With 14 teams about to make a playoff trip to the Super Bowl, we can't ignore the losers of the 2023 NFL season. Who are the most disappointing teams, players and coaches? Fortunately, no team finished with one of the worst NFL records ever. But there are still some clear losers this season who might want to shake up or make some changes.
Of course, anyone can look at the standings and pick the worst teams. However, we wanted to dig deeper and do a full analysis of the current season to come up with the real losers for the 2023 NFL season. Here is our list of the most interesting flops and biggest losers of the 2023 NFL season.
Bill Belichick
This will likely be the end of Bill Belichick's tenure in New England after his worst season with the Patriots. It's clear that things haven't been the same since Tom Brady left. But the Patriots have at least been competitive in recent seasons, going 25-25 with one playoff appearance over the past three years.
But a 4-13 record and last place in the AFC East is unacceptable. The Patriots have been held to seven points or fewer six times this season, including twice. His legacy may not be tarnished by one bad season, but it looks like his tenure in New England will end with a whimper.
Austin thank you
Before the season, Austin Ekeler was hoping for a lucrative contract extension that never came. Instead, he will enter free agency as an undersized soon-to-be 29-year-old coming off the worst season of his career. To be fair, this isn't entirely his fault as the Chargers have collectively been among the NFL's biggest losers this season.
However, Ekeler is a loser in the sense that he went from being among the league's best players to being an afterthought in less than a year. Instead of a long-term deal, Ekeler will likely receive a one-year, proof-of-contract contract from some team in free agency, which is certainly not what he envisioned at the start of the season.
Sean Payton
A coach who once served a season-long suspension for his role in a bounty scandal is once again embroiled in a scandal. The Broncos and Sean Payton are facing questions about whether they are allowed to bench Russell Wilson after Wilson refused to renegotiate his contract midseason.
There's also the issue of Payton not putting Wilson and the Broncos in the best position to succeed. Additionally, some of Denver's close losses in 2023 that ultimately kept the Broncos out of the playoffs can be attributed to poor coaching decisions. In short, Payton has a lot of questions to answer about his first season in Denver.
Carolina Panthers
While no one was expecting any miracles from the Panthers, they certainly should have done better than 2-15, especially after a fairly respectable 7-10 campaign in 2022. For the second straight season, Carolina was forced to fire a coach in Mid season. A season that speaks to weak leadership at the top levels of the organization.
The catch is that the Panthers won't even get the first overall pick in the draft because they traded it to Chicago to get Bryce Young. This is the essence of Carolina's 2023 season and why the Panthers are among the biggest losers.
Arthur Smith
As expected, Arthur Smith was fired after going 7-10 with the Falcons for the third straight season. Smith has shown a profound level of ineptitude all season. It was as if he was new to the game and needed NFL plays explained to him.
He refused to get the ball to his team's top playmakers like Bijan Robinson and Kyle Pitts, and almost ignored Robinson at times despite using top-10 players on him. The NFC South has been around this season, only for Smith and the Falcons to go 1-4 with all three opponents in Atlanta losing.
In a year in which several coaches were fired midway through the season, Smith actually had perhaps the worst coaching job in the entire league.
