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.
Honorable Mention:
Dolphins: 20-26 loss to the Green Bay Packers. The first half looked great, they were up 20-13, the offense was fantastic, aside from a fumble on their last possession, Tua was efficient and accurate. Then there was the second half, the offense sputtered, missed a field goal, and then Tua threw three interceptions in a row to end the game and two of them were straight to a defender. The Dolphins are falling fast, at one point they looked to be a lock in the playoffs at 8-3, have now lost four in a row and are barely hanging on to the seven seed. To make matters worse, Tua is back in concussion protocol and is questionable for next week. Dolphins fans were feeling amazing a few weeks ago, and are now in cold sweat as they try to scrap their way into the playoffs.
#3 Las Vegas Raiders
10-13 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers. For the way the Raiders season has been going, it seems poetic that they would blow one more fourth quarter lead to essentially knock them out of the playoffs. This was the teams’ fifth fourth quarter blown lead where they were up by at least a touchdown. The loss drops them to 6-9 and makes them the 12 seed in the AFC, they are currently predicted to have less than a one percent chance at making the playoffs. Even if they win their final two games, against the 49ers and Chiefs, potentially the two best teams in the NFL, this NFL playoff simulator still only gives them a 4 percent chance of making it. So with the season over, let’s take another look at the game that made it that way. Playing against the Steelers, while they are not pushovers, it is tough to ask for an easier opponent considering they are bottom ten in yards and bottom five in scoring and defensively they are nothing special ranking 18th and 13th respectively. But on the cold rainy day, the Raiders just could not put away the Steelers as they continually hung around. Eventually the Steelers scored the game winner with 46 seconds left. One main thing that doomed them was turnovers, as Derick Carr threw three interceptions, including one to ice the game for the steelers. The Raiders lost their 8th one score game of the year, when you also consider their three 17+ point blown leads this year (tied for the most in a single season), this team should really have a better record than it does. Alas, Raiders fans now get to start asking questions like is Josh McDaniels going to be back as head coach? Is Derick Carr the QB of the future? Should we make a play for Aaron Rodgers again? Considering before the year, people in Vegas were even throwing the words “Super Bowl” around when talking about this team. You have to believe they’re disappointed with how the season went, and it ended with one last blown lead, a perfectly terrible way to end this perfectly terrible season for the Raiders.
#2 New York Jets
3-19 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars. I am starting to get the idea that maybe Zach Wilson is not a slam dunk first round draft selection and the true heir to Joe Namath. That’s sarcasm, in case you didn’t put it together. Also in case anyone didn’t watch either of the Jets’ games against the Patriots, Zach Wilson showed his incredible inconsistencies again last Thursday against the Jaguars. He was routinely missing simple passes like checkdowns to running backs or crosses by receivers. He was eventually benched for the second time in five weeks, and while in the past he has shown he can make high level throws, it is abundantly clear that right now he is not a starting level quarterback. While that is not a sudden realization for Jets fans, after watching him struggle for most of the year, it is still a very sobering reality, especially considering he was the second overall pick just two years ago. To add a little extra salt in the Zach Wilson mistake of a wound, Trevor Lawrence, the number one overall pick, and Justin Fields, the number 11 overall pick, are both showing massive improvements in their second years and each look like franchise quarterbacks. Of course in the loss to Lawrence and the Jaguars this past week, it was clear just how big of a difference the level two quarterbacks are playing at. The loss was also a rough one in terms of playoff chances, as the Jets fell to 7-8 and are currently on the outside looking in. The Jets have now lost four games in a row and now a once fantastic start, at 6-3, might not even end the longest playoff drought in the NFL. Mike White might come back, so that is good for Jets fans, but knowledge that their second overall draft pick is already being lumped in with some of the biggest draft busts of all time, less than two years of his career is a pretty massive right hook of a blow to Jets fans.
#1 Tennessee Titans
14-19 loss to the Houston Texans. That was a big Oofta! An absolute gut wrenching blow to a team that was, not too long ago, one of the hottest teams in the NFL. To get a full grasp of the situation you need to rewind five weeks. The Titans had just handily beat the Green Bay Packers 27-17 to improve their record of 7-3. They also had a two and a half game lead over the Colts for the division, who had just hired the greenest, least experienced head coach, potentially of all time, the week before. The Titans second nearest competition was the Jaguars who had just lost six of their last seven games, including giving the Texans their only win at that point, and the Jaguars record was 3-7 a full four games behind the Titans. It wasn’t just how big of a lead the Titans had or how terrible the rest of the division was but also the Titans were playing legitimately great football. The Titans were 7-3, but over the last 8 weeks, they had an incredible 7-1 record with their only loss being an overtime loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, where they had to start their rookie, backup quarterback and still had an eight point lead three minutes left in the fourth quarter. The Titans seemed locked in as division winners, they had a massive lead, they were playing fantastic and the rest of the division was playing terribly. Okay, now jump back five weeks to modern day, and the Titans are in absolute freefall. They have lost 5 games in a row, including getting blown out by the Eagles and Jaguars, and they just lost to the 1-12-1 Houston Texans. The Titans’ staunch defense is suddenly struggling, letting up 25.4 points the last five games after holding opponents to only 15.4 ppg in the eight games prior. The offense is on a similar decline, scoring a terrible 15.2 ppg after averaging a solid 20.8 ppg through their 7-1 stretch. To make everything so much worse for them, not only are the once mighty Titans falling apart in every direction, but the Jaguars have gotten red hot, winning four out of five games with Trevor Lawrence emerging as a star. Incredibly, the Titans’ division lead which looked absolutely unsurmountable five weeks ago, is completely blown with the Jaguars and Titans having the same 7-8 record. These two teams do play each other in the last week of the regular season, in two weeks but unless the Titans get back to playing how they were in the middle of the year, it might be a repeat of the 36-22 blowout the Jaguars put on them 3 weeks ago. It’s tough to have lots of faith in this team though after they just handed the Texans their second win in 15 tries. The Titans are fully on the struggle bus and their fans can only watch in horror as the bus is seemingly picking up speed.