The first four weeks of the NFL season are in the books, which marks the end of the first quarter of the season. Unfortunately at this point in time, several teams are dealing with immense turmoil while opposing teams are dominating them on the field.
Here is a review of 10 of the worst NFL teams so far this season.
Miami Dolphins
When the head coach of a franchise gets fired after only four weeks, the team is in trouble.
This is the case with the 1-3 Miami Dolphins, who just fired Joe Philbin on Monday morning after the team lost to the New York Jets, 27-14 in Sunday’s London game.
So far, the Dolphins have only scored 65 points while allowing 101 points against them. They are on a three-game losing streak and besides the offense struggling to put points on the board, their defense has been downright awful, ranking third-worst overall in the NFL.
The Dolphins have only registered one sack in four games and it did not come from the NFL’s highest-paid defensive player, Ndamukong Suh. Additionally, the Dolphins secondary is getting destroyed and the defense is allowing a whopping 160.5 rushing yards per game, which is most of any team.
While the team tries to regroup moving forward, the Dolphins have appointed tight ends coach Dan Campbell as the interim coach.
New Orleans Saints
Finally clinching their first win, which came in overtime in Week 4, the 1-3 Saints have not had a successful season so far.
The team has looked awful at times and had to play without quarterback Drew Brees in Week 3. Fortunately, Brees’ injured shoulder looks to be improving. Thus far, the Saints have averaged only 21.5 points per game and have allowed 26 points on average against them.
As for the Saints porous secondary, opposing quarterbacks are tearing it up and have passed for a total of 1,075 yards and seven touchdowns in four games. Additionally the defense has yet to manage its first interception.
The Saints’ first win of the season broke a miserable six-game home losing streak, that was not a proud stat to have owned. Up next for the Saints is a road game against the very beatable Philadelphia Eagles.
Cleveland Browns
The Browns sit tied at the bottom of the heap in the AFC North.
So far the only win came when Johnny Manziel was under center in Week 2.
This is despite the fact that Josh McCown played quite impressively this past Sunday, completing 78 percent of his passes for 356 yards, two touchdowns and zero interceptions. He finished the day with a 119.1 quarterback rating. Unfortunately, the team was narrowly outscored by the San Diego Chargers, 27-30.
Cleveland’s defense has been effective as far as pressuring opposing quarterbacks by recording nine sacks. However, they’ve only managed one interception and have allowed opposing teams to score an average of 25.5 points per game.
If McCown keeps up this level of play, and Browns defense can force more turnovers and allow less points to be scored, the team could potentially shape up and improve its losing status.
Philadelphia Eagles
What’s up with Chip Kelly’s revamped Eagles offense? Not much because after four games, the team sits at 1-3 at the bottom of the NFC East.
The Eagles have managed only to beat the New York Jets and have lost twice against their own division. For that, their offense ranks No. 27 overall in the NFL. Additionally, the Eagles offense has posted the second-fewest total rushing yards (280) of all teams who have completed four games. So much for the expensive addition of DeMarco Murray to the team.
Another trouble spot for Philadelphia is on third downs, with the team converting only 26.5 percent their attempts.
The one thing the Eagles do have bragging rights for is their rush defense that currently ranks second-best, allowing opposing teams to gain only 3.3 yards on average per carry. Sadly, though, this stat is sullied somewhat by the fact that the Eagles offense is worse, averaging just 3.1 yards per attempt.
For this and the fact that quarterback Sam Bradford is wildly inconsistent, the Eagles have much work ahead if they want to win more games moving forward.
Baltimore Ravens
The Ravens surprisingly sit tied with the Browns at the bottom of their division.
After three depressing losses, the Ravens finally notched their first win thanks to kicker Justin Tucker being spot-on last Thursday night in a victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers, 23-20. The win was salvaged by a game-winning field goal by Tucker in overtime.
We must note that the victory for the Ravens came against a Ben Roethlisberger-less Steelers. Had Big Ben been the game, it’s possible the Ravens would be sitting at 0-4.
Overall this season, Joe Flacco has been underwhelming, passing for only five touchdowns and throwing five interceptions. Additionally, the team’s ground game was lagging until Week 4 when the team managed to bust out and post 191 rushing yards in their last game.
The Ravens defense has allowed 10 offensive touchdowns this season and an average of 363 offensive yards per game to opposing teams. If the Ravens want to post more wins, they’ll need to score more touchdowns, tighten up their secondary and stop relying on their kicker, who has scored 39 of the team’s total 93 points this season.
San Francisco 49ers
The San Francisco 49ers have been a hot mess, led by floundering quarterback Colin Kaepernick who just can’t seem assemble any type of watchable performance as of late.
After posting a win in Week 1 that seems like 15 years ago, the 49ers keep getting their teeth kicked in by opposing teams. To show for their efforts, the 49ers have only scored 48 offensive points while allowing 110 points to be scored against them. The 62 point deficit is the worst in the NFL.
Largely responsible for the team’s woes is Kap himself. To date, he has passed for only two touchdowns, has five interceptions, one lost fumble and has been sacked a league-high 14 times. These stats are atrocious. The reason Kaepernick ties for the lead in quarterback rushing yards (195) is because he has to run to keep out of trouble and avoid pressure.
The ultimate problem for the 49ers is opposing defenses are completely picking apart the horribly inaccurate Kaepernick who is also about as predictable as the sun rising every morning.
Indianapolis Colts
Even though the Colts have two wins, which is the most of any team included on this list, they have truly been scraping by.
Led by quarterback and turnover machine Andrew Luck, the Colts should feel lucky that they have managed two wins thus far. One win we have to mention came from the hands of backup quarterback Matt Hasselbeck under center. Hasselbeck started in place of Luck who missed his first ever regular game due to a partial shoulder separation. So, Luck is 1-2 to start the season.
In the three games Luck has started, he has thrown an atrocious seven interceptions and lost one fumble. This is compared to only five touchdown passes. If Luck continues to score at this pace, he will be on course to end the season with 27 touchdowns compared to the 40 he tallied in the 2014 season.
The Colts are also slacking in the ground game this season, averaging only 87.5 yards per week. Additionally, the team possesses overall the sixth-worst defense, allowing 93 points to be scored versus the 72 total points the Colts offense has put on the board.
So far, the Colts are off to a tumultuous start and Luck doesn’t look anything like his self of last season. Factor his injury into the equation and the future forecast looks even worse.
Houston Texans
The 1-3 Texans look to forever be riding the quarterback see-saw this season.
So far, Brian Hoyer has started in one game which resulted in a loss. Ryan Mallett has started three times and registered one win. However, Mallett’s performance in Sunday’s Week 4 loss to the Atlanta Falcons was so inadequate that the team gave him the hook and replaced him with Hoyer.
Unfortunately, this could be the trend moving forward. The plan is to stick with Mallett as the team’s starter in Week 5 until he hits another stumbling block and we see Hoyer called to duty. Lather, rinse repeat.
As for the Texans ground game, the team ranks No. 21 in rushing yards with 399 yards total, at an average of 3.7 yards per attempt. Hopefully Arian Foster, who is being eased in following groin surgery, will eventually improve this stat.
Regarding the Texans defense, it been rather slouchy allowing opposing teams to score an average of 27 points per game while the team’s offense is averaging only 19.25 points per outing.
With inconsistency looking to be the trend at the quarterback position this fall, everything else the team is trying to accomplish will unfortunately take a back seat.
Chicago Bears
One successful last-second field goal is all that keeps the Bears from standing at 0-4 for the season.
Finally, the Bears can check a first win off their laundry list, along with checking off a complete shut-out which occurred in Week 3 against the Seattle Seahawks.
Unfortunately this season, the Bears offense has been awful as reflected by only 68 total points scored. Their wretched defense hasn’t performed any better allowing opposing teams to score an average of 31.25 points per game which ties for the league-high in points against.
Hopefully the return of Jay Cutler, who injured his hamstring in Week 2, will help get the team back on track. However, Chicago’s defense has allowed 13 offensive touchdowns to be scored and has got to stop giving up the farm.
Detroit Lions
The poor Lions are off to disastrous start this season posting 0-4 record thus far. They are the only team in the NFL that has yet to win one game so far this season.
The offense is led by Matthew Stafford, who has five interceptions versus five touchdowns and is struggling to sustain drives. The Lions have only completed 37.1 percent of their third-down attempts.
Detroit’s defense ranks seventh overall but has allowed opposing teams to score 96 points against it. This is simply not cutting it when the Lions offense has only scored 66 points all season.
Four losses in a row to open the season is about as rock bottom as it gets for any NFL team. The Lions have about as much chance of making it to the playoffs as their fellow NFC North Green Bay Packers have of not landing a postseason berth this year.