OT: Losingest NFL player of all time?
OK, random thought popped in the head today. Since Jason Hanson is beginning his 19th season with the Lions, I wondered if he has been part of more NFL losses than any other NFL player.
He stands at 185 losses during his career. In my research, I could anyone else who comes near this number.
Ironically, he was drafted the year after the Lions won their lone playoff game in 1991.
I really hope he is not, but I have a sinking feeling in my gut that he is. I tried finding someone who has more losses, but the ones I looked into all came up short.
He is a great kicker, possibly one of the best, but he won't be seen as one of the best because he never had that "big kick". Mainly because the Lions were never in that position.
I also could not find any facts on most losses by a NFL player, except most losses by a starting QB (Vinny Testaverde 123). But its probably not looking good for Hanson.
......but I am thinking Morton Anderson, Jan Stenerud, or Gary Anderson all have played long enought to be close to Hanson in games played......of that bunch only Morton Anderson played on enough bad teams to be considered. However, even Morton played on some good teams at the end of his career and probably is well ahead of Hanson. Stenerud and Gary Anderson had long careers but played on many good teams. I looked for about 3 minutes to find actual wins and losses, but couldn't find it.
Are the only two guys I can think of who might challenge. Blanda played for 26 years and 340 games, but he was on some decent teams during his career.
The other candidate is Anderson, who's played in more NFL games than any other player, and was on some crappy New Orleans teams. I can't find won-loss records for either, so I think you're right about Hanson. I've never thought of him as a great kicker, but it's hard to judge him based on the idiot coaches and GMs he's played for.
You got to feel so bad for the guy, he's been stuck on so many terrible teams.
While he's had bad luck to be on a lousy franchise, he's very, very fortunate to still be in a league in which the average career is four years.
I did a season-by-season count and at most he played in 122 regular-season losses. So he's nowhere close.
Has played in 352 consecutive games -- 22 complete 16-game seasons and counting. He has 178 regular-season losses, so Hanson still has him beat. I believe he's coming back for another year with the Giants, so it's theoretically possible he could surpass Hanson if the Giants were to lose 8 more games than the Lions this year...
We all know that isn't possible.
but it just seemed too easy.
but I think in the NFL, all teams play the same number
The Lions could easily lose 8 more games than the Giants this year -- 4-12 versus 12-4, for example. While the opposite would require an actual miracle, it is nonetheless mathematically possible.
I was going to type a hypothetical winning record for the Lions in the above post, but my keyboard stopped working when I tried.
+1 for the laugh
I imagine a true Lions fan would have picked up on the joke right away...
Morten had at least 188 and at most 195 regular season losses (it seems he missed a total of 7 games over his career -- I don't know if they were wins or losses).
So Hanson will likely surpass him this year -- he needs as few as 4 and as many as 11 to do so.
Sure is a handsome kicking tee.
By that statistic, do you suppose Jeff Backus qualifies? He's got to be close if not the outright winner...er...loser.
Is the losingest QB of all time - having played for those awful Saints teams.
I have seen conflicting info that Testaverde is the losingest, but from a percentage standpoint I'm guess Archie is the worst as they played less games back in the day.
At least according to pro-football-reference.com.
http://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/T/TestVi00.htm
http://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/M/MannAr00.htm
I believe the quarterback record is based on wins and losses per game started. Testaverde had two advantage there, as he played until he was 107 and (as you said) teams played more game for all of his career.