The longest losing streaks in sports history: What pantheon of ineptitude could the Pistons join?

The Detroit Pistons will be knocking on the door of historic ineptitude Tuesday night. Losers of 26 straight games, the Pistons are one loss away from having their name etched in the record books as the sole holders of the longest losing streak in NBA history.

Detroit will make its final attempt to stave off infamy by hosting the Brooklyn Nets at Little Caesars Arena, just a few thousand from where the franchise has hoisted Larry O’Brien trophies in three consecutive decades. While those hard-nosed teams have earned the right to be circled on opponents’ calendars, the Pistons’ 2023-24 schedule has looked very different: The team hasn’t won a game since Oct. 28.

But Detroit was not an innovator of incredible incompetence. With tonight’s defeat, they would join a pantheon of legendary losers from around the world. Here are the longest losing streaks in sports history. Relax, Pistons faithful, the biggest underdogs have been here before.

NFL: Chicago Cardinals, 29 games

If 27 basketball games in an 82-game schedule sounds bad, then how about 29 football games in an era of 10-game schedules? Prior to the AFL-NFL merger, the Chicago Cardinals began the 1942 season 3-2 when they were defeated by the Cleveland Rams in Week 6.

Chicago would not get another win until Week 4 of the 1945 season. The Cardinals (who later became the St. Louis Cardinals, who later became the Phoenix Cardinals, who later became the Arizona Cardinals) then finished 1945 with seven straight losses, going 1-9 and failing to reach the playoffs for the 20th edition. straight season.

In more recent history, the Jacksonville Jaguars snapped a 20-game losing streak from 2020 to 2021. A 15-game losing streak ended the Jags’ 2020 campaign to draft franchise QB Trevor Lawrence, but directly fueled the putrid era by Urban Meyer.

Yes, the Pistons will receive much of the losing streak infamy if they fail to set their single-season record tonight, but they will have to lose again Thursday to the Boston Celtics if they want to match the 76ers’ all-time record. Philadelphia’s stretch lasted two seasons as the Sixers closed the 2014-15 season on a 10-game skid and then opened the next season 0-18 before securing their first win in December.

Those 2015-16 Sixers would win just 10 games, the second fewest of any team in an 82-game season. The record for fewest wins was set by the 9-73 76ers in 1972-73, a team that set a then-NBA record with 20 consecutive losses.

As for the current single-season record, the Pistons are currently tied with the 2013-14 76ers and 2010-11 Cleveland Cavaliers with 26 losses.

WNBA: Tulsa Shock and Indiana Fever, 20 games

The Indiana Fever finished 2022 with an 18-game losing streak in a 5-31 season, but had a chance to reset by winning the WNBA lottery and selecting South Carolina legend Aliyah Boston, who had just finished one of the greatest runs NCAA women’s basketball history.

But even with Boston – who was named an All-Star and won Rookie of the Year – the Fever’s losing streak continued, losing their first two games of 2023 to match the Tulsa Shock’s record losing streak of 2011 While Boston’s presence led to an eight After an improved win, the Fever failed to reach the playoffs for the seventh consecutive season.

In 2011, the Shock finished 3-31 with an all-time WNBA worst winning percentage of .088. With a mismatched roster that included 40-year-old legend Sheryl Swoopes returning from retirement and a 19-year-old future All-Star in Liz Cambage, Tulsa’s losing streak extended from June 21 to Aug. 25.

NHL: Pittsburgh Penguins and Buffalo Sabres, 18 games

A COVID-shortened 2021 NHL season wasn’t short enough to keep the Sabers from matching the 2003-04 Penguins’ mark. While the Pens went 0-17-1, Buffalo went 0-15-3, with their 18th loss coming in particularly painful fashion.

With a 3-0 lead entering the third period, the Sabers allowed three goals in the final frame before Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Ivan Provorov scored 42 seconds into overtime to extend the skid.

“It’s embarrassing,” Sabers defenseman Brandon Montour said after that loss. “This whole stretch is embarrassing. Any NHL team, it’s a win.

The series is broken!

The Buffalo Sabers finally get back in the win column with a 6-1 win over the Flyers 🏒

Prior to this win, Buffalo was on an 18-game losing streak (one away from breaking an NHL record). pic.twitter.com/UplXeiajzL

— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) April 1, 2021

MLB: Louisville Colonels, 26 games

During Benjamin Harrison’s presidential administration, the 1889 Louisville Colonels finished with an impressive record of 27-111, losing 26 straight games at one point.

The season began with team owner Mordecai Davidson replacing himself as coach with Dude Esterbrook, but Esterbrook was fired after just 10 games. Outfielder Jimmy “Chicken” Wolf stepped into the role of player-manager, but Davidson later hired local bouncer Buck McKinney as team manager amid the losing streak out of concern over player behavior.

In later years, the Colonels eventually employed Hall of Famers such as Rube Waddell and Honus Wagner, but the franchise folded in 1899. In modern history, the record has been challenged by the 1961 Philadelphia Phillies, who lost 23 consecutive games, and by the 1988 Baltimore Orioles, who lost 21 consecutive games.

Norwich’s yo-yo between the Premier League and second-tier EFL spanned five seasons from 2018 to 2022, with two EFL championships and two relegations to the Premier League thanks to bottom places.

In the Premier League, Norwich ended the 2019-20 season with 10 consecutive defeats. After being kicked out of the EFL and then promoted back to the top-tier Championship in 2021-22, Norwich opened that season with another six consecutive league defeats, setting the terrible mark. The streak was finally ended with a 0–0 draw in the team’s seventh match, but Norwich’s first win came in only their eleventh match in another bottom-place season.

NCAA football: Northwestern, 34 games

A winless football season is brutal. But how about three in four years? The 1970s and 1980s were not kind to Northwest football, which had four winless seasons from 1976 to 1989 and three one-win seasons in that span. From game three of 1979 to game four of the 1982 season, the Wildcats failed to record a single win in 34 games.

When the Wildcats lost their 29th consecutive game to break their losing streak record, Northwestern fans sarcastically stormed the field and chanted “We’re the worst!” When the losing streak was broken in 1982, fans again stormed the field, tore down the team’s goalposts and threw them into Lake Michigan.

That losing streak cost coach Rick Venturi his job, and he finished his stint with a 1-31-1 record in three seasons. Venturi’s replacement, Dennis Green, had a winless first year before upending the Wildcats in 1982. Green’s work in getting three wins out of that Northwestern team was so impressive that he was named Big Ten Coach of the Year, despite the team’s eight successes. losses.

Below the FBS level, FCS Prairie View A&M holds an even more dismal record, losing a staggering 80 consecutive games dating back to 1989. The 1998 Panthers broke that streak with just 15 players with Scholarship.

NCAA Basketball: Chicago State Lady Cougars, 59 games

In the 2010s, Chicago State women’s basketball suffered the steepest decline that any program could have imagined. After posting three winning seasons in four years, capped by a program-best 24-win season in 2010-11, the Lady Cougars would win just 25 games the rest of the decade. Bottom line came in 2018, when the winless Cougars lost their 59th straight game.

The losing streak began in 2015-16 with a seven-game skid to end the season, then was amplified by a winless 2016-17 season before the streak was snapped in the team’s 25th game of the 2017 season -18, that of the Lady Cougars. only victory of the season.

On the men’s side, Towson owns the longest losing streak in Division I, spanning 41 games from 2011-12 to 2012-13. But since earning that record, the team has had eight winning seasons in the past decade and was crowned the CAA co-champion in 2021-22.

Exhibition basketball: Washington Generals, 2,495 games

The Washington Generals existed to lose. They play the roles of punching bag and straight man in the Harlem Globetrotters’ high-flying basketball comedy. Throughout their history and many different aliases, the Generals have employed competitive basketball players, but nearly every one of their 200-plus annual games ends in defeat.

That is, until January 5, 1971. The Generals – playing under the name and jerseys of the New Jersey Reds that night – and the Globetrotters played an unusual game that night, with Harlem doing fewer stunts and fewer comedic gags than usual. Globetrotters captain and team legend Curly Neal missed the performance, which turned into a more classic basketball game than most Globetrotter events.

Washington raced out to an early lead, which wasn’t unusual. What was unusual was that the Globetrotters lost track of the score and failed to complete their usual dramatic comeback. Generals owner and founder Red Klotz entered the game in the final seconds and hit the go-ahead basket to put Washington back up 100-99.

Even after the timekeeper inexplicably stopped the clock to give Harlem one last shot, the Globetrotters failed to continue their winning streak as the crowd sat there stunned. Some children reportedly cried in the stands.

“They look at us like we killed Santa Claus,” Klotz later said.

The 1971 victory may have been one of multiple victories for the Generals, but exhibitionists aren’t known for their record-keeping skills. Although some claim to have won at least six games, the record-breaking 1971 winner is by far the most famous. It has been estimated that the generals lost over 19,000 more times.

(Top photo: Mitchell Leff/Getty Images)