0 Indianapolis Colts 26-17 in Indianapolis.
The great 1985 Chicago Bears team was 12-0 and seemingly more focused on filming its Super Bowl Shuffle video than preparing for its "Monday Night Football" opponent, the Dolphins. Miami won that game 38-14.
With every win, cockiness and complacency become more of a threat. The media is no ally. Answering questions week after week about what it feels like to still be unbeaten, those '72 Dolphins and how difficult it is ---- "The pressure, can you feel it? Is it hard to breathe?" ---- to win every game can mess with the most focused of minds.
I'll admit a winless NFL season is a noteworthy accomplishment akin to inventing the Cabbage Patch Kids. Somehow, Marc has confused greatness with infamy.
Contact sports editor Loren Nelson at (760) 740-3551 or lnelson@nctimes.com.
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Let's Go Patriots! wrote on Dec 5, 2007 8:04 AM:What a great team! Already set for the playoffs! Everything else is icing on the cake! Brady and Moss are the best!
Go Patriots! wrote on Dec 5, 2007 8:05 AM:Go Jr. Seau! Number 55!
Jaque wrote on Dec 10, 2007 7:45 AM:The hardest thing is watching the Chargers from week to week!
Real Charger Fan wrote on Dec 10, 2007 6:48 PM: Go ahead, and finnally become the 1st NFL team to go 16-0. But fail in the postseason, as almost all teams from the past have done with close records. They will meet there match in the playoffs, and if it happens to be the Chargers we will get are revenge. No team in the NFL is indestructable. Hints the abreviation of NFL (Not For sure League). Patriots aren't America's team. Go Chargers, were are starting to figure are selves out thats for sure. D.B. Temecula
Jaque wrote on Dec 11, 2007 8:54 AM:NFL stands for Not For Long dude. -Jerry Glanville!
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