Nine teams are still 0-2 in the 2024 NFL season, including the Indianapolis Colts. For the most part, this is a crushing blow: a team can recover from losing their first two games and get into the playoffs, but very rarely do they make the Super Bowl, let alone win.
For the nine teams looking for be Super Bowl contenders, Week 3 is do-or-die. No team has ever started a season 0-3 and won the big game, but there are a small number who have been able to right the ship and emerge victorious after starting 0-2.
Which teams are still 0-2?
Each of these teams are going to be desperate to prove they can still make the postseason with a Week 3 win. Only one team, ever, has managed to make the playoffs after an 0-3 start, and that's the 2018 Houston Texans.
- Cincinnati Bengals
- Indianapolis Colts
- Baltimore Ravens
- Jacksonville Jaguars
- Tennessee Titans
- Los Angeles Rams
- Denver Broncos
- New York Giants
These teams may face an uphill climb going forward, but it is possible for an NFL team to come from a miserable beginning to win the Super Bowl. There have been three so far that have done it; could one of these nine be the fourth?
In the meantime, here are the only three teams to ever start a season 0-2 and still win the Super Bowl.
1993 Dallas Cowboys
Despite winning the Super Bowl the previous season, the 1993 Cowboys had a rough start to their season. Star running back Emmett Smith sat out the first two games over a contract dispute, and the Cowboys felt his absence.
However, with Smith's return, the Cowboys dominated. They won 12 of their next 14 games, led by Smith and quarterback Troy Aikman. Smith would become a legendary player that season; he was the NFL leader for rushing yards, was named the NFL MVP, and the Super Bowl MVP, and is the only person to have ever received all three honors in one season.
Aikman and wide receiver Michael Irvin both had Pro Bowl seasons, and despite starting 0-2, the Cowboys managed to recover and win back-to-back Super Bowls.
"We had will, skill, and everything and we knew it was going to be the reality and nobody could stop it." - Michael Irvin
2001 New England Patriots
The 2001 New England Patriots were not expected to do anything great that season. Their quarterbacks coach, Dick Rehbein, died unexpectedly in August at the age of 45. Drew Bledsoe, having just signed a 10-year contract extension, was injured in the second game.
That led to a little-known quarterback named Tom Brady stepping in to lead the Patriots, and the rest, of course, is history.
Brady started every game the rest of the season, decisively leading the Patriots to win after win. In Week 3, they crushed the Indianapolis Colts in a 44-13. Ultimately, they won the AFC East, and made it to the Super Bowl, where they took on the St. Louis Rams. Brady was named the Super Bowl MVP, and a dynasty was born.
"You know, history will say that other than the Jets with Namath, and maybe the Chiefs the next year, those are the three biggest underdogs to win a Super Bowl. So, they lit a candle that became the Olympic torch, that 2001 team, and for 20 years, it stayed lit." - Chris Berman
2007 New York Giants
Only one team has ever achieved the perfect season: the 1972 Miami Dolphins. But in 2007, the New England Patriots looked as if they were on their way to another Super Bowl championship, this time without losing a single game. But the New York Giants came along and stopped them dead in a stunning upset.
The Giants didn't come into the season looking like Super Bowl champions; they started 0-2, and only made it into the playoffs as wild cards. The Patriots, meanwhile, were 18-0, and heavily favored to win.
Yet in a game for the history books, the Giants won, 17-14. They had to win three playoff games, all on the road, just to get to the Super Bowl, and then gifted us one of the most famous plays in NFL history: the helmet catch between quarterback Eli Manning and wide receiver David Tyree in the final minutes of the game. The defense also kept the pressure on Brady, sacking him five times, and Manning was named Super Bowl MVP.
"We called ourselves the 'Road Warriors.'" - Shaun O'Hara