In sports, a losing streak (a.k.a. a cold streak, losing skid, slide, schneid, or losing slump) is an uninterrupted string of contests (games, matches, etc.) lost by a team or individual. A losing streak is thus the opposite of a winning streak. A losing streak can last as few as two games, or it may last much longer.
Shimer College basketball coach 'celebrates' game 37 of his team's record-setting losing streak in 1963.
Distinction from winless streak
A losing streak and a winless streak are distinctively different, as a winless streak may include:
in association football, ice hockey and some field hockey leagues where points are awarded for wins and drawn games, overtime or shootout losses if the draw at the end of regulation counts as a draw for points percentage.
Tie games can also be included in an unbeaten streak, as in soccer.
Existence and causation
Most quantitative studies of winning and losing streaks, and the associated concept of psychological momentum, have failed to find any evidence that "streaks" actually exist, except as a matter of random chance.[1] A team with low ability is more likely to lose frequently, and a team with high ability is more likely to win, but once ability is controlled for, there is no evidence that a "winning" or "losing" streak affects the result of the match.[2] In fact, one study of European association football matches using a Monte Carlo methodology found that once ability was accounted for, a team was actually slightly less likely to win or lose when it had experienced the same result in the previous match.[2]
Despite the apparent nonexistence of streaks in quantitative terms, many scholars in the field have pointed to the importance of understanding qualitative, psychological aspects of streaks.[1] A series of losses can have a negative effect on team morale even if it has no direct effect on the outcome of the next game.[3]
Studies in sports management suggest that some managers are able to interrupt losing streaks (and prolong winning streaks) through managerial strategies such as changing the lineup or rotation of players.[4] Similarly, effective mental strategies may enable individual athletes to resist the psychological effects of a "losing streak" by staying focused on the task at hand.[5] In team sports, effective strategies for combating negative momentum may include team cohesion activities and increasing the use of positive body language.[6]
To the extent that they exist, losing streaks may arise from the loser effect: an increased probability of losing at time T, based on losing at time T−1, T−2, etc. This means that one has a slightly higher probability of losing the next match because one lost the previous one.[7] The outcome of a match does not solely depend on the strength of the opponents, but also on how much effort one or the other is willing to invest. The loser effect rises from the tendency to hold back on the next match after losing. On the other hand, the winner effect encourages the opponent who won the previous match to invest more in the next fight. This phenomenon is well known in the study of animal behavior, where the winner and loser effects help to keep the level of conflicts low in group living animals.[8]
Longest losing streaks
List of the longest individual losing streaks of all time in each sport:
29 games – Chicago Cardinals: (1942–1945, counts ten losses the team incurred as half of the merged Card-Pitt franchise in 1944)
26 games – Tampa Bay Buccaneers: (1976–1977, post-merger era record and record for one continuous team)
WFL: 13 games – Chicago Fire and Chicago Winds: (1974–1975, streak includes at least one forfeit, dropped out of the league five games into the 1975 season, seven weeks before the rest of the league followed suit)
CFL Football: 25 games – Ottawa Senators/Rough Riders: (1928–1933). The streak was achieved back when the Senators/Rough Riders played in the Interprovincial Rugby Football Union, which later became the Canadian Football League East Division. The CFL was not formally founded until 1958, although the records of the IRFU & the Western Interprovincial Football Union in Western Canada (forerunner to the Canadian Football League West Division) were incorporated into the league.
[note: Hawkins' 269 losses between his victories over Apollo Crews on November 8, 2016 (WWE SmackDown Live) and The Revival on April 7, 2019 (WWE Wrestlemania 35 Kickoff), only include his televised and house show matches in which he was an official participant (regardless of match format).]
^ abDobson, Stephen; Goddard, John (2003). "Persistence in sequences of football match results: A Monte Carlo analysis". European Journal of Operational Research. 148 (2): 247–256. doi:10.1016/S0377-2217(02)00681-1.
