Barnwell ranks the 0-2 NFL teams from done to long shot: Could the Giants and Colts still make the playoffs?

Bill Barnwell is a staff writer for ESPN.com.

In the NFL, starting 0-2 puts teams at serious risk of missing the postseason. If they lose again and fall to 0-3, they might as well start making vacation plans for January. Since the league went to its 32-team format in 2002, 86 teams have started 0-3. Just one of those teams — the 2018 Texans — made the playoffs, while the 2013 Steelers would have made it if the league had adopted its current 14-team playoff format before 2020. Two out of 86 is 2.4%.

Those numbers aren’t quite as damning as the league plays a 17-game regular season for the first time, but the move from 12 playoff teams to 14 didn’t help any of the 0-2 teams last season. Eleven teams started 0-2 a year ago, and not a single one of them made it to the postseason. Five of them fired their coach, and the only team among the 11 to even post a winning record was the Dolphins.

Since 2002, 12.5% of teams that have started 0-2 have made it to the postseason or would have under the 14-team format. This season, with seven 0-2 teams sitting at the bottom of the standings, history would suggest that no more than one of those teams is likely to make it to the playoffs. They’re also about to face a de facto playoff game in Week 3.

Let’s sort through those seven 0-2 teams and try to get a handle on how they can turn around their seasons. I’ll stack them from 7 to 1, starting with the team I’m least confident about and working my way up. I’ll also include their chances of making it to the postseason from ESPN’s Football Power Index (FPI).

7. New York Jets

Chances to make the playoffs: 1.7%

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