Ravens-Dolphins: When titans clash
As the plummeting Ravens meet the beached Dolphins next weekend, the question was posed, "Have two teams with a combined 20 consecutive losses ever played before?" The Ravens have lost seven straight and Miami, of course, is 0-13.
That's an Elias Sports Bureau kind of question, but I was prompted to look up the last game of the Baltimore Colts' miserable 1981 season (a Bob Irsay, left, production) and sure enough, at least one Baltimore team has already been involved in such a game. When the Colts met the New England Patriots on Dec. 20, 1981, Baltimore was on a 14-game losing streak and the Patriots had dropped eight in a row -- a combined 22-game losing streak.
The Colts were 1-13 at the time (their only win having come against the Pats on Opening Day) and New England was 2-11. To the winner would go the spoils of the No. 1 pick in the draft. If victorious, the Colts would finish higher as a result of the tie-breaker.
The Colts did win that game, 23-21, in front of about 17,000 fans at Memorial Stadium. According to this account of the '81 season and the comments section, a Boston newspaper story described the jubilant Colts running onto the field celebrating, "We're No. 27!"
True or not, neither team did much with their pick on draft day. The Patriots selected defensive end Kenneth Sims with the No. 1 overall pick and the Colts took linebacker Johnie Cooks next. Even worse was Baltimore's next pick, the fourth overall -- quarterback Art Schlichter -- leaving on the board Hall of Famers Marcus Allen and Mike Munchak and other great players, such as Luis Sharpe, Jim McMahon and Mike Quick.
photo credit: Bill Smith/AP Photo
Comments
I remember that game. We had season tickets. Both teams looked like they were trying to lose.
I remember that draft too...Schlichter was sitting there in NY running a pool on who would go when...he made a few bucks I believe.
You know, if Irsay had not taken the Colt name and history to Indy, I wouldn't have been heartbroken.
If he'd just taken the mistake of a team he'd help create and himself, it would have been worth not having football for a while.
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Ed,
This whole business of artifacts and symbols is just so important. As justifiably angy as the people in Cleveland were, they do have that.
-- Bill O.
Posted by: Ed D | December 10, 2007 1:13 PM
If you are looking for a game where the two teams have combined to lose at least 20 games together, I would think almost any game in the 2nd half of the 1977 Tampa Bay Buccaneers schedule. The first game the Bucs won, it was a combined 28 game losing streak with the Saints on a 2 game streak and the Bucs coming in 0-26.
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Jason,
Hmmm, good point. We'd have to qualify it then for combined losing streaks coming into a game that occuured within a single season, which is what we're talking about here. I'm sure there are a few out there ... we came up with that combined 22 losses with the Colts-Patriots in 1981.
-- Bill O.
Posted by: Jason | December 11, 2007 9:42 AM