(Yet another fine article by Nancy"I ain't no hack"Gay)

Raider Nation dwellers are angry and embarrassed by their team's 0-4
record, but they are hardly alone in their anguish over a season gone
wrong.

The NFL landscape is littered with four winless franchises through Week
5 of the regular season, the most in the past five years. The Raiders
are joined in defeat by the Buccaneers (0-4), Lions (0-5) and Titans
(0-5).

So there is plenty of pain to go around.

Last season, only the Texans made it through Week 6 without a victory.
Houston, as we know, ended up with the top overall pick in April's
draft after a 2-14 finish.

The Texans' 2005 futility streak finally ended on Oct. 30 when they
snapped an 0-6 start with a 19-16 victory over the Browns.

What binds this year's group of winless franchises, other than the
number of teams carrying a Week 6 goose egg, is the uncanny Bay Area
connection.

Northern California was once a cradle for NFL excellence. Not anymore.

-- In Detroit, general manager Matt Millen -- the former Raiders and
49ers linebacker -- has been a whipping boy for the Lions' woes for
years. But the heat is really on now that his top free-agent addition,
guard Damien Woody, is out with a foot injury. Millen's best
first-round draft choice (and that isn't saying much), wide receiver
Roy Williams, injured his neck in last week's loss to the Vikings.

There is speculation Millen could be fired midseason, which probably
would be celebrated more in Detroit than the Tigers winning the World
Series.

-- Former Raiders coach Jon Gruden and general manager Bruce Allen are
being criticized in Tampa for the Bucs' myriad woes. Gruden was
assailed for his public denouncement of struggling quarterback Chris
Simms, who is out indefinitely after rupturing his spleen. Both Gruden
and Allen have been ripped for dumping quarterback Brad Johnson and
stockpiling Bay Area castoffs, such as quarterback Tim Rattay.

Plenty of fans still appreciate "Chucky" Gruden's spunk, but he has a
reputation as a coach who has done little more than take a Tony
Dungy-built team to the Super Bowl.

-- Titans head coach Jeff Fisher was a popular defensive backs coach
with the 49ers under George Seifert (1992-93) and quickly rose through
the NFL ranks to become one of the most successful head coaches in the
league with a 102-93 record.

Tennessee, 9-27 since last qualifying for the playoffs in 2003, has
been winless since Dec. 5, and Fisher's leadership is being called into
question for a second consecutive season. Two Web sites --
firecoachfisher.com and keepcoachfisher.com -- are serving as sounding
boards for fans on both sides of the Fisher debate.

-- The return of coach Art Shell, a Hall of Fame player, to the Raiders
has not produced the turnaround owner Al Davis envisioned. Lack of
offense and disenchantment among the ranks are plaguing the Raiders yet
again. They are last in the NFL in eight of 17 offensive categories,
including total yards (901), net passing yards per game (106.8) and net
sacks allowed per game (5).

A growing number of players are grumbling about offensive coordinator
Tom Walsh (another former Raiders coach), but no player other than wide
receiver Jerry Porter has called him out specifically.

Oakland, Detroit and Tennessee also stand out this season because each
franchise has failed to utilize the NFL's parity equalizers --
favorable draft position and a softer schedule -- to improve itself
from 2005.

All three teams failed to win more than five games last season.

The Bucs, who went 11-5 last season and reached the playoffs, drafted
23rd overall in 2006 and are not helped by a last-place schedule.

The Titans had the third overall pick and chose Texas quarterback Vince
Young over USC's Matt Leinart or Vanderbilt's Jay Cutler. Young is now
starting and showing some promise, but Fisher's 2005 first-round pick,
cornerback Adam "Pacman" Jones, has been in trouble on and off the
field.

The Raiders have gotten little impact from their first-round pick,
strong safety Michael Huff from Texas, a playmaker who was drafted
seventh overall and was expected to rotate throughout the secondary.

The Lions drafted ninth overall and selected outside linebacker Ernie
Sims from Florida State, who has played fairly well in Detroit and is
starting on the weak side.

With so many winless teams mucking up the league, you have to wonder:
Which franchise stands the best chance of being the first NFL team to
run the board and go 0-16?

Tampa Bay finished 0-14 in 1976 and remains the only team since the
NFL-AFL merger in 1970 to finish a season without a victory.

As bad as the Raiders might be, 0-16 is as difficult to obtain as a
16-0 season, even though the impact of a last-place schedule isn't as
pronounced as it once was.

When the Texans became the NFL's 32nd team in 2002, the league was
re-aligned into eight four-team divisions. With that, each NFL team was
ensured of playing every team in the league at least once through 2009.

Before 2002, a last-place team was given a leg-up the following season
with a schedule that allowed it to play four other last-place teams.
That kind of favorable scheduling allowed the 1998 Rams (4-12) to
rebound to 13-3 in 1999 and win the Super Bowl.

The Patriots went 5-11 in 2000, then took advantage of four last-place
opponents on their 2001 schedule and improved to 11-5 and won the Super
Bowl.

With the introduction of the balanced schedule in 2002, a team that
finished last in its division still gets four last-place opponents on
its schedule the following season, but the other three teams in its
division also play two of those four cellar-dwellers. And, prior to
2001, there were six divisions, not the eight there are now, so there
simply are two more last-place teams these days.

So rest easy, Raider Nation. Your team might have blown its shot at
knocking off the Browns (last place in 2005) two weeks ago and against
the 49ers (last place, '05) on Sunday, but the Raiders still have the
Texans (last place, '05) on tap Dec. 3 and the Jets (last place, '05)
on Dec. 31.

If nothing else, look to the schedule, not the coaching, for help. And
take some solace in knowing that you are not alone.

Winless through Week 5
Four NFL teams are without a victory through Week 5 of the regular
season, the most in the past five years. Here are the Week 5 the bottom
feeders over the past five seasons:

2006

Raiders (0-4), Buccaneers (0-4), Lions (0-5), Titans (0-5)

2005

Texans (0-5)

2004

Bills (0-4), Dolphins (0-5)

2003

Jets (0-4), Chargers (0-5)

2002

Bengals (0-5), Vikings (0-4), Rams (0-5)

E-mail Nancy Gay at ngay@sfchronicle.com.

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