Tom E. Curran • E-mail

“I have never seen so many really, really bad teams,” a league personnel man told me this week. “I mean, this is truly a season of the haves and the have nots. And the have nots have nothing. Detroit didn’t win last year.

“Well, there might be two teams that don’t win a game this season.”

It’s ugly out there, folks. Seven teams have started this season 0-3, up from six winless teams through three games last year.

Three of the winless clubs — Carolina, Miami and Tennessee — were playoff teams in 2008. They aren’t terminally awful.

But the rest of the 0-fers — Cleveland, Tampa Bay, St. Louis and Kansas City — are in a different stratosphere. Throw in two teams, the Redskins and Raiders, who dumbed into wins because they were fortunate enough to be playing teams with even less talent or cohesion than they have (the Raiders beat the Chiefs, the Redskins edged St. Louis), and we have a multi-nation war going on for the first overall pick next April.

Here’s how the bottom of the league shakes out, beginning with the most pathetic.

1. Cleveland Browns
The team is devoid of playmakers on either side of the ball. The Ravens could have put up 90 on them last week. Coach Eric Mangini has hatched a toxic, paranoid environment where before there was simply malaise. Worst offense in football. They’re screwed.

2. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Last week’s communal non-effort against the Giants was breathtaking. Brandon Jacobs scored a 6-yard touchdown at the start of the game by running untouched through the middle of the Bucs’ defense. Way to fire out of the locker room, fellas. Already done with Byron Leftwich, they’re on to Josh Johnson at quarterback. Worst defense in football. And Raheem Morris? Not. Ready.

3. Oakland Raiders
They have football's most ineffective quarterback, JaMarcus Russell. Even if the light flickers a few times this season, we’ve seen enough to conclude that those moments are the exception. Even though there’s reasonable talent sprinkled around the roster, Russell holds their fortunes hostage.

4. St. Louis Rams

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Marc Bulger is likely out, the Kyle Boller era begins and that’s really the least of their worries. The Rams are averaging eight points per game, worse than even the Browns. But there should be a flicker of hope that Steve Spagnuolo’s in charge.

5. Washington Redskins
They lost to the Lions, and were life-and-death with the Rams before winning. Dysfunction appears on the brink of taking over.

6. Kansas City Chiefs
Just a really bad roster of players that new GM Scott Pioli is in the midst of flipping over. He went through the exact same thing in New England back in 2000 when he and Bill Belichick took over. Going by track record, you have to figure they’ll improve.

7. Detroit Lions
They already have improved. A win last week, a lot of encouraging play by rookie Matthew Stafford and the presence of Calvin Johnson? At least they’re watchable.

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