A 2-0 start is almost always cause for celebration for any NFL team that manages to pull off the feat. But it doesn't always indicate a team has reached the fast lane to the postseason.
The odds are certainly in the favor of those that remain perfect through the first fortnight of the regular season. Of the 42 teams that have gone 2-0 since 2020, when the league expanded the regular season to 17 games and its postseason field to 14 teams, 33 (or 78.6%) made it to the playoffs. Last year alone, seven of the nine teams that began on that pace ended up sealing a spot, with another – the Seattle Seahawks – missing out via a tiebreaker.
The one outlier from 2024? That would be the New Orleans Saints, who stunned many by scoring 91 points in their first two outings ... and then went on to lose their next seven and fire coach Dennis Allen. The team's nosedive still stands as a warning to take the schedule and other circumstances into account when evaluating any group that enjoys an early surge.
With that in mind, here is our ranking of the NFL's 10 2-0 teams from most to least legitimate, with all of them separated into two tiers:
When the Packers were bumped out of the playoffs in the wild-card round last season, several players bemoaned an inability to measure up with the league's elite groups, with the team flopping to 0-6 against opponents that finished four or more games above .500 in 2024. Consider that problem a thing of the past. Green Bay systematically dismantled both the Detroit Lions and Washington Commanders in what has amounted to easily the most impressive start to the season by any team.
