Team of the decade (cont.)

23. Washington

Steve Spurrier was one of six head coaches for the Redskins this past decade. Icon SMI

Regular season: 66-78, .458
Playoff wins/record: 1-2
Super Bowls won/appeared: 0
Playoff seasons: 2
Winning seasons: 2
Losing seasons: 4

I'm sorry. I know Redskins fans think I'm always trashing their team, but after spending boatloads and boatloads of money this decade, this is all Daniel Snyder has to show for it? The 23rd best team in the NFL in the 2000s? That's something to hang from the rafters. One playoff win. Two playoff appearances. Two winning seasons. Six head coaches. I'm guessing the 1980s seem further away than ever in Washington.

24. Oakland

Regular season: 57-87, .396
Playoff wins/record: 4-3
Super Bowls won/appeared: 0 of 1
Playoff seasons: 3
Winning seasons: 3
Losing seasons: 6

What are the sad-sack Raiders and their sub-.400 winning percentage doing above four other clubs at .406 or better? None of those teams went to a Super Bowl earlier this decade. None of those teams were seeded second, third and first respectively in the AFC playoffs of 2000-02. So while I know the memory of the Raiders going 33-15 to start this decade is distant and ever-fading, it did happen. And let's be honest: Oakland got jobbed in the Snow Bowl. You know it, and I know it. It was a fumble.

25. Kansas City

Regular season: 66-78, .458
Playoff wins/record: 0-2
Super Bowls won/appeared: 0
Playoff seasons: 2
Winning seasons: 3
Losing seasons: 5

With the exception of those hazy, crazy, high-scoring days of 2003, when Kansas City produced and surrendered points in almost equal measure, the entire decade was something of a downer for the Chiefs. But they did give us one of the more entertaining playoff games in history, that no-punt, point-a-minute 38-31 Colts win at Arrowhead in 2003.

26. San Francisco

Regular season: 60-84, .417
Playoff wins/record: 1-2
Super Bowls won/appeared: 0
Playoff seasons: 2
Winning seasons: 2
Losing seasons: 7

It's six consecutive losing seasons and counting in San Francisco, where a playoff berth was once a birthright. The 49ers hope their long drought is nearing an end and that Mike Singletary will be the coach to lead them back into the postseason. But does anybody know what George Seifert is doing these days? I mean, would it hurt to make a phone call?

27. Cincinnati

Regular season: 58-85-1, .406
Playoff wins/record: 0-1
Super Bowls won/appeared: 0
Playoff seasons: 1
Winning seasons: 1
Losing seasons: 5

The Bengals this decade are a prime example why you never take anything for granted in the NFL. When Cincy went 11-5 in 2005 and made the playoffs for the first time in 15 years, everybody and their brother raced to label the team one of the league's coming powers. Then Carson Palmer hurt his knee early in that playoff game, a dozen or so arrests transpired, and the NFL's next big thing became its next big bust. You just never know.

28. Arizona

Regular season: 52-92, .361
Playoff wins/record: 3-1
Super Bowls won/appeared: 0 of 1
Playoff seasons: 1
Winning seasons: 1
Losing seasons: 7

I tried to push the Cardinals as high as I could in recognition of the most improbable Super Bowl season in NFL history, but they're banging their head on the No. 28 slot in my rankings. They came ever so close to becoming the ultimate playoff Cinderella story last winter, but the bottom line says seven losing seasons and just one playoff berth so far this decade. I'll give them this much: The 2008 Cardinals were not who we thought they were.

29. Buffalo

Regular season: 60-84, .417
Playoff wins/record: 0-0
Super Bowls won/appeared: 0
Playoff seasons: 0
Winning seasons: 1
Losing seasons: 6

Best I can tell, there's no truth to the rumor the Bills organization this season plans on staging a 10th anniversary reunion of the franchise's last playoff qualifier: the 1999 team. But if the Bills did decide to go that route, I'd make sure the celebration was at halftime of one of their Toronto games, thereby not needlessly reminding Buffalo fans it has been a decade since they had a playoff team to call their own.

30. Cleveland

Regular season: 52-92, .361
Playoff wins/record: 0-1
Super Bowls won/appeared: 0
Playoff seasons: 1
Winning seasons: 2
Losing seasons: 7

Truth be known, would Browns fans say the 10 years since Cleveland returned to the NFL were more enjoyable than the three seasons (1996-98) they did without Browns football of any kind? Think about it. Cleveland went undefeated for three years, but has averaged 10.6 losses since resuming play in 1999. I think it's a tough call.

31. Houston

Regular season: 40-72, .357
Playoff wins/record: 0
Super Bowls won/appeared: 0
Playoff seasons: 0
Winning seasons: 0
Losing seasons: 5

The Texans are the only NFL team not playing with a full decade in this particular exercise, having debuted as an expansion team in 2002. But in seven full seasons, they've posted five losing records and a pair of 8-8s the past two years. Then again, the Oilers lasted 37 seasons in Houston without ever making a Super Bowl trip, so there's still three decades to play with if you're the Texans.

32. Detroit

Regular season: 40-104, .278
Playoff wins/record: 0
Super Bowls won/appeared: 0
Playoff seasons: 0
Winning seasons: 1
Losing seasons: 8

Who knew that when Bobby Ross and Gary Moeller combined to coach the Lions to a 9-7, third-place finish in the NFC Central in 2000 -- losing their final game at home against the 5-11 Bears on Christmas Eve to narrowly miss the playoffs -- it would represent the high-water mark of NFL football in Detroit this decade? Apparently Matt Millen was one of those who didn't know.

GALLERY: Moments that helped define the 2000s.