No fan base is happy after a loss, but there are different levels of disappointment. Determining who are the worst feeling fanbases is a combination of what their expectations were for the team and how they had performed recently. It is not just about a team’s record, as a fanbase that expected their team to lose would not feel as down as a fanbase that thought their team had an easy win and lost. Injuries can also be a factor, if your team had a crushing injury that could propel that team on the list. Also how you lose is very important, getting blown out or losing by a hail mary are both crushing losses, much more than losing by 10. Ultimately, the worst thing is the feeling that your team’s season just ended, losses or injuries that lean a fanbase into thinking that way, are the teams at the top of the list.
Exception: Buffalo Bills
We are going to keep this list strictly to how a team as a whole’s performance and how a fan base should feel about the quality of football being played versus their expectations. Damar Hamlin’s injury is terrible and extraordinarily unlucky. I think everyone who loves this sport or even knows what happened to him is rooting for a speedy recovery. The Bills and Bills’ mafia are in a spot where they should only be caring for Damar Hamlin’s health, meanwhile the rest of this list while they’re not feeling worse than the Bills is just focused on their team’s play. Get well soon Damar!
Honorable Mention:
Minnesota Vikings: 17-41 loss to the Green Bay Packers. Usually 12-4 teams are not on this list, but the Vikings are a unique team. Firstly, they just got curb stomped by the Packers where they were outplayed in every phase of the game. Second, injuries are doing this team no favors on the offensive line, their already back up center just went down with a broken fibula and they also lost their right tackle to a calf injury, their offensive line depth is starting to get half ply toilet paper thin. Thirdly, the Vikings are seemingly gimping into the playoffs, over their last four games they are 2-2. In the wins, they needed a 33 point God-sent miracle comeback vs the Colts and a 61 yard field goal at the gun vs the Giants. In the losses, they lost to the Lions 34-23, and let Jared Goff look like Tom Brady with 330 yards and 3-0 touchdown to interception ratio. Then they also got bullied by the Packers until they were down 41-3. To put it nicely, the Vikings are not playing their best football right now. Their team still has tons of talent, especially on offense (I’m looking at you Jefferson) but this team needs to play better if it wants to do anything in the playoffs. Vikings fans should be nervous right now and a meeting against the bad times Bears next week should say a lot about this Vikings team.
#3 The Carolina Panthers
24-30 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. You always see Tom Brady making comebacks again and again, but you never think he’s going to do it against you. We’re winning by 11, it’s in the fourth quarter, we need to make just a few more plays and the game is over. Yes, Brady could theoretically make another comeback but what are the odds of that, he can’t do it every time. Whether or not that last statement is true, he did do it again. In the final 14 minutes of the 4th quarter the Buccaneers would go on to outscore the Panthers 20-3. The Panthers had control of their destiny, if they had won their last two games against the Bucs and Saints, they would have been in the playoffs. Of course their defense fell apart at the worst time against the Buccaneers, Mike Evans alone caught touchdown passes of 63, 57, and 30 yards and Brady shredded them for 432 total yards. Entering the game, the Panthers had won three of their last four games only letting up 20.3 points per game. This was a golden opportunity for a young team looking for a statement win. But they left the game eliminated from the playoffs, with the strength of their team embarrassed and a double digit fourth quarter blown lead. The Panthers now get to focus on making their team look as presentable as possible for when they show Jim Harbaugh around. Of course this game is going to sting for a while for all their fans, especially because now they have to watch Tom Brady in the playoffs, knowing it could have easily been them.
#2 The Washington Commanders
10-24 loss to the Cleveland Browns. Oh man, oh man! I am going to start off by saying, if you think they should be in the number one spot, I do not blame you! It has been, let’s call it a disappointing last few weeks for the Commanders. If you look back just four weeks ago, they were 7-4 and one of the hottest teams in the NFL. I know that sounds crazy right now, but at the time, this team had gone 6-1 over their last seven games including beating the then undefeated 8-0 Philadelphia Eagles, no one was excited to see this team on their schedule. Of course all good things come to an end, except if you’re a fan of Tom Brady then maybe not? The jury’s still out on that one, he might just play forever. But if you’re a fan of the Commanders then they certainly do come to an end. In this case, the good times came to an absolute screeching stop with a big assist by Carson Wentz (we’ll get to him more later). It started with going 0-1-1 against their rivals the Giants who they are in direct competition against for a wild card spot, then came a loss to the 49ers which all lead up to a game against the 6-9 Browns. Insert Carson Wentz, after not starting the previous nine games because he was benched in the beginning of the season, he was now inserted back into the starting lineup to give the team a “spark”. As he jaunted onto the field, fans were tense with worried looks. But Wentz had the game of his life, he flung the ball around like Dan Marino, he manipulated the defense like Peyton Manning, he scrambled like a white Michael Vick! Everything was going so well, except none of that happened. The worried looks quickly turned into dismay as Carson Wentz started the game with a quick interception, followed by a quick turnover by downs, then another interception. Desperate chants for Taylor Heinicke rained down but were unanswered. At the end of the game Wentz finished with only 143 yards, no touchdowns and three interceptions, with a measly 31.4 passer rating. The Commanders lost 10-24. In the most important game of the season, Wentz had his worst game of the season and now the Commanders are eliminated from the playoffs. A quick, sudden fall from grace for a team that once beat the only undefeated team in the league. Commanders’ fans probably range from stunned disappointment to violently sick on how these final four games have gone.
#1 The Miami Dolphins
21-23 loss to the New England Patriots. The Dolphins have slowly started spiraling a few weeks ago but now they are plummeting, with one more loss they will smash head on into the ocean floor, rock bottom. Let’s see how they got there. Rewind five weeks and the Dolphins are 8-3 and are just coming off back to back blowouts over the Browns (39-17) and the Texans (30-15). Not only are they only half a game out of the number one seed in the AFC, but they look legitimately dangerous. They had won their last five games, the offense was averaging over 30 points per game, and Tua Tagoviolia was playing like a legitimate MVP candidate throwing for 11 touchdowns and no interceptions during the streak. Tagoviolia was literally doing things that even Dan Marino hadn’t even done.They were the awesome new kids on the NFL block and it looked like they couldn’t do anything wrong with a perfect 8-0 record in games where Tua played the entire game. Then they lost to the 49ers, no biggie that kind of streak can’t last forever and the 49ers are a good team. No one thought that would be the beginning of a five week dive down the standings, they have an MVP candidate surely someone playing at that level would not let the team sink like a bag of concrete. Alas, Tua’s play would slip in the following weeks, culminating in an ugly second half loss to the Green Bay Packers where he threw 3 fourth quarter interceptions and the Dolphins were shut out after halftime. Now we’re caught up to last week, the Dolphins have lost four in a row and their fans are sweating like the man from Airplane, with the team now barely holding onto the seven seed. Of course, then Tua is out of the game with a concussion, and near the end of the third quarter, backup QB Teddy Bridgewater gets hurt too, they’ve lost their pilot and co-pilot! They need to bring in a random guy (from an average fan’s perspective) Skylar Thompson to land the plane and lock them into the seven seed. Of course it’s not a movie, he throws a pick on his first possession, the plane crashes, the Dolphins lose and that’s the end of my Airplane analogy. The Dolphins, once considered a playoff favorite and half a game out of the one seed, are now sitting outside the playoffs on a five game losing streak with their starting quarterback hurt and would need help to make the playoffs. To make this last loss worse is the fact that it was their biggest rivals who handed it to them and it was a very winnable game. They ultimately lost by two and they missed a field goal and threw a back breaking pick six, you never know how those plays changed the game but it seems safe to say they would have a much better chance to pull it out. For a team that had everything at 8-3, they are in a stunningly bad spot right now, and you just know that Dolphins fans are making their drinks extra strong this week.
