What do the Detroit Lions, Cincinnati Bengals (Tigers), and Kansas City Chiefs have in common? If you answered “they are clueless now; they have been mindless since 1993; and they have been brainless since 1970”… you would be getting warm.
The three teams have the worst records in the NFL this season (combined 2-25) and any review of history would indicate that it is no accident. Why? Because they have had the same ownership for virtually the entire time. All three teams have a legitimate claim to the title “Clippers of the NFL” and all three owners could easily have been nicknamed “Donald” – as in Sterling.
Of course, Lamar Hunt died just under two years ago, but his leadership is responsible for the playoff drought over the past 38 years. The same is true for Paul/Mike Brown of Cincinnati and William Clay Ford of Detroit. All three of them have abysmal records – specifically as it pertains to the playoffs. Ultimately, the failure of a franchise falls at the feet of the owner.
Interestingly, not only do these three teams have the worst records in 2008, but they represent the three clubs which have gone the longest since winning a playoff game. Cincinnati (1990), Detroit (1991) and Kansas City (1993). Sadly, not only has every other team that has had a franchise since 1990 managed to win in that time frame, even three expansion teams have made the Chiefs, Lions and Bengals look high-schoolish. The Ravens have five playoff victories since 2000. The Jags have won five playoff games since 1996. And, the Panthers have six playoff wins since 1996. In fact, the three have considerably more playoff victories (16) in a handful of years than the three stooges of the Midwest have since 1970 (9). Even more telling, 17 of the original clubs have more playoff wins than Cincy, Detroit and KC combined!
Now, I don’t really want to hear about the Chiefs winning the Super Bowl in 1812 or the Lions winning the NFC title in 1776. If you are horrendous for 38 years (and not a Cubs fan), that’s a lifetime – or at least it’s lifetime enough for me!
Ultimately, I have to wonder how these three teams manage to draw fans. The Chiefs have sold out forever, but I just can’t see that continuing. At some point the high prices and pitiful payoff is going to lose appeal. Of course, I thought that would have happened long ago. I’m not a fan of going to live sporting events for lots of reasons. But, even though I’m biased against spending all day and a couple hundred bucks to take myself and one or two other people to the game, I’m fairly confident that as the economy deteriorates, a lot higher percentage of “fans” are going to adopt my cheapo mentality – catching it on TV. If it gets blacked out, they will find something else to do with their time – like looking through the employment ads. I’ll save this rant for another thread, but in my opinion, the days of mindless spending on professional sports is about to come to a screeching halt. If these teams don’t turn around their on-field fortunes soon, they are going to suffer greatly at the gate. Mark this post.
The Chiefs won 100 games in the nineties. The Chiefs remain the only team to win a hundred games in a decade and not win the SuperBowl. Yes, the Chiefs have done poorly in the playoffs, but they have had some really good teams during the regular season. When did the Clippers have home field (court if you like) advantage in the playoffs?
The person that wrote this article is even dumber than Jason W. Which reminds me, please fire Jason W.