The Cincinnati Bengals overcame some stunning history last year, starting 0-2 yet surging to the playoffs and eventually the AFC title game.
Now, the team is 0-2 again and 0-3 might be a more realistic possibility than last year given the calf injury to Joe Burrow.
Buy Bengals TicketsWhen the Bengals overcame 0-2 last year the feat was impressive — but ESPN’s Bill Barnwell explained why an 0-3 pitfall might be truly impossible:
Since 2002, roughly one in 10 teams has started 0-2 and advanced to the postseason. When the Bengals pulled off the feat last season, they became the first franchise to start 0-2 and make it to the postseason since 2018.
If a team loses again and drops to 0-3, though, desperate becomes hopeless. Since 2002, 99 teams have started 0-3. Just one of those teams (the 2018 Texans) has made it to the playoffs. The NFL now has a 14-team bracket, which would have added a second team (the 2013 Steelers) to the mix, but you get the idea. Starting 0-2 is bad. Starting 0-3 is all but unsurvivable.
Which is to say Week 3 on Monday night against the Los Angeles Rams is a must-win game. That’s not an easy task with a fully 100 percent healthy Burrow, so the fact his status is very much up on the air is cause for concern.
That’s not to say the Bengals can’t get to 1-2. This is the team that rattled off double-digit wins last year and nearly made a Super Bowl again, after all.
But…it sure doesn’t hurt to go into next Monday’s game armed with this sort of information, right?
