Detroit Lions complete 0-16 season

To their credit, the Detroit Lions didn’t roll over against the Green Bay Packers.  They were in the game throughout and at times appeared that a win was possible to avoid the ignominy of becoming the first NFL team to complete a season 0-16.  A 17 point Green Bay outburst in the 4th quarter broke open a close game as the Packers posted a 31-21 home victory to conclude a disappointing 2008 season for them and a disastrous campaign of historic proportions for their opponents.

The Lions realized full well the stakes of what otherwise would have been a meaningless swansong to the season by two non-playoff teams—during the week before the game a number of Detroit players suggested that this game was “their Superbowl”.  That comparison is off base, of course, as many sportswriters have wryly observed that no one remembers the team that loses the Superbowl.  By comparison, the Lions loss—or more specifically their season full of losses—will never be forgotten and serve as the measuring stick for pro football futility, much as the 1972 Miami Dolphins still do for regular season excellence.

They’ve now replaced the 1976 Tampa Bay Bucs as the nadir of the NFL, though that’s as much due to the longer season as to any inherent qualitative difference between the two teams.   The Bucs 0-14 record will now likely fade into the recess of NFL history, while the 2008 Lions’ 0-16 mark will take their place as the “worst case scenario” for struggling pro football teams. After the game, the Lions sounded almost ashamed in their comments.  Center Dominic Raiola made it sound like an indelible mark on his personal character:

"I've got to live with this. I've been here eight years. This is on my resume."

Kicker Jason Hanson’s observations sounded like he was in a state of shock:

 "It's just kind of numb. It's here. It's been coming, though, a train rolling down the tracks for a while. We tried to stop it. We couldn't."

Lions QB Dan Orlovsky said that he almost couldn’t remember what winning felt like:

"I don't ever want to be a part of this again. We haven't won since, November of '07, maybe? I don't even know the last time we won a game."

Detroit Coach Rod Marinelli may have the most damage to his marketability, which he’ll need as he’s almost certainly gone after the 0-16 debacle.  In what was likely a last ditch attempt at damage control in hopes of keeping his job, he tried to put it into a larger perspective:

“No competitor wants to go through something like this. This is not fun to go through, obviously. But there's people going through a lot worse than this."

Packers QB Aaron Rodgers downplayed the significance of the Lions’ 0-16 record, suggesting that the team only wanted to win:

"We didn't want to lose, no, we didn't. But really it's not on your mind once the game starts. I didn't even think about it until the fans started chanting in the fourth quarter. They played hard, they really did."

Packers’ coach Mike McCarthy politely recused himself from any discussion of the Lions’ 0-16 season:

"I want to politely try to avoid the question here. That's tough. That's a tough deal. But we were focused on winning the game."

The Packers finished their first season of the post-Brett Favre era with a disappointing 6-10 mark, but had some bright spots and new QB Aaron Rodgers showed considerable promise.  The Lions have few, if any, “bright spots” to take from the 2008 campaign.  The best thing they can say about is that it’s finally over.