2008 Rams worst team ever?

Here's a dubious honor to be watching for, and hoping against, the 2008 Rams as the worst team even per Football Outsiders' DVOA metric.

Detroit, despite being 0-13, handed the Rams a shot at infamy with their close game against the Vikings last week. Through 14 weeks of football, the Rams total DVOA is -50.2%. Here's an in-depth explanation of DVOA, but the short answer as to what this number means for the Rams says that the Rams overall are 50.2% worse than the average NFL team.

There's not really a bright spot for offense versus defense either. The Rams offense has a -24.8% DVOA, the worst in league, which comes as no surprise to the four or five of us still watching. Things are only slightly better on the other side of the ball where the Rams defense ranks 31st  with a 25.0% DVOA.

As of week 14, the 2005 49ers (notice a trend with the NFC West?) are the worst with a -63.8% DVOA, but that figures to change in the coming weeks if the Rams keep getting blown out. From FO:

Both Detroit and St. Louis still have a shot at the "prize" of being the worst team ever. There is a big gap between the 2005 49ers and everyone else this week because the 49ers got crushed in Week 14 of 2005, losing to Seattle 41-3. That team finished up with three close games -- actually winning two of them against other bad teams -- so Detroit and/or St. Louis can "beat" the 2005 49ers if they have a couple of bad losses in these final three weeks.

The closest thing to a silver lining here is that history will remember the (probable) 0-16 Lions instead of the hapless Rams thanks to their dubious achievement of being going winless.