DETROIT -- The Detroit Lions are so awful they're becoming a story good enough that it transcends sports.
ABC's "Good Morning America," sent a reporter and crew to the team's practice facility, leading to a chest-heaving sigh from kicker Jason Hanson.
"It's just bad," Hanson said. "They're not hear to talk about our great season."
No, they're not.
A day later, ESPN flew a reporter and crew into the Motor City for a report about how the Lions are coping with the losing.
Detroit coach Rod Marinelli, though, said it didn't bother him that his team's winless season had become compelling enough to draw interest from non-Michigan media.
"Certain things are meaningless to me," Marinelli said. "Certain things are like elevator music, and this is elevator music.
"I get in the elevator, go up to Floor 5. I don't remember the music that was playing."
It's safe to say if Detroit (0-14) loses Sunday at home to the New Orleans Saints (7-7) its miserable season will be memorable.
One more loss would make the Lions the NFL's first 0-15 team, and a setback next week at Green Bay -- where they haven't won since 1991 -- would seal an imperfect season.
Quarterback Dan Orlovsky insisted avoiding history is not a hot topic among teammates in the locker room.
"You guys discuss it enough for us," Orlovsky joked.
If history is a guide, the Saints seem to be the right team to face to end the conversation.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers won their first game in 1977 against New Orleans -- ending an NFL-record 26-game losing streak -- and the Cleveland Browns were winless as an expansion team in 1999 until beating the Saints after an 0-7 start.
"There were some parallels and symmetry there with Minnesota, but who cares?" Hanson asked, referring to loss 12. "I don't think there are any positive forces for us to win. We're either going to be good enough to do it or we won't."
The Lions were 0-12 in 2001 when they beat Minnesota. They had the same record against the Vikings this season, but fell to 0-13.
The Saints will be without running back Reggie Bush, who was put on injured reserve with a knee injury, and will play their first game since being eliminated from playoff contention.
But they still have Drew Brees and the top-ranked offense facing the 31st-ranked defense in the league.
"They play basketball on grass," Marinelli said.
Brees leads the NFL with 4,322 yards passing and Dan Marino's single-season record of 5,084 is within reach, especially playing against a team that has regularly allowed quarterbacks to have their best passer ratings this season.
"Would it be an honor to break it? Yeah," Brees acknowledged. "Is that something we could all share in? Absolutely. Do I wish if it does happen it would have come with a playoff season? A 100 percent, without a doubt."
Brees said the Saints have to find a way to compete despite having nothing at stake.
"If you have any self-pride, self-motivation, you've got to muster it up now," Brees said. "If we can win this one and the next one, we will have won five of our last seven. So going down the stretch to say you won five of the last seven is pretty good."
The Lions have been so bad they've not only gone winless this season, but they've won only one of their 22 games since surging to a 6-2 record last season.
They have, however, been competitive enough to tie last week's game at Indianapolis in the fourth quarter and to have a shot to win several other games.
"I look at the 0-14 record, and I'm not buying it," Brees said. "I see a lot better team than 0-14. What I see, too, is just how hard they're still playing.
"I think it'd be very easy for a team in that situation to shut it down early, but these guys are still battling. I think that was evident last week against Indianapolis and obviously the week prior to that as well."