NBA

Detroit Lions on pace to finish with more wins than Pistons, become 3rd NFL team to outplay NBA club

Author photo
By
James Foglio
Author photo
James Foglio Sports Editor

James is a Basketball Insiders contributor. He earned his bachelor's degree in English and Creative Writing from Southern New Hampshire University. James enjoys watching sports and helping gamblers win money.

All posts by James Foglio
Sports Editor

Updated27 Dec 2023

NBA Detroit Lions on pace to finish with more wins than Detroit Pistons, become 3rd NFL team to outplay NBA club

The Detroit Lions are currently 11-4 and have already clinched the NFC North, and the NFL team is now on pace to finish with more wins than the NBA’s Detroit Pistons.

The Lions could become the third NFL franchise to record more victories in a season than the team’s NBA counterpart. As for the two other teams, the 1993 Dallas Cowboys (12-4) tallied more wins than the 1992-93 Dallas Mavericks (11-71).

The 1997 Denver Broncos (12-4) posted more wins than the 1997-98 Denver Nuggets (11-71). Of course, the ‘93 Cowboys and ‘98 Broncos both went on to win the Super Bowl that same year.


More importantly, the Lions are set to make the playoffs for the first time since 2016. This is also the first time since 2014 that Detroit will end a regular season with 11 or more wins.

The Lions haven’t won 12 games in a season since 1991, when the club went on to lose 41-10 to the Washington Redskins in the NFC Championship.

On Tuesday, the Pistons dropped an NBA single-season record 27th straight game with a 118-112 loss to the Brooklyn Nets. It’s the most consecutive losses in a season in league history.

The Philadelphia 76ers own the overall record, losing 28 straight. However, the Sixers’ record spanned the 2014-15 and 2015-16 seasons.

Detroit hasn’t won a game since its home opener on Oct. 28 against the Chicago Bulls. The club’s historic skid may never be matched again, depending on whether or not the losing ends soon.

At this juncture, there’s no end in sight. The Pistons are now 2-28 for the season, with the Boston Celtics (23-6) up next on their schedule.

Detroit Lions (11-4) outplaying Detroit Pistons (2-28); Winnipeg Jets went 30 straight games without a victory

“Again, when you look at records, you think of coaches, but I’m sure the players don’t want that attached to the name on the jersey,” Pistons coach Monty Williams said before Tuesday’s loss.

“Was it heavy? It’s been heavy for a while. That’s just the nature of this kind of losing streak and it’s not gonna change because we’re grading the level of it, we’ve got to do what we’ve got to do to change it.”

What about other sports? The 1980-81 Winnipeg Jets own the longest winless streak in not only NHL history, but all of professional sports history as well.

Though, the NHL’s all-time record includes ties during a winless stretch. Winnipeg went 30 consecutive games without a win from Oct. 19, 1980, to Dec. 20, 1980.


The 1975-76 Kansas City Scouts went 27 straight without a victory from Feb. 12, 1976, to April 4, 1976.

Furthermore, the NFL’s Chicago Cardinals also lost 29 straight games from 1942 to 1945. The Cardinals went 0-10 in the 1943 and 1944 seasons, and then the club finished 1-9 in 1945.

The 1976-77 Tampa Bay Buccaneers (26 consecutive losses) and 2020-21 Jacksonville Jaguars (20 straight losses) have come the closest to matching those Cardinals in the Super Bowl era.

While the Detroit Lions seemed to have finally turn their NFL franchise around in this 21st century, it’s more of the same for the NBA’s Detroit Pistons. The Pistons haven’t made a conference finals appearance since 2008.

The Pistons recorded zero wins for the entire month of November, becoming the 13th team in NBA history to go winless in a whole calendar month. Detroit is two losses away from doing it again in December.