Hapless Lions go 0-16

A frustrated Lions fan

No competitor wants to go through something like this. We have nobody to point a finger at other than ourselves.

Rod Marinelli
Quotes of the week

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The Detroit Lions made unwanted NFL history as they became the first side to go 0-16 for the season.

The Lions lost 31-21 to Green Bay to join the 1976 Tampa Bay Buccaneers as the only side to endure a completely losing season. Two years later the league expanded to a 16-game season and no franchise has lost every game since then.

Aaron Rodgers threw three touchdown passes for the Packers.

The Lions did show some fight and entered the fourth quarter with the score tied at 14-14, but there was no reprieve, as Rodgers threw two touchdown passes in the closing stages to seal Detroit's fate.

It was a 17th consecutive defeat, the fifth longest losing streak in NFL history, for the Lions, whose dismal run of form includes 23 defeats in 24 games.

Disappointment

Troubled head coach Rod Marinelli could not hide his disappointment at the end of Detroit's dismal season.

"I think the record speaks for itself," Marinelli said.

"We tried hard all year. I felt they gave it their best. I felt I gave it my best but sometimes your best isn't good enough and it wasn't good enough this year.

"No competitor wants to go through something like this. We have nobody to point a finger at other than ourselves."

Lions wide receiver Calvin Johnson's performances have been one of very few high points for the season, and he too was downtrodden after the defeat.

"It stinks, the first team to not win a game in a 16-game season," Johnson said.

"We can't do anything about it. We started off bad, had a couple of chances, but we let it get away.

"The season kind of slipped away."