The article discusses NFL teams that started their seasons with losses and faces potential early-season panic, focusing on how starting 0-2 significantly reduces playoff chances. Specifically, it mentions seven teams—the Los Angeles Rams, Chargers, New England Patriots, Dallas Cowboys, Green Bay Packers, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and Denver Broncos—that began the season with playoff ambitions but now face challenging prospects after their initial losses. The piece highlights that historically, only 16% of teams that start 0-2 since the expanded playoff format in 2020 have made it to the postseason.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-09-19,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
When the Cleveland Browns, the Tennessee Titans and the Atlanta Falcons opened the new NFL season 0-1 last week, it wasn’t a surprise.
asserted
it → open → season
Each is considered far likelier to contend for the league’s worst record than a playoff berth.
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Each → consider → berth
Yet entering the season’s second week, it might be time for some other members of the 0-1 club to be feeling panic.
uncertain
members → enter → panic
The so-far winless Los Angeles Rams and Chargers, New England Patriots, Dallas Cowboys, Green Bay Packers, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Denver Broncos all entered the season with justified playoff ambitions — plans that would be further jeopardized by starting 0-2.
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that → enter → ambitions
Since the AFL-NFL merger in 1970, only 11% of 0-2 teams have gone on to make the postseason.
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% → go → postseason
The expansion of the playoff format to 14 teams in 2020 has made rebounding slightly easier; since then, 16% of 0-2 teams have gone on to make the postseason, including three each of the last two seasons.
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% → make → seasons
But a stumble to open September whittles away a team’s margin for error.
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stumble → open → error
Baltimore missed last season’s playoffs when its field goal missed in the season finale, circumstances that might have been avoided had the Ravens not started 1-5.
uncertain
Ravens → miss → finale
Kansas City stumbled to an 0-2 start last season and spent the next two months digging itself out of that hole before it missed the playoffs for the first time in a decade.
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it → stumble → decade
“My message is just echoing ‘don’t change, don’t flinch, don’t blink,’” Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott said.
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Prescott → echo → ?
We have to stick together.”
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We → have → ?
Two seasons ago, the Rams were one of three teams that started 0-2 and still made the playoffs.
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that → start → playoffs
But as the Rams, the preseason Super Bowl favorite, prepare to face the Giants (1-0) on Monday, they have already lost more than their first game.
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they → prepare → game
Pass-rushing star Myles Garrett will miss at least four games after he underwent surgery last week to combat swelling in his left knee.
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he → rush → knee
The un-retirement of Aaron Donald will help absorb the loss of Garrett along the defensive line, but Donald won’t be an every-down player.
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Donald → help → line
The Rams’ vaunted offense managed just 190 yards in its first performance against the San Francisco 49ers, as well.
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offense → manage → 49ers
“The big area of focus improvement will be in regard to the pass game and some of the different things that we can do collectively,” coach Sean McVay said.
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McVay → do → that
“It always starts with me.”
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It → start → me
The Rams are one of five teams this season — joining the Broncos, the Packers, the Cowboys and the Washington Commanders — that already have one division loss.
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that → join → loss
Of that group, NFC East rivals Washington and Dallas find themselves in the most precarious situations.
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Washington → find → situations
When they play each other Sunday, one will leave 0-2 in its division.
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one → play → division
“It’s another division game,” Cowboys pass rusher Rashan Gary said.
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Gary → ’ → ?
“Understanding that, we know we just went 0-1, and we can’t do that going into this week.
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we → understand → week
Last season they responded to their 0-1 start by losing only two more times over the next four months en route to a Super Bowl appearance.
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they → respond → appearance
The bounceback was helped, however, by playing the easiest schedule in 26 years.
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bounceback → help → years
It will be more difficult to keep this latest season-opening loss from snowballing into something bigger.
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It → keep → something
The Patriots’ next three opponents all made the playoffs last season, starting with Sunday’s matchup against the Pittsburgh Steelers — whose defense sacked New England quarterback Drake Maye five times and forced five turnovers when the teams met last season.
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teams → make → turnovers
An injured ankle will sideline the Steelers’ top offseason acquisition, receiver A.J. Brown, for at least the next four games.
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ankle → sideline → games
“We’ve said this for as long as I can remember: The teams that continue to improve are going to be the ones that have a chance at the end,” Patriots coach Mike Vrabel said.
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Vrabel → say → end
Though there is at least one 0-1 team in all eight NFL divisions, some fared worse than others.
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some → be → others
Three of the four AFC South teams lost, with the Jacksonville Jaguars the lone outlier.
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Jaguars → lose → teams
The entire NFC South, meanwhile, is 0-1, including the Carolina Panthers, who have started 0-2 each of the last four seasons.
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who → include → seasons
When division rivals Atlanta and Carolina play Sunday, one is guaranteed to leave 0-2.
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one → play → ?
It is one of three Week 2 games featuring winless teams, ensuring that one team will stay that way, joining Cowboys-Commanders and Cleveland-Tampa Bay.
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team → feature → Commanders
Sometimes, an 0-1 start feels worse than one game would indicate.
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game → feel → ?
Green Bay’s 17-point loss to division rival Minnesota was the Packers’ sixth consecutive defeat dating to last season, the franchise’s longest losing streak since 1990-91.
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loss → date → 1990
It was also their third consecutive divisional loss after having held a double-digit lead.
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It → hold → lead
Green Bay had led Chicago by 10 in December and again by 18 in a January playoff game, only to lose.
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Bay → lead → game
When Green Bay lost its 12-point lead en route to a blowout Sunday, the collapse revived alarm bells about the team’s ability to close out games.
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collapse → lose → games
“It’s going to be a topic of conversation for you guys until we do it,” coach Matt LaFleur told reporters Sunday.
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LaFleur → go → reporters
…and 11 more, not listed.
The Aporia
