NFL’s 0-2 teams, ranked by their playoff chances

Photo by Kevin Sabitus/Getty Images

Let’s rank the NFL’s 0-2 teams from worst to best.

Traditionally, an 0-2 start doomed an NFL team’s playoff chances.

But recent changes in the league — the move to a 14-team playoff format and the increase to a 17-game schedule — have made such a start easier to overcome. For example, back in 2022 the Cincinnati Bengals began the year with a pair of losses, but ended their season in the AFC Championship Game. A year ago the Houston Texans started 0-2, but bounced back to win the division and a Wild Card Game.

Ten teams sit at 0-2 as Week 3 looms, but can any of them rebound in similar fashion? Here are the ten 0-2 teams, ranked by their playoff chances.

9. Carolina Panthers

Our dear friend James Dator — SB Nation’s resident Carolina Panthers fan — perhaps said it best on Monday. In a piece titled “RIP Carolina Panthers, 1995-2024” he wrote this:

Hope used to spring eternal in these parts. Passion ran over. People were engaged, and talking. Discussing needed roster improvements, guys were we happy with, hashing out future changes that could get the Panthers over the hump.

Now it’s been replaced with apathy. The only emotion you’ll hear is anger directed at David Tepper for taking our jewel and smashing it with his ego and ineptitude. There’s no light at the end of the tunnel. Seemingly no way out for years. An NFL team will still exist in Charlotte, taking the field every fall Sunday — and sure, in time they might actually win again.

The Panthers as we knew them? They’re gone, and never coming back. A weekly reminder that no amount of attention, or love, or care can stop idiots in power from ruining something you loved so much. The 2024 season was supposed to be the 30th anniversary of the Carolina Panthers, but they didn’t live long enough to see their birthday, not really.

That sums things up pretty well.

8. New York Giants

Expectations for this New York Giants team were already low, but they’re well on their way to not even clearing an ankle-high bar. A Week 1 home humiliation against the Minnesota Vikings was followed up by a new blueprint of incompetence, when they became the first team in NFL history to score three touchdowns and hold the opposition to zero touchdowns and still lose. How does that happen? When the Washington Commanders sign a kicker off the street to make seven field goals (including the walk-off winner), while the Giants had a readily available Plan B for the already injured Graham Gano and chose not to elevate him from the practice squad, leaving New York with no kicker for virtually the entire game.

As exciting as rookie receiver Malik Nabers has looked thus far, this looks like another bleak Giants season. Their defense is bad, Daniel Jones is Daniel Jones, and with games against the Cowboys, Bengals, Seahawks, and Eagles even before their Week 11 bye, they’re probably out of the playoff picture by Thanksgiving.

7. Denver Broncos

Throughout the 2024 NFL Draft, and in the buildup to Week 1 of this season, the phrase “Bo Nix was built in a laboratory to play quarterback for Sean Payton” was used early and often.

We might have some questions about that laboratory.

Through two weeks Nix has struggled, and the Broncos have struggled along with him. It is early, and Nix may eventually develop into the quarterback Denver was promised. But it might take longer than this season, dooming their 2024 playoff chances.

6. Tennessee Titans

Through the first two weeks of the 2024 NFL season, Will Levis has given us a pair of meme-worthy turnovers. First was his disastrous Pick-Six against the Chicago Bears in Week 1, and second was an ill-advised flip to running back Tyjae Spears in Week 2 that had head coach Brian Callahan wondering, well, just what the second-year quarterback was thinking.

Making matters worse is the schedule. With games against the Packers, the Dolphins, the Colts, the Bills, and the Lions coming up before Halloween, the path ahead is filled with peril.

And perhaps more memes.

5. Los Angeles Rams

In a “coach and quarterback league,” the Rams should never ranked near the bottom of the league. Yet, with Sean McVay and Matthew Stafford running the show, Los Angeles lost a close game to the Detroit Lions on the road in Week 1 before getting blown out by the Arizona Cardinals in Week 2.

The Rams playoff hopes are still very much in play in the NFC. While DT Aaron Donald hid a lot of weaknesses on defense, the offense has enough firepower to keep up with teams when they are healthy. The last part is key with Puka Nacua and Cooper Kupp injured but time is on LA’s side. Worst case, the Rams are healthy after their Week 6 bye with a chance to make a run.

The schedule doesn’t help. Even the few games that were considered “easy” before the season (Patriots, Saints, Cardinals) are looking a little or a lot more difficult. Despite that, unless Stafford joins the injury brigade, McVay’s group has a chance to make the postseason.

4. Indianapolis Colts

One of the more fascinating bits of NFL data each week is the “Team Tiers” graphic put together by Ben Baldwin at RBSDM, which looks at both Offensive EPA/Play and Defensive EPA/Play.

When you spot the Indianapolis Colts on this graphic, you find that they are in pretty good company:

The Colts are in a cluster of teams in the middle of the pack, including teams like the Lions, the 49ers, the Jets, the Ravens, the Bengals, and the Jaguars. Oh yes, and the Kansas City Chiefs.

If Anthony Richardson can round out his game — adding some consistency to his ability to create explosive plays downfield — this offense can be productive. One worrying sign on the defense is what Green Bay was able to do against the Colts last Sunday, racking up 237 rushing yards in the first half and 261 over the entire game.

3. Jacksonville Jaguars

Similar to our section on the Carolina Panthers, our resident Jaguars fan dove into the offense on Monday.

The analysis was not pretty:

What’s even sadder is that while the offense plays disgusting football, the defense has been really good! You should win games that you only give up 18 points in. The Cowboys gave up 17 to the Browns, but also scored 33 points! They’ve been 11th in Success Rate allowed through two games, and given this offense every opportunity to succeed. It shouldn’t be on a defense in a completely new scheme to carry an offense that has three years under its’ belt, but that’s where we’re at.

The problem for the Jaguars is that the schedule doesn’t get any easier. Their next four games are against the Buffalo Bills, the Houston Texans, Indianapolis Colts and Chicago Bears. This team needs to figure it out offensively, but they won’t get that time against four quality defenses. However, they had a whole offseason to figure it out, but the same Jaguars team still showed up, and that’s on the head coach.

Dr. Acosta’s analysis carries serious weight around these parts. Provided the coaching staff can figure things out on the offensive side of the football — and with Trevor Lawrence they have a solid starting point — the defense is good enough for this to be a playoff team. But those next four games will tell the story.

2. Cincinnati Bengals

Part of the reason we remain high on the Bengals’ chances?

They have been here before.

Back in 2022 Cincinnati started the year 0-2, with losses to the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Dallas Cowboys. They were struggling to protect Joe Burrow, could not offer answers for two-deep coverages, and looked to be in trouble.

Then wound up in the AFC Championship Game.

Tee Higgins has been absent for the first two weeks, Burrow himself is coming back from last year’s wrist injury, and Ja’Marr Chase is getting up to speed after “holding in” during training camp. Could this spin out of control? Possibly, but we are not ready to panic.

Yet.

1. Baltimore Ravens

The Ravens are here at the top of this list because history tells us this team is much more likely to be going through an unfortunate start to the year as opposed to them all of a sudden being a bad football team. Over the last six seasons, the Ravens only have one single-digit win season and five playoff appearances. The lone year they did not make the playoffs? They went 8-9 which is still just one game off a winning record.

Baltimore has great coaches. They have great players. The recent history is one of the best stretches by any team in the NFL outside of the Chiefs.

It seems like there’s a bit of step back defensively under first-year defensive coordinator Zach Orr, but we have no doubt the Ravens will get back to playing their style of ball and winning games sooner rather than later.