Utilizing Champs or Chumps, RotoWire.com looked at how teams ended up the rest of the NFL season after starting their season with an 3-0, 2-1, 1-2 or 0-3 record since the 2015 season.
The following are the number of teams that finished with each record since 2015:
- W-L 3-0 – 46 teams, W-L 2-1 – 106 teams, W-L 1-2 – 115 teams, W-L 0-3 – 41 teams
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Season Performance Of NFL Teams Starting 3-0
Situation | Number of Teams | Percentage |
Making The Playoffs | 35 of 46 teams | 76.1% |
Making Divisional Round | 20 of 46 teams | 43.5% |
Making Conference Championship | 18 of 46 teams | 39.1% |
Making Super Bowl | 11 of 46 teams | 23.9% |
Winning Super Bowl | 4 of 46 teams | 8.7% |
For the 10 NFL teams that have started the season with consecutive wins, getting to 3-0 would pave the way for a much simpler path to the postseason, as 35 of the last 46 teams to start the year 3-0 (or 76.1%) reached the playoffs after winning their opening three contests.
Of those 46, 20 of them (or 43.5%) made the Divisional Round of the postseason while 18 (or 39.1%) made it as far as the Conference Championship Game and 11 (or 23.9%) went all the way to the Super Bowl that season. Interestingly, four out of those 46 (or 8.7%) hoisted the Vince Lombardi Trophy at the end of the year, giving teams like the 
Bills, 
Packers, 
Colts, 
49ers and 
Chargers (amongst several others) hope that 2026 could be their year.
Surprisingly, the odds-on favorite to win Super Bowl LX is not one of the NFL's current unbeaten teams, as the 1-1 
Baltimore Ravens are the odds-on favorite to win it all this season, at +500, while the 2-0 Bills (+550) and Packers (+650) are next in line, followed by the 2-0 Eagles, who check in at +750 to repeat as champs this year at DraftKings.
Season Performance Of NFL Teams Starting 2-1
Situation | Number of Teams | Percentage |
Making The Playoffs | 65 of 106 teams | 61.3% |
Making Divisional Round | 45 of 106 teams | 42.5% |
Making Conference Championship | 17 of 106 teams | 16.0% |
Making Super Bowl | 8 of 106 teams | 7.5% |
Winning Super Bowl | 5 of 106 teams | 4.7% |
For teams in Baltimore's cleats right now, starting the season 2-1 goes a long way towards ensuring a berth in the NFL postseason, with 61.3% of teams that started 2-1 (65 out of 106) reaching the playoffs, compared with 25.2% (29 out of 115) that did so after starting the season 1-2.
Of those 106 teams that began the year with two wins in three weeks, 45 (or 42.5%) reached the Divisional Round, while 17 (or 16.0%) reached the Conference Championship Game and eight (or 7.5%) made it all the way to that year's "Big Game," with five Super Bowl champs among the cadre of 2-1 teams since 2015 (or 4.7% of the total).
As we get deeper into the NFL season, check out how injuries are affecting recent player performance and season-long outlook on RotoWire's NFL injury report.
Season Performance Of NFL Teams Starting 1-2
Situation | Number of Teams | Percentage |
Making The Playoffs | 29 of 115 teams | 25.2% |
Making Divisional Round | 15 of 115 teams | 13.0% |
Making Conference Championship | 5 of 115 teams | 4.3% |
Making Super Bowl | 1 of 115 teams | 0.9% |
Winning Super Bowl | 1 of 115 teams | 0.9% |
Moving down the line in NFL news and record trends, only 29 of the 115 teams that began the regular season 1-2 (or 25.2%) made the postseason, with 15 of them (or 13.0%) reaching the Divisional Round and five (or 4.3%) making it to the Conference Championship Game.
Only one team since 2015 to reach (and win) it all after starting the year 1-2 was the 
New England Patriots in 2018, who lost two straight to the 
Jaguars and 
Lions after beating the Houston Texans in Week 1, eventually wrapping up the season with an 11-5 record and beating the Los Angeles Chargers, Chiefs and Rams in succession to win it all.
Season Performance Of NFL Teams Starting 0-3
Situation | Number of Teams | Percentage |
Making The Playoffs | 1 of 41 teams | 2.4% |
Making Divisional Round | 0 of 41 teams | 0.0% |
Making Conference Championship | 0 of 41 teams | 0.0% |
Making Super Bowl | 0 of 41 teams | 0.0% |
Winning Super Bowl | 0 of 41 teams | 0.0% |
Finally, none of the 41 teams that started the season 0-3 since 2015 have made it past the Wild Card Round of the playoffs, with one team out of that group - the 2018 Texans - making the sport's postseason at all, speaking to the importance of avoiding early season losses in today's NFL.
For the 10 NFL teams that are sitting at 0-2 for the season, there's never been more of a "must-win" game than the contests that lay ahead of them, with surprising winless clubs like the Chiefs, Texans and Miami Dolphins joined by league cellar dwellers like the Jets, Panthers, Browns and the Giants.
Of those 10 teams, the Chiefs hold the best odds of turning things around and winning it all this NFL season, with FanDuel Sportsbook giving K.C. +1300 odds of taking home the Lombardi Trophy in 2026, ranking fifth on the New York-based operator's Super Bowl LX odds board as we approach the opening kickoff of Week 3 across the league.
