For most NFL teams, it’s too early in the season to worry about overreactions. However, teams like the Miami Dolphins face the possibility of a 0-3 start — on Thursday Night Football — that could crush playoff hopes. But how bad is the situation for three winless NFL teams on the brink of 2025 disaster?
Beginning the year 0-3 is a death knell. Playoffs, Jim Mora? Probably not. Win the Super Bowl? No chance at all, according to Sports Illustrated.
“As you would expect, dropping to 0-3 is far worse for a team's playoff chances than starting 0-2, but the difference is dramatic,” Ryan Phillips wrote. “Since 1990, 162 teams have opened the season 0-3, and only four of them have made the postseason. That's 2.5%. Of those four teams, two wound up winning their divisions. That's 1.2%. None of those teams that started 0-3 have won a Super Bowl.”
But which three teams are hurting the most, heading into Week 3?
No. 1 — Chiefs stand in precarious position
Most people will write this off, but it’s for a reason that hasn’t occurred yet. NFL observers and fans aren’t generally worried about the Chiefs because they expect them to win against the Giants. It’s a given, right?
Maybe not. The Giants played their first two games on the road. And their home opener is a nationally televised contest. Plus, the Giants rang up 37 points on the road against the Cowboys. And they should be 1-1. A better decision by the defensive coordinator toward the end of regulation could have taken care of it. The mindset was wrong.
The Giants should have defended Dallas as if a 60-plus-yard field goal was the same as a 35-yarder. Because with Brandon Aubrey, it usually is. The Giants could have been far more aggressive, risking a 35-yard completion to have a better chance of shutting down a 20-yard play.
But this is about the Chiefs. A 0-3 start doesn’t seem realistic. But it is.
Quarterback Patrick Mahomes said he’s looking at the game as a chance to get right, according to ESPN.
“Definitely new territory as far as being 0-2,” Mahomes said. “In my eyes, it looks like what an opportunity. What an opportunity to prove who we are as the Kansas City Chiefs.”
Andy Reid said he understands the angst.
“Listen, we haven’t won a game, so I understand — I get it,” Reid said. “We’ll keep pushing and working forward and seeing what we can do going down the road here.”
There’s far more pressure on the Chiefs than any other 0-2 team. So they stand at No. 1.
No. 2 — Texans tried to get their footing
Everybody knew the Texans had offensive line problems. They hoped their skill players were good enough to overcome the deficiencies. Then Joe Mixon got hurt, and the line has been as advertised, according to ESPN.
“It's hard to play quarterback when your blockers are on the ground,” Bill Barnwell wrote.
The Texans have been competitive because of their defense. And a couple of plays here or there would have put them at 2-0 instead of 0-2. But they didn’t make those plays. And now they’re in a must-win situation on the road against a reasonably decent Jaguars team.
“Kind of the same spot we’re in here,” third-year Texans coach DeMeco Ryans said. “But it’s just different circumstances, different team. “Each year, to me, the team is different with its own different set of issues.”
Like the Chiefs, the Texans are expected to bounce back. But a win isn’t a given.
No. 3 — Bears hoping to find formula
Former Lions assistant Ben Johnson has found winning games perhaps a bit more difficult than he anticipated. The collapse against the Vikings was followed by a beatdown by his former team.
The Bears may have a quarterback problem with Caleb Williams, but there’s still time for Johnson to get him on track.
“[Williams] has a 26.6% off-target rate this season, nearly double the league average (14.2%),” Barnwell wrote. “[He] has the third-highest expected completion percentage (70.1%, per NFL Next Gen Stats), yet is completing only 61.5% of his throws. The only quarterback underproducing his expected completion percentage by a higher margin this season is Patrick Mahomes.”
There is still hope for Williams. But the Bears can’t afford a slip to 0-3, or their 2025 season will likely be an exercise in frustration like 2024 turned out to be. And they won’t have an easy time with the Cowboys if their defense looks anything like the one that got dusted by the Lions.
Johnson said his team needs more fire, according to ESPN.
“We should be going to the football, finishing hard,” Johnson said. “We talk about it all the time with the offensive players that, our fundamentals, our finish and our technique, they need to show up in walk-through, they need to show up on the practice field. That's how it shows up on game day. Simple things of how do we properly block? How do we catch the ball? How do we block after the catch? Ball security and things like that. It's the little things that you learn in youth league football that, even at this level, they make a huge difference.”
