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.