On the NFL: Lions might join '76 Bucs in 'history'

Vikings linebackers coach Fred Pagac knows the pain of a winless season. He did, after all, play tight end for the 1976 Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

"He did?" said Vikings defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier, a member of the 1985 Chicago Bears. "That's good to know. I'll have to use that information in our next meeting."

While the 1985 Bears went 15-1, won the Super Bowl and are placed among the best teams in NFL history, the 1976 Bucs generally are considered the worst team with the best bloopers the league has ever seen.

"That's too long ago to remember," Pagac said this week as his Vikings were preparing to travel to Tampa for today's game against the Bucs. "It wasn't good, I do remember that."

The 1976 Bucs are one of four NFL teams to lose all of their games. A first-year expansion team, they went 0-14 and joined the 1943 Cardinals (0-10), the 1944 Steelers (0-10) and the 1942 Lions (0-11).

Now come the 2008 Lions. A year after the Patriots became the first 16-0 team in NFL history, the Lions are 0-9 and generating speculation that they have the makings of the league's first 0-16 team.

With a trip to Carolina (7-2) today and back-to-back home games against Tampa Bay (6-3) and Tennessee (9-0), the Lions should be 0-12 heading into the Dec. 7 home game against a Vikings. If that happens, they would join the 1976 Bucs, the 2007 Dolphins (0-13), the 1986 Colts (0-13), the 1962 AFL Raiders (0-13), the 1977 Bucs (0-12) and the 2001 Lions (0-12) as the only teams to start a season 0-12 or worse.

"That's all on them to worry about," he said. "I don't worry about that after 30 years. That's water over the dam."

Pagac played for the Bears in 1974 and only that one season with the Bucs before a leg injury ended his career.

"It was hard," Pagac said. "I came from Ohio State, where we had three [Big Ten] championships in four years. In Tampa, we had a lot of injuries. Everybody was new. They had an expansion draft, picked their guys and away we went."

After playing the Vikings, which beat the Lions only 12-10 at home on Oct. 12, the Lions finish the season with games at Indianapolis (5-4), home against the Saints (4-5) and at Green Bay (4-5).

Quote of the week "I should be named AFC defensive player of the week." -- Panthers quarterback Jake Delhomme, who completed only seven of 27 passes for 72 yards, one touchdown, four interceptions and a 12.3 passer rating in a 17-6 victory over Oakland last week.

Courting Cowher Those of you upset with a currently employed head coach might want to cast an eye toward Cleveland, where Romeo Crennel's hot seat is rising to Marinellian temperatures as the team sits at 3-6.

Two Browns fans were so upset, they started a website called cowher09.com. They are asking fellow ticked-off fans to sign a petition begging for owner Randy Lerner to hire former Steelers coach Bill Cowher.

Cowher played for the Browns, got his first coaching job in Cleveland and pummeled the Browns on a regular basis as Steelers coach.

There is a feeling in Cleveland that Cowher would take the job, but it would take $8 million a year and the likelihood that Browns General Manager Phil Savage would have to surrender some of his power.