Since 2020, 18 teams have started the season 0–2 and none of them have made the playoffs. This statistic—if we can legitimately call something with that small of a sample size a statistic—was surprising in that we typically don’t consider a winless streak as consequential until a loss the following week. Before the onset of the 17-game regular season, anyone following an NFL team was well aware that an 0–3 mark doomed a season (only six teams in modern NFL history reached the postseason after losing their first three). The healthy sample size offered a high degree of certainty. As for an 0–4 start, it was down to just the 1992 San Diego Chargers, the only team to traverse that deficit and make the playoffs. Four losses to start a season suggested that teams’ playoff chances were virtually nonexistent.
We can start this column with a bold prediction: At least one 0–2 team on this list will make the playoffs in 2022. The list of quarterbacks and coaches down below is simply too good. Some of these teams started the season with difficult schedules or are working out some schematic kinks (which we’ll get to). While the AFC teams will have a harder road given the depth of talent in the conference, we’re more than confident in saying a few suspect 1–1 or 2–0 teams won’t be relevant by Halloween.
So, as we like to do every year around this time, let’s attempt to find some clarity among the chaos and run through the winless teams. Should they be hitting the panic button? If the answer is yes, fear not—we have a growing library of assembled mock drafts you can peruse.
