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Odds of Any Team Going 0-16 in 2020 Set at +2200; Jaguars Listed at +2800, Redskins at +5000

Eric Rosales

by Eric Rosales in NFL Football

Updated Dec 20, 2022 · 9:39 AM PST

Gardner Minshew back to pass
Gardner Minshew and the Jacksonville Jaguars are 3-point favorites at home over the Miami Dolphins in the Week 3 NFL Thursday Night Football matchup. Photo by Icon Sportswire.
  • Odds released on chances an NFL team goes 0-16 in the 2020 season
  • Washington, Jacksonville targeted as teams that could go 0-fer
  • Read below to find out if you should wager on any team going winless this season

Forget the glory of victory. Today, we bask in the agony of defeat.

We’ll leave the odds of a team going undefeated in the upcoming NFL season to the talented Mr. Coyle, because, here, it’s all about misery, and checking the odds of an NFL team going 0-16 in 2020.

Odds on NFL Team Going 0-16 in 2020

Will an NFL team go 0-16 in the regular season? Odds
Yes +2200
No -10000

*Odds from May 12

Since 1944, there have been exactly five teams that have put up a doughnut in the regular season. Does a new decade bring about a sixth?

History Not on Your Side

Save for the 1990s, there has been just one team going winless each decade in the NFL starting with the 1960 Dallas Cowboys. That’s a lot of NFL teams that have managed to fall into at least one W in a season.

In the 2000s, the standard bearers for futility are the 2008 Lions and the 2017 (and always) Cleveland Browns. From that Lions 0-16 season to present day, however, there are only two teams to even have just one win in a year: the 2009 St. Louis Rams, and the 2016 … Cleveland Browns.

All-Time Winless Teams NFL History

Team Year Record
Cleveland Browns 2017 0-16
Detroit Lions 2008 0-16
Baltimore Colts 1982 0-8-1
Tampa Bay Buccaneers 1976 0-14
Dallas Cowboys 1960 0-11-1

*since 1944

It’s almost impossible to field a roster built to lose everything. Players still play for pride and their livelihoods. In a no-guaranteed contract world, no one packs it in.

Take last year. The Miami Dolphins looked like the worst football team ever assembled, getting historically blasted the first few weeks of the year. They finished an absolutely pedestrian 5-11.

Lowly Bengals Don’t Look Winless Bad

The team expected to struggle most is the Cincinnati Bengals, who went 2-14 a year ago. They feature the top pick of the draft in quarterback Joe Burrow, who’s got a talented group of skill players in AJ Green, Tee Higgins and Tyler Boyd, with Joe Mixon at RB.

That’s already leaps and bounds ahead of the ’08 Lions and ’17 Browns, who had Jon Kitna and Deshone Kizer as their Week 1 starters.

With the 12th-lightest strength of schedule in the league, and it’s no wonder that they’re not pegged specifically in the winless props. But there are a few teams that are: the Washington Redskins and Jacksonville Jaguars.

Redskins / Jaguars 0-16 Odds

Team Yes Odds No Odds
Washington Redskins +5000 -10000
Jacksonville Jaguars +2800 -10000

Odds from May 12

How Ugly Can it Get?

Both teams are likely listed because of the instability at the pivot position.

Dwayne Haskins has looked like a young developmental prospect, far from the other young studs who have taken off (like Daniel Jones of the Giants).

Meanwhile, a talent exodus has crippled a Jacksonville franchise that’s a couple of years removed from being a legit Super Bowl contender. Gone is almost every vital piece of the “Sacksonville” defense, and they’re left with the promising but unheralded Gardner Minshew III at pivot, after the Nick Foles experiment lasted just four starts.

As promising as his rookie campaign was, he has flash-in-the-pan potential.

Looking at Strength of Schedule

While Washington faces the eighth-toughest slate in the NFL this year, there are factors worth considering. Though Haskins may still be raw and their offensive weaponry gets bare after second-year receiver Terry MCLaurin, this is a team with one of the top defensive fronts in the NFL, bolstered with the addition of no. 2 pick Chase Young.

New head coach Ron Rivera adds stability and (hopefully) culture to this team, and their defense could be the difference in games against the Cardinals, Browns, Bengals, and Lions this year. Also, they’ve got the Panthers, another team in flux, on the calendar.

As for the Jags, there’s almost no way you can bet against them going winless, not after getting the easiest first half strength of schedule in the NFL. They’ll get their crack at a win against a slate that includes the Dolphins, Bengals and Lions. And while the schedule does tighten up in the second half, they still have the Browns in the home stretch.

What’s the Best Bet?

I don’t recommend betting any team to go winless this year, and there’s no value in betting no. If I was forced to pick between the Redskins or Jaguars to go 0-16, I would take the Jaguars.

While Washington has some heavy competition, there is at least a semblance of a workable defense and legit talent that Rivera can mold. On the other end, there’s not much of a safety net that Jacksonville could fall back on if Minshew struggles or gets hurt.

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