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Monday’s question of the day: Which NFL team will be the last to win a game?

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Reporters from around the Tribune family tackle the question of the day, then you get a chance to chime in and tell them why they are wrong.

Dom Amore, Hartford Courant

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Let’s start off with the assumption that nobody is going to go 0-16 this year. That’s once in a lifetime futility and the 2008 Lions deserve to have it all to themselves for decades. This year has spawned an inordinate number of 0-3 teams. Scanning the field of failures, my eyes are drawn to the Cleveland Browns as the least likely to win any time soon. They have scored 29 points and allowed 95, by far the worst ratio. They are at or near the bottom in every category except passing defense (16th), which makes sense since they are so bad against the run. They’re going with inexperience at quarterback, not the way to stop a negative roll, and their schedule the next several weeks is unfavorable. Sam Farmer, Los Angeles Times

Cleveland and Detroit are thisclose on a map, and even closer when it comes to bad football. So it wouldn’t be shocking to see the Browns follow in the staggering footsteps of the 2008 Lions and become the second NFL team to go 0-16. That said, the Browns are still capable of pulling off a stunner, the way they did against the Giants last season. Miami could stay winless for awhile, depending on the health of Chad Pennington, seeing as the Dolphins’ next five opponents are a combined 12-3. But the team most likely to keep the bubbly on ice the longest is Kansas City, whose next five games are Giants, Dallas, at Washington, San Diego and at Jacksonville. If you can’t convert third downs, you can’t win. The Chiefs are seven for 36 in that department, including 0 for 11 on Sunday.

Ken Murray, Baltimore Sun

Based on what I saw Sunday in Baltimore, the Browns will be the last NFL team to win a game this season -- by a landslide. They don’t even play a winnable game until Week 11, when they travel to Detroit.
And they have only two other games they can be competitive in (unless Cincinnati goes in the tank again). On back-to-back Sundays in December, the Browns play at Kansas City and home against Oakland. I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re playing to avoid 0-16 infamy at that point.
The NFL is full of awful teams: the Browns, Rams, Raiders, Chiefs, Bucs, Redskins, Lions, Panthers. But the Browns have the worst combination of coaching, defense and quarterback of any team. They also have the worst uniforms. This team is more likely to stage a mutiny against Eric Mangini than it is to win a game this year.

Ethan J. Skolnick, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

There’s an awful lot of awful in the NFL this season, but the Browns slouch below the rest. The Dolphins, Titans and Panthers are struggling, but at least they showed in 2008 that they can win. The Chiefs, Rams and Bucs are talent-starved, but at least it’s not already apparent that the players despise their new coaches. The Browns? Another story. Can’t fight karma. After earning the Mangenius label early with the Jets, Eric Mangini has been angering people ever since. The Browns foolishly hired him, and his draft-day blundering, torturous bus trips, needless secrecy and senseless fines seem to have already alienated fans, players and agents. The Browns have been outscored 95-29 and this season, not even the Bengals (Sunday’s opponent) can save them.

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