And the worst shall be first ... in the Dismal Dozen. Hard to call these actual power rankings since the 12 teams on this list lacked juice in the first week. One week into the NFL season and there were some flat-out awful efforts. The ones that desperately need to improve off their initial performances. This ranking is counterintuive to most. The higher a team is the better they are. The ones at the bottom of the list are the tops when it comes to being awful. A time to look at the 12 NFL teams that are on a list they wish they weren't.
12. Houston Texans
How did the vaunted Texans defense get torched for 409 yards by Josh Allen and the Bills? Houston allowed Allen to account for two touchdowns in the air and two on the ground.
11. NFC South
These teams will be dealt with individually
but a special nod has to go to the NFC South. Already considered one of -- if not the -- weakest divisions in the league, NFC South teams combined to go 0-4 and were outscored by 36 points. This will be survival of the weakest, once again.
10. Los Angeles Rams
Okay, okay, time for some humor. The Rams won't be here long but they earned a space by getting blown out Down Under and then finding out they will be without defensive star Myles Garrett until Week 6 ... at least.
9. Detroit Lions
Yes, they won. But they allowed 410 passing yards to Tyler Shough. They permitted New Orleans to come back from a 21-0 deficit to force overtime, allowing a Shough pass to Juwan Johnson to cap a 75-yard drive late in the fourth quarter. After Detroit drove for a TD in OT, New Orleans came right back and only lost because a two-point conversion failed.
8. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
The Buccaneers managed to show the Bengals how to win a game early in the season. The Baker Mayfield contract issue was in the past. However, the Bucs decided it was a great idea to make the Bengals defense, which has been awful, look fantastic with four turnovers. An ominious start.
7. Green Bay Packers
The Packers led the Vikings 22-10 two-thirds of the way through the third quarter. All that happened after that was Minnesota scored 29 straight points in about 18 minutes of playing time. Oh, did we mention that the Vikings had Carson Wentz at QB after Kyler Murray went out with a concussion? Bad news, Packers fans.
6. Carolina Panthers
Does anything define dismal more than allowing 59 points when you are coming off a season when you made the playoffs?
5. Los Angeles Chargers
Penalty after penalty doomed the Bolts. This is a team so many expect so much from and has failed to come up big consistently. Losing your home opener to the Arizona Cardinals deserves special acknowledgment. The last Cardinal coach to win his debut in the first week of the season was Don Coryell, yes the Air Coryell mastermind of the Chargers, in 1973.
4. Indianapolis Colts
More of the same of the second half of last season with the Colts looking anything but strong. The Ravens came into Indy and walloped them. This was Indy's 11th loss in an opener in 13 years.
3. Dallas Cowboys
The Dallas defense was supposed to be improved. It didn't look it against the Giants. Dak Prescott had the ball twice in the second half and led two touchdown drives. That was it. The Giants chewed up Dallas on the ground and Jaxson Dart was superb through the air. Not the way Brian Schottenheimer wanted to see 2026 start.
t-1. Cleveland Browns
Deshaun Watson as the quarterback is only the start of the problems for this franchise. Todd Monken was brought in as an offensive mind and he saw the defense get lit by Trevor Lawrence for 34 points.
1. Tennessee Titans
They were clobbered at home by the Jets in the debut of Robert Saleh, who formerly coached Gang Green. Nothing like stepping up for your coach in a revenge game.
This article originally appeared on The List Wire: Dismal Dozen NFL teams that struggled in week one
