Absolute imperfection: Lions become first team to finish 0-16

Football Betting Lines

12/28/2008 - Green Bay, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Detroit Lions became the first team in NFL history to go 0-16 as Aaron Rogers threw three touchdowns and the Green Bay Packers put down the Lions, 31-21, to end Detroit's season of futility.

The Lions (0-16) became the first team since the 1976 Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who went 0-14 in their expansion season, and the first team since the league went to a 16-game format to finish a full campaign without a win.

The Lions now join the 1962 New York Mets (40-112), the 1972-73 Philadelphia 76ers (9-73) and the 1974-75 Washington Capitals (8-67-5) as having the worst season in their respective sports. However, the Mets and Capitals were both expansion teams when they set the mark.

Detroit has finished winless previously, going 0-11 in the 1942 campaign that saw the war-depleted Lions outscored by a whopping 263-38.

Dan Orlovsky went 22-for-42 with 225 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions while Calvin Johnson had nine catches for 102 yards and two scores for the Lions, who have dropped 17 straight overall and 12 consecutive games on the road.

Rodgers went 21-for-31 with 308 yards while Donald Driver had six catches for 111 yards and a score for the Packers (6-10), who stopped a five-game skid, but missed the playoffs just one season after going 13-3 and coming within an overtime loss of playing in the Super Bowl.

Trailing by a touchdown early in the third quarter, the Detroit defense came up with a big play as Ryan Grant fumbled the ball on a carry and Kalvin Pearson recovered it at the Green Bay 11. Two plays later, Johnson caught a pass over the middle and raced into the end zone from 14 yards out to tie the game with 10:20 left in the third.

The score remained that way through the rest of the third quarter, but the Packers took a 17-14 lead on a 36-yard field goal from Mason Crosby just 1:26 into the fourth on a drive that spanned the third and fourth quarters.

After holding Detroit to a three-and-out on the ensuing possession, the Packers made it a 24-14 game as Rodgers hit John Kuhn out in the left flat and he just stretched the ball into the end zone on a five-yard score with 8:34 to play.

Detroit, though, needed just four plays to make it a three-point game. Orlovsky hit John Standeford on passes of 35 and 36 yards and Kevin Smith capped the drive with a nine-yard score to make it a 24-21 game with 7:32 to play.

The Packers, though, needed just one play to again make it a 10-point game as Rodgers found Driver wide open down the right sideline and he took it into the end zone on an 80-yard score.

Orlovsky was picked off with under three minutes to play and Green Bay killed off the rest of the clock.

After an exchange of punts to start the game, Green Bay took a 7-0 lead as DeShawn Wynn took a pitch out to the right, followed his blockers and raced down the sideline for a 73-yard score with 8:49 left in the first.

With Detroit holding the ball near midfield, Charles Woodson picked off Orlovsky and returned the ball to the Detroit 41. Six plays later, Rodgers found Jermichael Finley in the right corner of the end zone on a three-yard score for a 14-0 lead with 1:29 left in the first.

The Lions, though, answered with a long drive to get on the board. A 12-play drive that covered 63 yards was capped when Orlovsky threw a fade to the left side of the end zone and Johnson came down with the ball for a nine-yard score with 11:17 left in the second to make it a 14-7 game. The big play of the drive was a fourth down conversion that saw Orlovsky hit Keary Colbert for 11 yards to move the chains.

Game Notes

The Lions have dropped nine of the last 10 against Green Bay and have lost 17 straight road games in the series...Driver finished the season with over 1,000 yards receiving, the fifth straight time he has done that...Rodgers threw for over 4,000 yards on the season and became just the second quarterback in NFL history, Kurt Warner being the first, to throw for over 4,000 yards in his first year as a starter...Grant had 19 carries for 106 yards while Wynn finished the game with eight carries for 105 yards...Smith had 28 carries for 92 yards and a score.