The city of Detroit has seen some bad teams in the 21st century, and the Pistons are quickly climbing the list of the worst. The Pistons are on pace for a 6-76 record, which would mean Detroit owns the worst team in each Big Four league since 2000.
The Pistons, 2-28 this season, are one loss away from tying the NBA record for the most consecutive defeats with 28, and they are two losses away from breaking that record. On Tuesday against the Nets, the team set the single-season record for most consecutive losses with 27. If Detroit does win just six games, it would be the worst season in NBA history.
To put it simply, things aren’t going well for the Pistons, but that is not exactly new for Detroit’s major franchises. They already own the worst 21st century records in the NFL, MLB and NHL.
In 2008, the Lions went 0-16 and got outscored by 249 points on the season. At least the Cleveland Browns were kind enough to give them some company by going winless in the 2017 season.
The Tigers had a historically miserable season on the diamond in 2003. They won a whopping 43 games in a sport that gives you 162 chances to pick up a win. They were bludgeoned consistently and finished the season with a minus-337 run differential, which was almost 200 runs worse than the next closest team.
On the ice, the Red Wings experienced a sharp fall from power, and that culminated in the pandemic-shortened 2019-20 season. That year, the Wings went 17-49-5 and were 23 points worse than the 30th-ranked Ottawa Senators. Somehow, they had a minus-122 goal differential in just 71 games.
It does seem like the Pistons are destined to join that club, but there is some good news for the city of Detroit. The Lions just won their division for the first time in 30 years, and they are in the running for the No. 1 seed in the NFC, which means the road to the Super Bowl would run through Ford Field.
