The Most Miserable Team in NFL History

Washington this afternoon as the Backyard Brawl is about ready to take place between the Colts and the Redskins hi I'm Merle Herman with Mike Hefner Mike you've played with winners and you've played with losers the Colts are losers what's it like the Colts as we know them today are located in Indianapolis but prior to 1984 this team got its notoriety in Baltimore beginning in 1953 they solidified themselves as one of the NFL's most successful franchises in 1958 they played and won in what many call the greatest game ever played it's arguably the most important game of the 20th century considering what it did to help popularize American football they won the championship again the following year the defending world champions broke the game wide open the Delirious Pope fans tackle the impossible task of dismantling Steel most set in concrete then in 1970 they won Super Bowl 5 which was their second appearance in the big game in three years [Music] [Applause] [Music] and throughout the 70s the Baltimore Colts were a regular playoff team however in 1977 after making the playoffs for the third year in a row the Colts season ended in heartbreaking fashion with a double overtime loss to the Raiders there were lots of highlights in the cold Raider game the only bad news of course was they the final score the final highlight was the worst that was his final one as devastating a loss as this was what was in store for the fans of Baltimore in the coming years was much worse well you play the game from the neck up really Everybody's Got Talent the problem is the first bad break that goes against them they'll quit first but before the end of Colts football in Baltimore back in 1977 no one in that City saw Darkness on the horizon as the Baltimore Colts were one of the best teams in football [Music] thank you [Music] now before we continue I'd like to thank display for sponsoring this video posters like this and this and this are absolutely dope I mean come on this colorful abstract look combined with vintage football is about as good as it gets in my opinion and I can't wait to get this piece on my wall whatever your style is all these posters on display are high quality prints on metal which are mounted on the wall with help of a magnet they're super easy to not only hang but also change designs I've shown you just a few of the countless Sports designs but there's also millions of other beautiful prints available from gaming movies music and much more with display you can build collections of the things that you were passionate about right on your wall and it's cool because with every display you buy you build one tree collector's Fest is happening now for a limited time take the opportunity with one of the biggest sales of the year to build your display collection with what you're passionate about click the link in my description to see some of my favorite displays and to get my special discount One display is 29 off two to four is 35 off and five plus is 40 off which will be automatically applied to your cart once again thank you to display for the sponsor now let's get back to the video let's kick things off in 1978. optimism was in the air and in the new season the love affair between coat fans and their team was ready to be resumed everyone from ball boy to team owner felt the sky was the limit for the 78th house throughout the 70s the Baltimore Colts had made a name for themselves through excellent quarterback play and a capable defense on the defensive side they were led by a front four nicknamed the sack pack however the optimism for the 1978 season quickly diminished after Star Quarterback bird Jones separated his shoulder in the preseason leaning on the backup Baltimore started the season in catastrophic fashion not only did they fail the score versus the Cowboys but they dropped another goose egg in week 2 versus the Dolphins losing by a combined 80 points they turned the ball over an astounding 10 total times and as bad as their offense was their defense was worse allowing over 1 000 yards combined in those two games week three was one of the few bright spots in the season despite being overwhelming underdogs the the Colts scored 27 points in the fourth quarter in one of the biggest regular season upsets in NFL history in this game running back Joe Washington became the first player to throw and pass for a touchdown as well as return a kickoff to the house the rest of the season didn't see much success however as the cult won just four more games and finished with the worst Point differential in the league by a landslide crazy enough the 1978 Colts defense which finished dead last in the league was still much better than the defense they had in 1981 but we will get to that in a little bit first I want to talk about the team's owner at the time Robert irsay let me briefly name the good things about this guy although there isn't much the Colts were initially saved from relocation in 1972 by Robert irsay who acquired them from their first owner who had preferred to move them out west but after ursay acquired them he wanted to stay in Baltimore throughout his time as the owner irsay tried to improve the team stadium which they shared with the MLB franchise the Orioles many consider this to be the worst Pro Sports stadium in the country for example just one year after winning the Super Bowl in 1970 there was a committee that determined that the stadium had some serious problems just to name a few ten thousand seats had a poor view 20 000 seats were outdated with no back support 7 000 were poorly constructed bleachers for football only there wasn't enough office space for both front offices both teams had to share a locker room the upper deck didn't Circle the field ending at a 50-yard line and there wasn't enough bathrooms but despite ursay and others desire to make improvements or replace the stadium entirely the city's said no and Baltimore passed an amendment Banning funding for any future new stadiums so ursay tried and did not succeed and that's about it for his redeeming side as the team's owner here's some of the bad ursay made many enemies due to his erratic Tendencies the last time you recorded the Jackson I don't want to talk to you he feuded publicly with head coach Ted marchaboda despite gutting his roster of many talented players during the late 70s he accused quarterback bird Jones of milking his chronic shoulder injury I broke four ribs in the left side of my rib cage seven weeks in a row every week I broke my ribs every week we'd go in at halftime in an x-ray him to make sure they weren't poking any lungs he threatened to move the Colts to several footballer cities including Indianapolis which did happen later on linebacker Barry Krause said in a 2001 interview that ursay would quote come in drunker than hell I haven't been in a zero Arizona and fire people fire players in 1979 John Dutton the three-time Pro Bowl defensive lineman and the best member of the sack pack had seen enough he refused to play for the Colts holding out at the start of the 1979 season irsay then traded him to the Cowboys and sudden later gave this wild statement quote I'm so grateful I would do anything Dallas wanted me to do except shoot someone the once formidable sack pack had begun fading while Dutton was still on the Colts but after Dutton was traded it collapsed entirely the 1979 Colts missed the playoffs for a second straight year after the season irsay fired marchaboda even though he had a winning record in Baltimore and despite the fact that Stark quarterback bird Jones only appeared in seven of the previous 32 games the worst part was irsay hired previous Eagles coach Mike McCormick to replace marchaboda McCormick had a losing record in Philly which meant that this may have been the first time in NFL history a coach with a winning record was fired and replaced by a coach with a losing record things looked bright at first though when the team got off to a 7-6 start in 1980 but the team lost their final three games mostly due to their defense falling apart their offense finished top 10 but their defense had huge issues with their first pick in 1980 despite desperate needs all over the defensive side the Colts picked a running back despite being stacked at the position this decision left Sports writers and fans scratching their heads going into the 1981 training camp only a handful of defensive veterans remained from the team's Heyday and perhaps the most important one defensive signal caller and middle linebacker Ed simanini suffered a bad injury during the pre-season as the quarterback of the defense this was a devastating blow to make matters worse the veteran was replaced by Ed Smith a 12th round backup who was not ready to start let alone be the captain of the defense in week one the Colts got off to a surprising start beating the Patriots 29-28 but problems defensively began to arise by week two the Colts gave up four passing touchdowns in each of their next two games and despite a 500 yard performance by their offense in week four they still lost coach McCormick called out his backup now starting linebacker Ed Smith quote I don't understand it we see 10 people doing exactly what we want and one man makes an error week six after a blowout 41-19 loss versus the Bengals this is what Cincinnati quarterback Ken Anderson said after the game quote this was the best offensive game of the year they just couldn't seem to stop us the following game was another embarrassing defensive showing for the Colts as they gave up over 40 points again to danfelt and the Chargers the defense had been rough two weeks in a row but this next game Takes the Cake despite the Browns turning the ball over six times let me repeat that six times the Colts still gave up over 40 points for a third straight game following the contest Browns quarterback Brian seipe was asked by reporters in the locker room quote what plays were working best for you today he answered I did not have to call place today I just told Ozzy the team's tight end run out anywhere on the field and you'll be open this was like playing in the schoolyard today there it is [Applause] the kick cover it rolls three the Colts have it and it's going to be pulled out of bounds [Applause] a touchdown that's the way I was playing the history of the league despite pulling off one of the luckiest plays I've ever seen no amount of luck was going to save this team in 1981 takes all the way two weeks later after giving up 40 plus points three weeks in a row it would happen once again the Colts surrendered 41 to the Jets marking the fourth time in five games but the defense allowed 40 or more points in their next game week 11 the defense actually held the Eagles under 40. just barely and this was mostly due to the Eagles backups playing much of the second half I'll be honest Eagles quarterback Ron Jaworski said after the game I don't remember a game like this where we could do whatever we wanted on offense now I think you get the point about how bad this defense is to this point but something else happened during this game that's much crazier than simply a bad team playing poorly sitting in the coaching box at veteran Stadium owner Robert ursay got fed up with his team's performance in the third quarter so he picked up the telephone and ordered McCormick to replace quarterback Bert Jones with backup quarterback Greg Landry ursay later appeared on the sideline order drones back into the game and called several plays needless to say the coach and players were stunned and demoralized after receiving criticism irsay assured fans that he wouldn't call any more plays but he would stay on the sidelines to counsel McCormick with his enlightened leadership quote it's like when you build a building ursay said you hire a professional architect and engineers and let them go at it but at the same time if things aren't going the way you want you say hey I don't want this here's more of what I want linebacker Barry Krause probably the best defender on the 1981 Colts described the team's locker room culture in a 2001 sporting news interview quote I lost five games in three years at Alabama and I walked in there and we lost 11 to 12 games and nobody cared and like I said earlier Crouse said that in that era owner Robert or say would quote come in drunker than hell and I don't need any aggravation and Fire people fire players needless to say players on this team were not fans of Versailles and they didn't like coach McCormick either this coach had a tendency to call out players unfairly and was described as weak willed this is what McCormick said about himself later in life quote I wanted to be like my mentor Paul Brown he was a great teacher and I tried to do the same but unfortunately I always let my emotions Carry Me Away John Dutton the player I mentioned earlier who was the leader of the sackback that was traded away before 1981 described the situation in a Washington Post interview in December of that year quote I can talk to them and look at their faces and see how much they're hurting inside they realize they have no future with the Colts you were not talking about washed up players they've got talent and character but they've knocked the spirit out of these guys in week 14 the Colts faced The Perennial Juggernaut that was the Dallas Cowboys and how do you think the Colts defense fared against one of the best Rush offenses in the NFL it went as expected the defense surrendered 354 rushing yards to Tony Dorsett and Company the Colts had lost their 13th straight game this was the most rushing yards that any team gave up that Year and no one rushed for more than that for another six seasons and this is what coach McCormick said after the game somehow straight-faced quote all right this may sound stupid because we were given up 35 points a game but we're playing better defense we're one in 13 but we've still got Pride one week later the Redskins pummeled them and this was the week that the 1981 Colts shattered the record for the most points allowed by an NFL team in a season with one game remaining the Baltimore Colts were in line to possess the number one pick and in Poetic fashion they went out and played their best game of the season beating the Patriots for the second time despite losing their other 14 games most of them badly the Colts were amazingly 2-0 versus their division rival in 1981 but jokes on them the Patriots sucked that year too and with that loss the Patriots finished with the same record as the Colts and due to the tiebreaker New England now possessed the number one pick so the one thing that the Colts had going their way they fumbled it away when the 1981 season was all said and done looking at the cult statistically would have been the product of endless memes today they gave up 125 more points than the second worst defense in the NFL that's unreal think about it this way the Cardinals were atrocious they gave up 25 points a game that season and even then they would have had to play five more games with the second worst defense in the league to equal what the Colts had given up Baltimore gave up a staggering 33.3 points a game allowing a total of 533 points this is one of six major defensive records that still stand today they originally set the record for the most yards given up in a season but that was broken by the 2012 Saints coincidentally these two teams are tied together by one man jovett vit was the Colts quality control coach at the time and in 2012 he served as the Saints interim head coach now there's a pretty solid argument that this 1981 Colts team had the worst defense in NFL history but also they are one of the worst teams ever period sure the Colts won two games and teams like the 2008 Lions and the 2017 Browns failed to win a single game but those teams were much more competitive on a weekly basis than the Colts were to put it simply if it weren't for their quarterback and former MVP Burr Jones this team probably would have finished 0 and 16. the only team in NFL history with a worst Point differential in a single season is the 1976 Tampa Bay Bucks and it's almost unfair to even compare anybody to that 76 bucks Squad that was the first year of their expansion franchise and they played that season with essentially practice squad play players and the 18 veterans that other teams didn't want the 1981 Colts had the following a bad owner an incapable coach and even rumors of racial Discord between players in the locker room any of these things individually can completely derail A team's will to succeed and the Colts had all three well I think the biggest obstacle that we're going to be confronted with is uh being patient and developing a very sound football team I think this is the most important factor from the standpoint of uh not expecting too much too soon and I think if we go into it with that attitude there's no question in my mind that this will be a successful program after two failed Seasons the Colts fired Mike McCormick and brought in this guy Frank cush who was hired to save this franchise although Kush had been successful as a college and CFL coach his reputation as a person was questionable at Best in 1979 former Arizona State punter Kevin Rutledge filed a 1.1 million dollar lawsuit against the school accusing cush and his staff of mental and physical harassment that forced him to transfer the most dramatic charge was that cush had punched Rutledge in the mouth after a bad punt cush was later fired after meddling with the investigation but was eventually found not liable in the case case then in 1981 as a CFL coach Kush attempted to ban the common practice of taping shoes and ankles which caused friction between him and players now despite those issues this hard-nosed discipline as some may call it is what owner Robert irsay felt the cult desperately needed after how things fell apart the year before now other than coaching to call the changes made to the team from 1981 to 1982 a roster overhaul would be a massive understatement in 1982 the cult organization began the most massive rebuilding program in league history with a fresh front office approach and a new coaching philosophy stressing fundamentals and conditioning the cult suited up 31 new players the astounding 64 turnover in personnel almost overnight the Colts became the youngest team in the NFL with nobody on the roster having more than four years of experience essentially they felt that that 1981 team was so far gone that it was just best to completely nuke the roster perhaps the biggest change was that they got rid of former MVP quarterback Bert Jones and looked to replace him in the draft Baltimore collects in the ram spot on the first round quarterback art slister of Ohio State what's crazy is archlister lost the quarterback battle in training camp to their fourth round pick that year and schlister's gambling problems which included blowing his entire 350 000 signing bonus by mid-season ultimately led to his demise and this wasn't even the biggest problem for the team that year the Colts actually showed progress in training camp and through the first two games of the season but then the players strike of 1982 happened for 57 days the Colts complex laid dormant during the layoff the young Colts lost their conditioning Edge when they were unable to maintain the constant repetition of fundamentals no team got hit harder by the strike than the Colts did with such a young roster and a mountain of work ahead the strike crushed anything positive they had going just prior to the first game back from the strike Kush told reporters quote I really wouldn't expect too much the Colts proceeded to get humiliated 37 nothing after the contest Kush called out everybody quote we were in no way mentally prepared to play that game that includes the coaches who did not get prepared properly they ought to be embarrassed cush also called The Cult showing a quote disgrace to football and then he made his team practice in full pads the following day long story short the 1982 Colts finished zero eight and one since then only two other teams have finished a season winless what I also find wild is the fact that this 82 team still outperformed the 81 Colts statistically losing by less points on average overall the fact is both teams sucked and the following year the misery continued on draft day with the number one pick the Colts had drafted a potential once in a generation quarterback talent but earlier in the draft process Elway told Baltimore that he did not want to play for the team he publicly threatened to join the Yankees full-time if they did not trade him Elway's agent even wrote in his journal which was published three decades later that quote he would be a garbage collector before he'd play for Baltimore it was nothing against the city of Baltimore or anything like that it was just a matter of what I I had to do what I thought was best for John Elway and that the situation of Baltimore was not better than the situation I had with baseball John Elway went on to have a Hall of Fame career in Denver for the Colts 1983 would Mark the end of an era despite improving to a 7-9 record that year what was going on behind the scenes was a battle between team ownership and the city of Baltimore and despite publicly claiming that he wouldn't move the Colts I have not any attention to Moving Team if I did I will tell you about okay on March 28 and 29 in 1984 after the city of Baltimore was on the verge of passing legislation allowing the city to seize the team via eminent domain Robert irsay moved the franchise via moving trucks to Indianapolis in the middle of the night today D-Day Bob today D-Day for what decision I had no decisions no decisions just information today no information a shocking move that still has the people of Baltimore embittered to this day I remember it was one of the worst nights of our history I think it's totally despicable I just can't believe this is happening I doubt if Robert irsay realizes tonight the full impact or the the extent of his sin and in pulling away a football team that was a big part of the fiber of Baltimore the final years of Baltimore Colts football were miserable they had the worst stadium in Pro Sports the worst statistical defense in NFL history that still holds records to this day they failed to win a single game in 1982 and the city had their team ripped away from them in 1984. for 13 years the city of Baltimore went without NFL football we've got 27 years involved the Corrals for this ball Club so why should we stop we'll be here when the new Colts come in thank you coming up next on SportsCenter artwork the Browns are indeed coming to Baltimore the Browns make a run for Baltimore leaving no joy behind in Cleveland in 1996 Baltimore got an NFL franchise back with a new mascot the Ravens this name was inspired by Edgar Allan Poe's poem The Raven the main theme of this poem is one of undying devotion which was paying homage to the citizens of Baltimore many former Baltimore Colts players led by Johnny Unitas disowned the Colts franchise after the move to Indianapolis instead choosing to remain loyal to the city of Baltimore these former players embraced the new Baltimore Ravens franchise when it arrived in 1996. another example of this Devotion to the city was the Baltimore Colts marching band which continued to operate after the Colts moved playing at football halftime shows and marching in parades in Baltimore once the new franchise arrived in town the band became the Baltimore's marching Ravens and to go along with the poetic theme this is the coolest part about the new Baltimore football team the 2000 Baltimore Ravens managed to win the Super Bowl this was The Ultimate Prize to those fans who longed for the return of a pro football team and I'm sure some fans got a kick out of the fact that the Indianapolis Colts to that point had not won a Super Bowl yet but every part in all of this is the fact that the 2000 Baltimore Ravens had arguably the greatest defense in NFL history giving up the least amount of points in a season in the 16-game era talk about the perfect opposite to the 1981 Baltimore Colts all right second and goal sidelines [Applause] [Music]

Channel: KTO

Views: 430,444

Keywords: the most miserable, team, franchise, in nfl history, kto, kto videos, nfl, nfl history, baltimore colts, ravens, indianapolis, robert irsay, john elway

Id: 8OmuMRg6ABw

Length: 27min 23sec (1643 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 29 2023