Could the Cowboys be the Worst ATS Team Ever?

Week 11 of the NFL season is approaching and the Dallas Cowboys have played nine games. They have a 2-7 record, which is good for last place in the pitiful NFC East division. Even those of us who are not into sports betting trends as a way to make a living are well aware that the NFC East is bad.

This is a division which could possibly crown a ‘winner’ who only has six, five, or possibly even only four wins at the end of the season. And that team will get a home playoff game. The Philadelphia Eagles currently hold the top spot with three wins and a tie.

Say What?

To use a saying made famous (at least to us) by Coach Belichick, “It is what it is.”

But, even in a historically bad division, the Cowboys are well on their way to being the worst of the worst. In their first eight games, against the spread, they went an astounding 0-8. The only cover they have is two weeks ago when they almost inexplicably knocked off the Pittsburgh Steelers as 14-point underdogs. In their previous three games, the Cowboys had been outscored 86-22. But they somehow only lost to the Steelers by a score of 24-19.

Now at 1-8 ATS, they are batting .125 on the 2020 NFL season. Who was the worst ever? The 1976 Tampa Bay Buccaneers went 2-10-2 ATS and 0-14 SU in their first year. If you are any kind of mathemacologist at all, you’ll quickly discern that there were only 14 games in a season in 1976.

The Worst

So, what about in a 16-game season? Who was the worst? Instead of listing all those losers off, we can tell you that six teams are tied at 3-13 (.188) for the worst ATS record in what we now think of as a full regular season. The last one was the Tennessee Titans in 2014.

This Sunday, the NFL odds have the Cowboys as 7-point road dogs, and they are going up against a surging Minnesota Vikings team looking to prove a point. The point being that they belong in the playoff conversation.

It doesn’t look good for Dallas, especially with Vikings RB Dalvin Cook being on fire, rushing for 465 yards over the last three games. Cook leads the NFL in ground yards with 954. The only team worse at stopping the run than the Cowboys are the Texans.

Sports Betting News Flash!

Advantage: Vikings. By a lot!

A (very likely) loss by more than a touchdown in this game will put Dallas at 1-9 ATS (.111) with six games left. If they manage to cover the spread in two of those, they’ll double their spread coverage to this point, in far fewer games. More likely, they manage to cover just one more game, if that. And then they will be the worst. Ever.

Just like this long-time (and currently also suffering) 49ers fan would love to see.

Check out BetUS today