We’re early in the NFL season, but some teams will be facing a steep climb to reach the playoffs after Week 2.
Teams looking at that steep climb include favorites with high preseason hopes like the Houston Texans, while the Los Angeles Rams could join them.
USA TODAY analyzed playoff chances based on teams’ records through their first two games from 2002 to 2025 — and found the playoff picture can shift substantially for teams after just two games played.
For teams that start off 2-0, 124 of the 200 teams that have done so since 2002 made the playoffs. That represents a 62% clip, or nearly a two-in-three rate of making the playoffs.
The 2-0 teams right now are the Buffalo Bills, Cincinnati Bengals, Kansas City Chiefs, Las Vegas Raiders, Minnesota
Vikings, Philadelphia Eagles, San Francisco 49ers and Seattle Seahawks. If the historical rate holds, five of those eight teams would make this year's playoffs.
Meanwhile, out of the 360 teams that split their first two games, 152 — or 42% — eventually reached the postseason.
The numbers are much more sobering for the teams that lost their first two games: Of the 200 teams that started 0-2 from 2002-25, just 24 qualified for the playoffs. That equals a 12% qualification rate, or roughly 30 percentage points lower than 1-1 teams.
Teams in the 0-2 hole this season are the Texans, Atlanta Falcons, Indianapolis Colts, Los Angeles Chargers, Miami Dolphins, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Tennessee Titans and Washington Commanders.
A preseason Super Bowl favorite, the Rams, could be looking at an 0-2 record if they lose Monday night to the 1-0 New York Giants.
How often do 0-2 NFL teams make the playoffs?
Recently, however, 0-2 teams have beaten those historical odds at an unusual rate.
In the past two seasons, six teams have made the playoffs after starting 0-2. The Denver Broncos, Baltimore Ravens and Rams did so in 2024, while Chicago Bears, Carolina Panthers and Texans did so last season.
Those six were out of 19 two-loss teams in 2024 and 2025, meaning that 31.6% of teams made the playoffs the past two seasons after an 0-2 start.
That’s more than triple the rate from 2002-23 — in that span, 9.9% of 0-2 teams reached the playoffs.
It’s worth noting that the NFL has expanded postseason opportunities in recent years, adding a seventh playoff team in each conference in 2020 and moving to a 17-game regular season in 2021. But those changes alone don’t explain the recent spike: From 2020-23, only two 0-2 teams reached the postseason.
The 2007 New York Giants remain the gold standard for an 0-2 recovery by beating the 18-0 Patriots in Super Bowl XLII.
Out of the 24 teams to start 0-2 and reach the playoffs since 2002, those Giants are the only team that went on to lift the Lombardi Trophy.
There have been a couple of other deep runs, however, including the 2014 Indianapolis Colts, who lost the AFC championship game to New England, and the 2022 Cincinnati Bengals, who lost the AFC title game to the Kansas City Chiefs.
Methodology: USA TODAY analyzed nflverse regular-season and postseason data from 2002 to 2025. Teams were grouped by record through their first two completed regular-season games. Team-seasons involving a tie in either of those games were excluded. A team was counted as making the playoffs if it appeared in a postseason game.
0-2 teams that made the playoffs, 2002-25
- 2002: Falcons, Steelers
- 2003: Eagles
- 2006: Chiefs
- 2007: Giants
- 2008: Chargers, Dolphins, Vikings
- 2013: Panthers
- 2014: Colts
- 2015: Seahawks, Texans
- 2016: Dolphins
- 2017: Saints
- 2018: Seahawks, Texans
- 2022: Bengals
- 2023: Texans
- 2024: Broncos, Rams, Ravens
- 2025: Bears, Panthers, Texans
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Which 0-2 teams could still make NFL playoffs despite winless start?
