We are now two weeks into the 2025 NFL season.
While it is still early, we can start drawing some conclusions about teams.
As luck would have it, ten teams enter Week 3 without a loss, while ten teams are staring an 0-3 start in the face. Here, we will look at the teams in that latter category, and rank them by the likelihood they pull it together and make a run to the playoffs.
For some of these teams, the postseason is still in sight.
For others, it might be time to start looking at prospects for the 2026 NFL Draft.
When you hear the phrase “players-only meeting” after just one game, things are not heading in the right direction.
And after an 0-2 start, the Miami Dolphins face a short week and a game against the undefeated Buffalo Bills.
Things in Miami could get really ugly, really fast.
Expectations were not high for the New Orleans Saints coming into the 2025 season, and an 0-2 start is where many believed they would be after the first two weeks.
But to their credit, the Saints battled in both of those games, losing by one score to both the Arizona Cardinals and the San Francisco 49ers, a pair of 2-0 teams. The odds of this team putting together a playoff run are next to zero, but they’ve looked better than the Dolphins so far.
It’s difficult to find a way for a Joe Flacco-led Browns team to find a back door into the playoffs. The veteran QB is among the worst passers in the league in yards-per-attempt, and there are simply no big plays coming out of the Cleveland offense. The saving grace is that the defense is good enough to keep games close, but ultimately it seems like a wash year until the Browns settle on their long-term QB situation.
The Browns aren’t an easy out if you’re looking at 0-2 teams on the schedule. The issue is their division. The AFC North is brutal, and while a shadow of itself — this is Baltimore’s division until someone says otherwise.
Cam Ward and the Tennessee Titans took some small steps forward from Week 1 to Week 2, but the young quarterback needs to do a better job when pressured. He has been sacked 11 times already — most in the NFL — and has been sacked on 15% of his dropbacks.
And for those believers in P2S% (the percentage of pressures that lead to sacks), Ward’s mark of 32.4%, which is fourth-highest in the league, is another cause for concern.
Until the young QB settles in, it is difficult to see this team making a run.
The Panthers showed serious signs of life in the 4th quarter against the Cardinals, coming just a few plays from executing a comeback from being down 27-3. Still, this offense is a mess right now. Bryce Young is really missing the reliability of Adam Thielen on the outside, and this has been compounded by Xavier Legette regressing massively in his second year, and a lingering injury to standout UDFA from a year ago Jalen Coker.
If Coker can come back into the starting lineup there’s a real chance this team can start to put it together. The limiting factor is their defense, which simply isn’t good enough to get the job done. With the NFC as tight as it is there would need to be a small miracle for the Panthers to find a way into the playoffs.
The vibes are so, so bad in Chicago right now. Now 0-2 in their division, Caleb Williams isn’t putting it together and becoming a Ben Johnson quarterback. It wouldn’t be surprising if we only see two or three more weeks of this before Tyson Bagent gets the nod, just to see what the overarching problem is.
The reason the Bears still fall this high is because they have all the tools on paper to make noise. That hasn’t changed simply because they’re 0-2, and to be fair to them at least one of their games (vs. Detroit) looked like they were playing a top tier team.
The Giants are such a weird team. They’re playing incredibly competitive football with Russell Wilson under center, which might be the shocker of the season so far. Malik Nabers is a big factor in this as he continues his ascent into becoming one of the best receivers in the NFL.
Competitiveness is a good trait to have when it comes to finding a way into the postseason. It’s still not likely, but there’s a chance we could see this team pull off a few close surprises and make a run down the stretch.
There are two big factors on the Jets side right now: Firstly, they’ve played two good teams. Secondly, the AFC East outside of the Bills is a mess. It would be quite easy for the Jets to rack up some divisional wins and a couple of surprises and find a way.
This team is a mess so far, but it’s still early and Aaron Glenn has the ability to make this team competitive. When it comes to getting a playoff spot there is a chance the Jets could surprise.
There are reasons to worry if you are a Houston Texans fans, particularly on the offensive side of the ball.
The rebuild offensive line is struggling to protect C.J. Stroud, who was pressured on 41.2% of his dropbacks in Week 1 according to charting data from Pro Football Focus, and sacked three times in the loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Monday night. In addition, Stroud’s Adjusted Net Yards per Attempt of 5.40 puts him 23rd in the league, tied with Spencer Rattler and behind Caleb Williams.
Not the start Texans fans were hoping for.
But there is still reason to believe. While the offense is still figuring things out, this defense looks very good. Between Danielle Hunter and Will Anderson Jr, the Texans can get after the quarterback early and often. Special teams delivered a big play Monday night as well, with a blocked punt against the Buccaneers. Those two units will give Stroud and company time to figure things out, and keep Houston in most games.
The criteria here is “likelihood of making the playoffs.”
Even with their 0-2 start, there is still a very viable path for the Kansas City Chiefs to make the postseason.
As we wrote yesterday, their two losses deserve a health dose of context. Both games came against playoff teams from a season ago. The first game was in Brazil and the second, while at home, came in a Super Bowl rematch against the Philadelphia Eagles. Rashee Rice is out due to a six-game suspension and Xavier Worthy is hurt.
Kansas City’s hopes of the top seed in the AFC, and winning the West, however, certainly took a dent over the first two weeks. But of the teams that are 0-2, they still look like the best of the bunch.
