With Week 3 of the NFL season in the rearview mirror, there are a staggering seven (!!) teams that remain winless to start the 2019 season.
The list:
– Cincinnati Bengals (0-3)
– Denver Broncos (0-3)
– Arizona Cardinals (0-2-1)
– Miami Dolphins (0-3)
– New York Jets (0-3)
– Washington Redskins (0-2)
– Pittsburgh Steelers (0-3)
Here’s a fun stat for you: Since 1980, Five of 173 teams that started the season 0-3 have made the playoffs. That’s 2.9 percent.
So you’re telling me there’s a chance?
Yes, there is a very slim chance that one (or more) of these teams may miraculously turn it around and grab a playoff spot, but there’s a chance.
Now, I am not guaranteeing a playoff team emerging from this list – personally, none of them are making the playoffs – but I thought it would be fun to rank the “best” of the seven remaining winless teams.
Let the fun begin! (P.S. this was a lot harder than it seemed lol)
- Pittsburgh Steelers – It’s a shock to many – including myself – to see the Steelers 0-3 to start a season, especially with talent on both sides of the football. Besides the beat down by New England, Pittsburgh had their chances to beat both Seattle and San Francisco and easily be 2-1. Mason Rudolph has shown the potential to be a good NFL quarterback in his extremely brief career, taking over for the injured Ben Roethlisberger. Despite the poor start, Pittsburgh plays in an “ehhh” AFC North. If there’s a team I’d put money on to turn it around, it’s Pittsburgh.
- Washington Redskins – The Redskins are slowly trying to acclimate their young players into the daily grind of an NFL season, so it’s only natural they are going through a major learning curve. Surprisingly, the ‘Skins are a competitive group, falling just short against Dallas and Philadelphia. Who I am really looking forward to see this season (hopefully!) is Dwayne Haskins. That boy can throw the football!
- New York Jets – A lot of things have not gone right for the Jets at the quarterback lately. The team lost Sam Darnold (mono) and Trevor Siemian (ankle) in consecutive weeks and are relying on third-string quarterback Luke Falk and running back Le’Veon Bell to keep this sinking ship afloat. As long as Bell is on the field, I gotta give the Jets at least a chance. Fortunately, the Jets are heading into their bye week. That counts as a win, right?
- Arizona Cardinals – Being the worst team in the league a year ago means the Cardinals can only trend up. Drafting a rookie quarterback and signing a rookie head coach is a step in right direction too. Expect learning curves and expect mistakes from Kyler Murray and Kliff Kingsbury. It’s a rebuild – they have time to figure it out. Get my man Murray a competent offensive line and watch him go to work!
- Denver Broncos – I honestly don’t know what the Broncos brass were doing when they traded for Joe Flacco. In fairness to Joe, the Bears and Packers defense on back-to-back weeks – bruuutal. The Broncos are doing enough to stay in games, but they are not doing enough to win games. Costly turnovers, combined with no takeaways and missed opportunities, are usually a recipe for disaster. Denver is currently going through that disaster.
- Cincinnati Bengals – It might finally be time to get rid of Andy Dalton as the starting quarterback. I know, blaming the quarterback is such an easy cop out, but it’s been the talk of Cincinnati for years. On paper, the Bengals have an electric offense – Tyler Boyd, John Ross, A.J. Green, Joe Mixon – yet continue to struggle. The Bengals also have struggled to finish games and could also very well be 2-1 too. A change at QB is at least worth considering with the amount of potential talent in the 2020 draft class. Like Pittsburgh, in an “ehhh” AFC North, anything is possible.
- Miami Dolphins – Would it not be fun to see another team go 0-16? Well, maybe not if you are a fan of the team. This Dolphins team may have a serious shot at it. When the Dolphins traded away their best defensive player Minkah Fitzpatrick, it was essentially waving the white flag on the 2019 season. The team started Josh Rosen trying to get anything positive, but it was much of the same – nothing. Miami has scored the fewest points (16) this season and have allowed the most points (133) this season – not good . This is a baaaad football team with a lot of areas needing improvement, so the three first-round picks in the 2020 NFL Draft should be a much-needed start in the right direction.
Let me know what y’all think of the rankings and my prediction of the Dolphins going 0-16!
Photo credit – Twitter.com/Steelers
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