Bad is Good

The matchup on Sunday between the Detroit Lions and the Cleveland Browns is a game between two of the worst franchises in the NFL. Both teams sit with records of 1-8, and a person has to wonder: What in this game is worth watching?

The team with the worst record in the NFL is granted the first pick in the next season's NFL Draft, so the game between the two teams has interesting implications. No players would want to tank a game on purpose, but would the owners of either team want to lose on purpose?

When the San Francisco 49ers and the Houston Texans squared off for last place in the final game of the 2005 NFL season the skepticism was proven wrong. The 49ers came out and defeated the Texans, thus costing themselves the first pick in the draft the next year. The players for the Texans were distraught over the loss, but the team did receive the No. 1 pick and drafted defensive end Mario Williams out of North Carolina State University.

The other interesting thing to watch in this game is the utterly bad football that will be played. If you like follies then this is the game for you. When the Lions and Browns played against one another eight years ago Lions quarterback Ty Detmer threw seven interceptions, the most thrown in NFL history. That's not exactly the record a player wants to associate himself with. The Lions have a terrible defense and the Browns have a terrible offense, scoring no points in their previous game. It's time to bust out the 1920s piano bar music for this game. It's going to be ugly.