We don’t want this to come off as mean.
Spencer Rattler is 0-9 as a starter to begin his NFL career, and as he continues to be the Saints‘ starting quarterback, he’s quickly moving up the list of passers who have had the most consecutive losses to open their career.
There are just 12 quarterbacks ever to open 0-9 or worse, and none of the others are active, so Rattler can make progress in a hurry. Three more losses and he’s tied for second-most, ever. This isn’t just a doom and gloom list — there are Hall of Fame quarterbacks on here, a reminder that a bad, bad start doesn’t have to define an NFL career.
Before we start, no other active quarterbacks are anywhere close to 0-9. The closest is Falcons backup Easton Stick, who is 0-4; Titans rookie Cam Ward and Broncos backup Sam Ehlinger are both 0-3. Only Ward has a real shot to join this list this season.
You hear it a lot that “QB wins isn’t a stat.” But, to be clear, we’re just counting QB losses here.
T-9. Norm Snead, 0-9, Washington, 1961
Snead was a No. 2 overall draft pick, played 16 years in the NFL and made four Pro Bowls, but he struggled out of the gates, losing his first nine games with Washington. In fairness, he opened his NFL career 0-12-1, so he had the second-longest drought without a win, but we’ll rank him here based on the nine straight losses. Snead had his issues in those nine games, with six touchdowns against 16 interceptions, but he got to finish the season with a 34-24 win over the Cowboys, throwing and running for a score.
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T-9. Spencer Rattler, 0-9, Saints, 2024-25
Rattler went 0-6 as a rookie, and he beat out Tyler Shough for the starting job this season, going 0-3 so far. Rattler hasn’t been terrible — throwing eight touchdowns to six interceptions in his young career. He’s probably not winning this weekend at Buffalo, but the following game is against the still-winless Giants, so the streak could end there … or they could turn to Shough.
T-9. Dan Orlovsky, 0-9, Lions/Colts, 2008-11
Orlovsky has gone on to be a respected NFL analyst for ESPN, but he went 0-7 with the Lions in 2008, then lost his first two starts with the Colts in 2011 to earn a spot on this list. It’s hardly just his fault — the 2008 Lions went 0-16, so they lost with or without him, and the 2011 Colts went 2-14, with Orlovsky faring better than Curtis Painter, who just missed this list with an 0-8 career record. His stats in the nine losses aren’t bad at all, though. He threw 11 touchdowns against eight interceptions. But yes, he also had a safety for accidentally running out of the back of the end zone.
Dan Orlovsky had one of the longest losing streaks for a quarterback of all-time, which was highlighted by his memorable safety blunder. (Photo by Tom Dahlin/Getty Images)
T-9. Rick Norton, 0-9, Dolphins, 1966-69
Norton was mostly a backup to Bob Griese in the pre-Don Shula early days of the Dolphins. He went 0-6 in his first three seasons, then lost his first three in 1969 before beating the Broncos for his lone career win. It’s hard to sugarcoat this one: Norton had two touchdowns and 19 interceptions in those first nine losses, so we’re just happy he got that one win. And he gets to boast that he threw the final touchdown pass at Wrigley Field, doing so for the Packers in a loss to the Bears in 1970.
T-5. Warren Moon, 0-10, Oilers, 1984
Moon spent six years in the CFL and won plenty of games there, but a Hall of Fame NFL career began with 10 straight losses with the Oilers. All 10 losses were by at least 10 points. Moon would go 3-3 to finish the season, and obviously went on to throw for 291 touchdowns in a prolific career. But in those first nine NFL starts, he had just seven touchdowns against eight interceptions. This could be an example for Rattler that there might be better days ahead, or also a touch of irony if he ends up in the CFL.
T-5. Zach Mettenberger, 0-10, Titans, 2014-15
Poor Mettenberger. He was just a sixth-round pick out of LSU, so he did well to have 10 NFL starts, but he finished his NFL career without a win as a starter. The 2014 Titans went 2-14, and props if you can name their leading rusher, which was … Bishop Sankey. That earned them Marcus Mariota in 2015, and Mettenberger got four more starts as an injury replacement, losing them all. He threw 10 touchdowns and 11 interceptions in those 10 losses. He’s now the head football coach at Father Ryan High School in Nashville.
T-5. Brodie Croyle, 0-10, Chiefs, 2007-10
Like Mettenberger, Croyle was a former SEC standout, drafted in the third round in 2006 out of Alabama. Kansas City won 10 games total between 2007-09, when he got all but one of his starts. He had seven touchdowns against five interceptions in the 10 losses — nothing terrible. Kansas City’s assistant quarterbacks coach in his last season? Nick Sirianni.
Another solid career — 11 years in the NFL, four Pro Bowls, over 40,000 passing yards and 257 touchdown passes. But Carr didn’t have the best start to his career, with Oakland scoring 17 points or less in eight of his first 10 starts, all losses. His overall stats are among the best on this list — 13 touchdowns against nine interceptions, including a four-touchdown gem in a 31-28 loss to the Chargers. Dennis Allen couldn’t survive the rough start, getting fired four games into Carr’s career.
Derek Carr had some solid moments as a rookie, but he also experienced some pretty bad lows. (Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)
T3. Stan Gelbaugh, 0-11, Cardinals/Seahawks, 1991-92
Gelbaugh didn’t get his first NFL start until he was 28, but he went 0-3 with the Cardinals in 1991 and 0-8 with the Seahawks in 1992, with seven touchdowns against 16 interceptions in those games. Gelbaugh was a star in the World League of American Football, leading the London Monarchs to victory in the World Bowl in 1991, winning the league’s Offensive MVP award. He got a win in his final start at 34, catching a break as he started for Seattle but was injured after two passes. Still, because he started, Gelbaugh got credit for the win.
T3. Troy Aikman, 0-11, Cowboys, 1989
Aikman won three Super Bowls in a four-year span with Dallas, including a Super Bowl MVP, but his NFL career started rough. The Cowboys went 1-15 in Jimmy Johnson’s first season, and Aikman lost his first 11, including three shutouts. Nine touchdowns and 18 interceptions for Aikman in those 11 losses. A year later, they’d add Emmitt Smith, and by 1992, they’d start a run of Super Bowls.
Troy Aikman had a Hall of Fame career, but his rookie season is one that he’d likely want to forget. (Photo by George Gojkovich/Getty Images)
2. Jack Trudeau, 0-12, Colts, 1986-87
Trudeau lost all 11 starts as a rookie in 1986, and then his first start in 1987 as well. It’s worth noting that the quarterbacks who beat him included Dan Marino, Jim Kelly and Moon, all future Hall of Famers. Trudeau had 10 touchdowns against 21 interceptions in those 12 games, and he finished his career 19-30, so after a woeful rookie season, he was a .500 quarterback over the rest of his career.
1. DeShone Kizer, 0-15, Browns, 2017
The gold standard for starting an NFL career poorly. Kizer was a second-round pick out of Notre Dame, but landed with a Browns team that would go 0-16 with Hue Jackson as coach in 2017. Kizer led the NFL with 22 interceptions while throwing just 11 touchdowns. How does a team lose every game and stick with the same quarterback almost the entire way? The alternatives were Cody Kessler, who’d gone 0-8 the year before, and Kevin Hogan, who lost in his only NFL start. Kizer never played for the Browns again, throwing two interceptions off the bench for the Packers in 2018 and then never playing in an NFL game again.
Greg Auman is an NFL Reporter for FOX Sports. He previously spent a decade covering the Buccaneers for the Tampa Bay Times and The Athletic. You can follow him on Twitter at @gregauman.
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