The Two-Game Gut Check, 2024
 

Okay, you know the drill... here are the 2-0 teams, and the 0-2 teams. Your mission is to list, perfectly, the list of teams who will:

-start 2-0 but miss the playoffs
or
-start 0-2 and still make the playoffs

Your contenders:

2-0
Buffalo Bills
LA Chargers
KC Chiefs
Pittsburgh Steelers
Houston Texans
Seattle Seahawks
Minnesota Vikings
NO Saints
TB Buccaneers

0-2
Carolina Panthers
LA Rams
NY Giants
Indianapolis Colts
Baltimore Ravens
Cincinnati Bengals
Denver Broncos

Man, I think that all of those 2-0 teams are for real, even though I know that history shows that isn't the case . . .

I'll say

Chargers miss the playoffs.

Rams and Bengals make the playoffs.

Seems weird to leave out the Ravens, but the AFC is tough, and the AFC North even tougher.

2-0
LA Chargers
TB Buccaneers

0-2
Cincinnati Bengals

2-0
Steelers, Buccs, Seahawks

0-2
Bengals, Ravens

Miss:
Steelers
Vikes

Make:
Ravens
Bengals

Miss:
Chargers
Vikings


Make:
Bengals
Ravens
Colts
Carolina...uh no.

I remember about this time one of my analytics shows was digging in and finding the Saints' hot start to be supported by real data (OL was playing great, passing data were encouraging)... but now we feel like we can start tossing dirt on this season. Ouch. Tons of injuries, but... maybe we will never know whether they had it together. The rest of this season feels like a scratch paper exercise.

I was trying to figure out which one of the Saints and Bucs would fall off because my NFC playoff bracket I had in my head only had room for one of them. I choose the wrong team.

It turns out that it was weird to leave out the Ravens.