NFL Week 3 - Repent! Repent, all ye fearful and trembling mortals, for the time of reckoning is at hand! Cast off your worldly desires and beg for forgiveness, for the time of DOOM is at hand!
Starting 0-2 is a massive blow to your playoff chances. Since the NFL expanded to 12 playoff teams in 1990, just 11.3% of teams that start 0-2 have made the playoffs—fewer than one per season. And none at all have managed it since 2018, despite the playoff expansion to 14 teams. An opening week loss sucks, because it can take the bloom off of an unblemished season, the hope of the offseason immediately crashing into reality.