The chase for 0-32 is gone, but the inauspicious title of the worst combined season for a single sport in New York history is still in play.
The Giants and Jets haven’t enjoyed much success lately during a brutal era for football in New York, especially this season, with a combined 1-15 record through Week 8. But they’re not alone. There have been other years when the two New York teams in a single sport have combined for similar futility.
Here’s a look at when, how it happened and how they got out of it:
FOOTBALL
YEAR: 1976
TEAMS: Giants and Jets
RECORDS: Giants 3-11, Jets 3-11; combined winning percentage of .214
HOW THEY GOT INTO THIS MESS:
GIANTS: The Giants went 8-6 in 1972 but then fell into a tailspin, going 4-23-1 over the next two seasons and 5-9 in 1975, with four different starting quarterbacks in that span. Bill Arnsparger entered 1976 with a 7-21 record as a head coach.
JETS: After the NFL-AFL merger in 1970, the Jets’ first winning season in the NFL didn’t come until 1981. A 3-11 season in 1975 got Charley Winner fired. The Jets then hired N.C. State coach Lou Holtz, who inherited a team that had a 33-year-old Joe Namath at quarterback and would soon lose its 1975 MVP, future Hall of Fame running back John Riggins, to free agency.
LOWEST POINTS:
GIANTS
The Giants finally had a home to call their own, Giants Stadium, but opened by losing their first three games there as they started the season 0-9.
After a 27-0 loss to the Steelers pushed them to 0-7, the Giants fired Arnsparger and replaced him with John McVay.
The Giants got some brutal performances from the quarterback position. Craig Morton and Norm Snead combined to complete 53.7 percent of their passes for nine touchdowns and 24 interceptions.
JETS
Namath’s final year as a Jet was one to forget. He started the first seven games before being replaced by the No. 6-overall pick in 1976, Richard Todd. They combined to complete just 45.8 percent of their passes for seven touchdowns and 28 interceptions.
After Holtz resigned with one game left in the season, he said, “God did not put Lou Holtz on this earth to coach in the pros.’’
Namath came back to start the final game of the season against the Bengals, but recorded as many completions as interceptions (four). The Jets gained just 72 total yards as an offense.
MOMENT OF RELIEF (OTHER THAN THE SEASON ENDING)
The impossible happened on Nov. 14, 1976 — both teams won. The Giants picked up their first win, 12-9 over Washington, while the Jets beat the Buccaneers 34-0. It was the first time both teams won on the same day since Oct. 22, 1972.
HOW THEY GOT OUT OF IT:
GIANTS: After two more losing seasons, McVay was fired and GM Andy Robustelli resigned. The tide began to turn that offseason, when the Giants hired George Young as GM and Ray Perkins as head coach and drafted Phil Simms. Three seasons later, they were back in the playoffs.
JETS: Defensive coordinator Walt Michaels was promoted to replace Holtz as head coach while Jim Kensil took over as team president. They endured another 3-11 season in 1977 before climbing to .500 the next two years, all while drafting players that would soon become part of the New York Sack Exchange. The Jets had one more losing season in 1980 before breaking out in 1981 to go 10-5-1 and make the playoffs for the first time since 1969.
BASKETBALL
YEAR: 2009-10
TEAMS: Knicks and Nets
RECORDS: Knicks 29-53, Nets 12-70; combined winning percentage of .250
HOW THEY GOT INTO THIS MESS:
KNICKS: After Jeff Van Gundy unexpectedly resigned in the middle of the 2001-02 season, the Knicks churned through six different coaches over the next seven seasons, with Mike D’Antoni coming on board in 2008. Along the way, they had a combination of poor drafting, bad contracts and questionable trades heading into the 2009 season.
NETS: They reached the conference semifinals in 2006 and 2007, but soon broke up their core after a tough start to the 2007-08 season. They eventually traded away Jason Kidd, Richard Jefferson and Vince Carter and entered the 2009 season in full rebuild mode.
LOWEST POINTS:
KNICKS
A 1-9 start — including a double-overtime loss and an overtime loss in back-to-back games before grabbing their first win — set the tone for the season.
On Jan. 24, 2010, the Knicks lost to the Mavericks, 128-78. The 50-point loss was their worst in the history of Madison Square Garden.
Four years after giving up a haul to get him — including a first-round draft pick that would become LaMarcus Aldridge — Eddy Curry played just seven games all season. Even midseason trade piece Darko Milicic (eight) and midseason trade acquisition Tracy McGrady (24) played more games in a Knicks uniform that year.
NETS
On the way to an 0-18 start to the season — setting the NBA record for the worst start — Lawrence Frank was fired after 16 games. Assistant coach Tom Barrise lost the next two before general manager Kiki Vandeweghe took over for the rest of the season.
The Nets went on to have additional losing streaks of 10, 11 and eight (twice). The last loss of the first eight-game losing streak sunk them to 4-48 on a snowy night when only 1,016 fans actually showed up to the Izod Center.
As if all the losing during the season wasn’t bad enough, the Nets couldn’t even win the lottery. They had the best odds, but landed the third pick and took Derrick Favors after watching the Wizards take John Wall No. 1.
MOMENT OF RELIEF (OTHER THAN THE SEASON ENDING)
For the Knicks, it may have been David Lee becoming their first All-Star since 2001. It came during a season in which the center averaged 20.2 points and 11.7 rebounds per game.
The Nets hit their peak in March when they won back-to-back games for the only time all season, with Brook Lopez dropping 63 points and 23 rebounds in the two wins.
HOW THEY GOT OUT OF IT:
KNICKS: Though they missed out landing LeBron James in the summer of 2010, the Knicks did acquire Amar’e Stoudemire in a sign-and-trade and then traded for Carmelo Anthony during the 2010-11 season, a move that helped them reach three straight playoffs.
NETS: After hiring Avery Johnson as head coach and Billy King as general manager, they had two more losing seasons in New Jersey. The Nets then welcomed in the Brooklyn era by trading for Joe Johnson and re-signing Deron Williams and Lopez to form the core of a team that returned to the playoffs in 2013.
BASEBALL
YEAR: 1965
TEAMS: Mets and Yankees
RECORDS: Mets 50-112, Yankees 77-85; combined winning percentage of .392
HOW THEY GOT INTO THIS MESS:
METS: Joining MLB as an expansion team in 1962, the Mets needed some time to get their legs underneath them while building their roster into a respectable team. They won a combined 144 games through their first three years of existence heading into 1965.
YANKEES: They had reached five straight World Series from 1960-1964, but the Yankees then underwent an ownership change that set the stage for an 11-year stretch without making the playoffs. They entered 1965 with largely the same lineup and rotation from 1964, though that may have been their problem with a suddenly aging core.
LOWEST POINTS:
METS
On the way to 50-112, the Mets endured three double-digit losing streaks: 10 straight in June, another 10-gamer in July and then an 11-game skid in August.
Casey Stengel’s managing career came to a sudden end midseason, though not because he was fired. The future Hall of Famer broke his hip during a party at Toots Shor’s after the Old-Timers’ Game in July and never returned, retiring in August as Wes Westrum managed the final 67 games.
The Mets purchased another future Hall of Famer, Warren Spahn, before the season, but the 44-year-old went 4-12 with a 4.36 ERA before they put him on waivers in July.
YANKEES
They had climbed to 68-68 after beating the Red Sox on Sept. 3, but then lost control with a seven-game losing streak, which was later matched with another seven-game skid in the final two weeks of the season.
Roger Maris played just 46 games, a career-low, after multiple injuries disrupted his season as he hit just .239 with eight home runs. He wasn’t alone in having a down year as Mickey Mantle (.255, 19 HRs), Tony Kubek (.218) and Elston Howard (.233) all had some of the worst seasons of their decorated careers.
On Sept. 25, the White Sox swept the Yankees in a doubleheader, ensuring the Bombers of a losing record for the first time in 40 years.
MOMENT OF RELIEF (OTHER THAN THE SEASON ENDING)
A 20-year-old Ron Swoboda made his Mets debut and crushed two home runs in his first four at-bats of what would become a memorable career in Queens.
The Yankees had a young star of their own in Mel Stottlemyre, who became a 20-game winner on the second-to-last day of the season when he tossed his league-best 18th complete game.
HOW THEY GOT OUT OF IT:
METS: In 1966 they signed Tom Seaver and in 1968 hired Gil Hodges as manager, providing the backbone for the 1969 team that became the World Series champion “Miracle Mets.”
YANKEES: The real change came when George Steinbrenner led a group of investors that bought the team from CBS in 1973. A year later, Steinbrenner signed Catfish Hunter to the first multimillion-dollar contract. Billy Martin was hired as manager in 1975 and by 1976 the Yankees were back in the World Series.
HOCKEY
YEAR: 2000-01
TEAMS: Rangers and Islanders (Note: There has been no season in which the Rangers, Islanders and Devils all missed the playoffs or finished under .500, so we’ll focus on the Rangers and Islanders here. The Devils were busy with their dynasty at the time.)
RECORDS: Rangers 33-43-5-1, Islanders 21-51-7-3; combined winning percentage of .378
HOW THEY GOT INTO THIS MESS:
RANGERS: The Rangers’ success, including their 1994 Stanley Cup, ran dry beginning in 1996-97 when they missed the playoffs for the first of seven straight years. Colin Campbell and John Muckler came and went as head coaches, Wayne Gretzky retired in 1999 and president and general manager Neil Smith was fired in 2000.
ISLANDERS: After Al Arbour retired in 1994, the Islanders went through five head coaches in the next six seasons. As the team floundered on the ice, there were plenty of questionable moves by general manager Mike Milbury — all while the franchise dealt with John Spano’s fraudulent bid to buy the team.
LOWEST POINTS:
RANGERS
The Rangers were 15-14-0-0 after a Dec. 8 win over the Sabres, then went through a 1-10-2-1 stretch over the next month that effectively sunk their season.
A year after tearing the ACL in his left knee, Mike Richter tore the ACL in his right knee in February 2001 — a crushing blow for the 34-year-old goalie.
Six different goalies, played in net for the Rangers, setting a franchise record. They gave up an NHL-high 290 goals.
ISLANDERS
In the midst of an eight-game losing streak early in the season, defenseman Kenny Jonsson stepped down as the team captain. The post remained unfilled for the rest of the year.
The day after a 6-0 loss to the last-place Lightning on March 3, the Islanders fired coach Butch Goring. He was replaced by Lorne Henning for the final 17 games of the season.
The Islanders finished with a points percentage of .317, the second-worst mark in franchise history, beating only the inaugural 1972-73 season (.192).
MOMENT OF RELIEF (OTHER THAN THE SEASON ENDING)
Mark Messier made his emotional return to Broadway after a three-year stint in Vancouver and resumed his role as the Rangers’ captain.
The Islanders’ biggest win of the season may have come before it even started, when Charles Wang bought the team and fought to keep it on Long Island.
HOW THEY GOT OUT OF IT:
RANGERS: The Rangers finally began to move away from high-priced veterans with a 2004 fire sale that helped land, among others, Marc Staal and Brandon Dubinsky. They also traded for Jaromir Jagr, and in 2005, after the lockout, debuted a seventh-round draft pick from 2000 who helped them return to the postseason: Henrik Lundqvist.
ISLANDERS: In the ensuing offseason, the Islanders hired Peter Laviolette as head coach, traded for Alexei Yashin (despite giving up future star Zdeno Chara and the No. 2-overall pick in the 2001 draft that became Jason Spezza) and Michael Peca and acquired goalie Chris Osgood in the waiver draft, which helped vault them into a playoff spot.