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For more than 30 years, no NFL team had ever started its season 0-1-1. Thanks to an opening day tie between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Cleveland Browns, we’ve got two 2018 clubs whose records spell out the number three in binary.
The AFC North rivals slopped their way to a 21-21 draw on the first Sunday of the season, then lost thanks to varying degrees of kicker ineptitude the following week. Those disappointing finishes served to drastically lower expectations in Pittsburgh and somehow raise them in Cleveland.
Since-cut Browns kicker Zane Gonzalez missed two extra points and a pair of field goals against the Saints; his last kick with the team was a wide-right 52-yard attempt that erased a harried comeback from Tyrod Taylor and a desperate offense. Still-employed Steelers kicker Chris Boswell missed a field goal and an extra point that would have put Mike Tomlin’s team in a position to send Week 2’s game against the Chiefs into overtime after a touchdown with 1:59 to play.
As a result, the two teams find themselves at the bottom of the history — and history suggests they’ve got an 91 percent shot of disappointment when the postseason rolls around in January.
Only one team in NFL history has made the playoffs after a 0-1-1 start
It’s a small — and old — sample size, but the league hasn’t been kind to teams that have started their season with the odd combination of a tie and a loss. Between 1970 and 1974, eight teams started their year at 0-1-1. Between then and this season, it’s happened only once — to a 1987 Packers team staffed by replacement players due to that year’s lockout.
Those teams have not performed well. One, the 1970 Raiders, made it to the postseason. Two more, the ‘74 Broncos and ‘71 Rams, finished the year with winning records. And while none of the remaining six teams had truly awful seasons, they were mediocre enough to land near the top of the first round of the following year’s draft.
0-1-1 teams in NFL history prior to 2018
| Team | Year | W | L | T | Playoffs? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | Year | W | L | T | Playoffs? |
| Green Bay Packers | 1987 | 5 | 9 | 1 | N |
| Denver Broncos | 1974 | 7 | 6 | 1 | N |
| Philadelphia Eagles | 1973 | 5 | 8 | 1 | N |
| Detroit Lions | 1973 | 6 | 7 | 1 | N |
| Chicago Bears | 1972 | 4 | 9 | 1 | N |
| Los Angeles Rams | 1971 | 8 | 5 | 1 | N |
| Denver Broncos | 1971 | 4 | 9 | 1 | N |
| Oakland Raiders | 1970 | 8 | 4 | 2 | Y |
| San Diego Chargers | 1970 | 5 | 6 | 3 | N |
Comparatively, 366 teams started their season 0-2 between 1970 and 2017. 36 of them managed to rally to a spot in the playoffs — a 9.8 percent average that’s actually better than then 9.1 percent rate of 0-1-1 teams. Three — the 2007 Giants, 2001 Patriots, and 1993 Cowboys — even managed to win a Super Bowl that year.
A win in Week 3 would drastically improve either team’s postseason hopes. Since ‘70, 13 teams have gone 1-1-1. Four of those teams — 30.8 precent — wound up in the playoffs. The 1987 Broncos and 1971 Dolphins found their way to the Super Bowl. The 1974 Steelers wound up winning it. The average final record for these 1-1-1 teams was 7-6-1, so wins this week — against the Jets for the Browns and against the Buccaneers for Pittsburgh — may be paramount to their teams’ success.
So the Browns and Steelers aren’t screwed. Pittsburgh has too much talent to go down quietly in the AFC North, even without Le’Veon Bell or a happy Antonio Brown. Cleveland’s defense has limited the Steelers and Saints in consecutive games and is good enough to push the club from the depths its plumbed the past two seasons. 0-1-1 isn’t a kiss of death.
There’s still time for each team to rally. But history shows they’d be ever-so-slightly better off if they’d impossibly started their seasons at 0-2.