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Ranking 10 winless NFL teams: Chiefs, Bears, others at 0-2 | ESPN
Chances of advancing to the postseason, via ESPN’s FPI: 51.8%
Well, you probably figured they would be No. 1. We could obviously talk about the Chiefs and their 0-2 start for an entire column, but there are nine other teams to hit before we finish up, so I’m going to give you the express version.
Though most of the conversation has revolved around a disappointing offense, the Chiefs look even more disjointed on defense
right now. Through two games, they rank 23rd in EPA per play allowed and 26th in QBR. Steve Spagnuolo is blitzing at the third-highest rate in the league, but his pressures are getting home at only the 23rd-highest rate. Blitzes that don’t generate pressure are obviously a disaster; they turn the average quarterback into Josh Allen in terms of QBR.
2. Kansas City Chiefs (0-2) at New York Giants (0-2)
In the grand scheme of things, the Chiefs can’t feel too desperate. They’ve dropped one-score games to the Los Angeles Chargers and Philadelphia Eagles, two very good teams.
Bigger picture, Patrick Mahomes has captained a dynastic, league-changing force, and Kansas City has won three of the last six Super Bowls. Wilder still, it has a decade-long streak of double-digit wins, which sounds fake. Andy Reid has secured his legacy as an all-time strategist, while Mahomes, Travis Kelce and Chris Jones are bound for Canton. All that keeps them away from the No. 1 desperation spot this week.
But imagine the fervor if the reigning AFC champs start 0-3, with a prime-time loss to the Giants. The G-Men have been something of the anti-Chiefs across these past 10 years, with just one season of 10+ wins and one total playoff victory. New York was not expected to compete this year, but there is still a thicket of desperation around the franchise, especially coming off a gut-churning overtime loss in Dallas. Individually, Russell Wilson is fighting to author his NFL ending (he was magnificent last weekend), and the Brian Daboll-Joe Schoen duo is staving off a front office reckoning. It should be a tense “Sunday Night Football.”
Giants upset Chiefs to give Patrick Mahomes first four-game losing streak of football career post-high school
This one is a doozy. Three-time Super Bowl MVP quarterback Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs (0-2) are in a rut. Including the Super Bowl LIX loss against the Philadelphia Eagles, Mahomes has his first three-game losing streak as an NFL starter.
He’s never lost four consecutive games as a starting quarterback at either Texas Tech or with the Chiefs, but that’s exactly what’s about to happen when Kansas City loses at the New York Giants on “Sunday Night Football” this week. Mahomes is struggling to get the football downfield on third down: he is averaging the fewest yards per pass attempt (3.4) by any starting quarterback on third down this season.
Across the last three years, Mahomes has the worst touchdown-to-interception ratio (11-17) by a starting quarterback on throws of 10 or more air yards, minimum 200 pass attempts, and he is averaging the shortest pass length (6.5 yards downfield) across the last three years. Both of those stats make it seem like Mahomes is in for a disaster against the Giants’ high-powered defensive line of Pro Bowl edge rusher Brian Burns, Pro Bowl defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence, former top five pick edge rusher Kayvon Thibodeaux and 2025 third overall pick edge rusher Abdul Carter.
NFL Week 3 bold predictions: Giants upset Chiefs; Vikings’ Carson Wentz lights up Bengals | NFL.com
Giants’ D-line breaks out in upset win over Chiefs.
The Giants enjoyed one of their best offensive performances in years last week, eclipsing 500 total yards. And yet, they lost an overtime heartbreaker to the Cowboys, in part because the defensive front four — a strength of the roster — struggled to get stops late. New York has a big opportunity this Sunday night with winless Kansas City coming to town for a spotlight showdown. My prediction: The Giants’ D has a breakout game with five sacks — Brian Burns and Abdul Carter each log two — to help New York pull off the biggest upset of the week. Andy Reid starts 0-3 for the first time since 1999, his first season as Eagles head coach.
Buy or Sell? Taking Stock of Undefeated & Winless Teams as Contenders | FOX Sports
Kansas City Chiefs (0-2)
Despite their slow start, the Chiefs possess the championship pedigree to re-emerge as a playoff contender. The team has advanced to the Super Bowl in five of the last six seasons, with three wins and a championship aura that makes it impossible to dismiss their chances of turning things around. While Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes will need to work their magic to wake up a stagnant offense, the future gold jacket duo has repeatedly pulled rabbits out of the hat to sustain a dynasty that was expected to end when All-Pro Tyreek Hill walked out of the door. Given their experience and expertise as high-level winners, the Chiefs should be able to climb back into the title chase by season’s end.
Verdict: Buy
ESPN Radio host says the NFL won’t allow the Chiefs to lose in Week 3 | Chiefs Wire
During a recent episode of the Don, Hahn & Rosenberg Show on ESPN Radio in New York City, co-host Don La Greca shared his belief that the NFL will not let the Chiefs lose in Week 3 against the New York Giants.
“The NFL is not going to allow the Chiefs to start 0–3, call me a conspiracy theorist, ESPN can fire me. The NFL is not going to allow the Kansas City Chiefs to lose that game on national television and be 0–3. That’s not going to happen,” said La Greca, (Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift) “are getting married later, they’re engaged, they got all this nationally televised.”
The Chiefs are no strangers to wild conspiracies, dating back to their villain label that has followed them over the past few seasons.
Around the NFL
49ers to start Mac Jones at QB in place of ailing Brock Purdy | ESPN
Starter Brock Purdy is listed as questionable for Sunday as he recovers from the toe injury that kept him out last week against the New Orleans Saints. And though Purdy was a limited participant in practice all three days this week and made what coach Kyle Shanahan called “a lot of progress” in his recovery, Shanahan wasn’t keen on Purdy’s chances of starting against Arizona.
“I think it’s highly unlikely that he will start,” Shanahan said Friday. “We’re just trying to see where he’s at to see if he can be a [No.] 2 or an emergency [No.] 3.”
Jayden Daniels out Sunday, Marcus Mariota will start for Commanders vs. Raiders | NBC Sports
Washington coach Dan Quinn confirmed today that Daniels won’t play after suffering a knee injury last Thursday. Daniels wasn’t able to do much on the practice field this week, so the news that Mariota is starting came as no surprise.
“We’ve decided to start Marcus,” Quinn said. “We said at the beginning that we would be very diligent with [Daniels’] return to play.”
Quinn said that Daniels did some running and throwing at practice today and would have played if it was up to him, but the team’s medical staff didn’t think it was wise for him to play through a sprained knee.
In case you missed it on Arrowhead Pride
Chiefs News: Steve Spagnuolo is no stranger to turning around from 0-2
The last team to show us how it’s done was the 2007 New York Giants, who started their season 0-2 before defeating the mighty New England Patriots 17-14 in Super Bowl XLII — a game that remains one of the best defensive performances in Super Bowl history.
And who was the Giants’ defensive coordinator? Current Kansas City DC Steve Spagnuolo — who remembers that after that season in New York, he was with another team that started 0-2.
“Everybody thinks you’re going to repeat history,” he noted. “But it’s hard to do.
“That was a very special year. What I do remember about it is nobody panicked. Nobody jumped ship. Everybody kind of stuck with it.”
In retrospect, Spagnuolo realizes it easily could have gone another way.
“I was new that year, ” he recalled. “The defense could have said, ‘This guy doesn’t know what he’s talking about. What are we doing all this stuff for?’”
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