- Mar 19, 2006
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With last night’s loss to the Eagles, the Minnesota Vikings are this season's first member of a club no NFL team wants to join: 0-2 to start the season. Prior to last season, only 9.5 percent of all clubs that started 0-2 made the playoffs; the Bengals managed it in last season, but four others didn’t.
With that in mind, someone is almost certainly going to join the Vikings this weekend. Let’s run down the candidates, their BetMGM moneyline odds, and their chances of shaking off this early burden:
Bills (-400): Draw the Raiders this weekend. Came out of Monday night with a loss, but probably prefer that to the Jets’ alternative. Buffalo will be fine.
Bengals (-175): Another AFC North matchup for the Bengals, this week against Baltimore. Joe Burrow’s “chill out, it’s only one week” ethos after opening the season with a loss is exactly what you want from a sane human … which means it enraged the football-is-life segment of Bengals fans.
Seahawks (+180): This might be the season the Seahawks regress to the mean. You give up 23 unanswered, second-half points to the Rams, and you pin your hopes on Geno Smith, well, you kind of deserve what you get. Bad luck for Seattle that they drew the Lions, who for the first time in two generations aren’t a guaranteed W on the slate.
Chargers (-150): Clearly the Chargers are going to sling it this year. The question is whether the defense can hold back anything more fierce than a gentle breeze. The Chargers are headed to Nashville, where, coincidentally enough, they'll play the …
Titans (+125): Ryan Tannehill needs to be less generous than he was against the Saints. On the other hand, if he threw three interceptions every week of the season, that would be some kind of record, so there’s that.
Bears (+120): Drew Tampa Bay this week. Doesn’t matter if they win 400-0, the Bears aren’t going to the playoffs.
Chiefs (-185): The Jaguars, KC's opponent on Sunday, haven’t beaten the Chiefs since 2009. That won’t change on Sunday … but it will in January. (Yep, i just gave you a look at the 2023 script. Don’t tell anyone.)
Colts (+100): We’re going to need more data on whether Anthony Richardson is awfully good or just awful. The Colts are hoping for the former, but no one should be surprised if they end up with the latter. They’ll be in Houston, and so will the …
Texans (-120): We’d say that someone has to win this game, but this is the AFC South, so both teams probably ought to lose. The Jaguars are going to stomp holes in this entire division.
Giants (-210): Apparently thought that Week 1 was the fourth preseason game. Could use some team-wide hypnosis to forget that 40-0 night ever happened. Fortunately for the Giants, they’ll be facing the consensus favorite for worst team in the NFL …
Arizona (+170): Somehow will manage to be 0-3 after this weekend. Nothing more needs to be said.
Broncos (-185): If Denver starts the year 0-2, Sean Payton is going to take a machete to his desk. Fortunately, the Broncos drew Washington, which is not exactly a world-beater.
Patriots (+135): My son loves to discreetly flip on the seat heater in my car in the middle of the summer and wait until I notice that my seat is hotter than I expected. Why am I telling this anecdote in the middle of a blurb on the Patriots? Oh, no reason.
Panthers (+140): Bryce Young will suffer a second straight loss against the state of Louisiana. At least this time he won’t have to hear that the Panther dynasty is crumbling.
Steelers (+115): Two losses to open the season will mean that Mike Tomlin will have an uphill fight to keep that miracle .500-or-better run alive. If Cleveland looks anything like it did against Cincinnati, the Steelers will be the focus of a thousand STEELERS IN TROUBLE sports radio segments and podcast bits on Tuesday.
Enjoy the weekend, friends, and we'll catch you right back here on Monday!
—Follow Jay Busbee on Twitter
With that in mind, someone is almost certainly going to join the Vikings this weekend. Let’s run down the candidates, their BetMGM moneyline odds, and their chances of shaking off this early burden:
Bills (-400): Draw the Raiders this weekend. Came out of Monday night with a loss, but probably prefer that to the Jets’ alternative. Buffalo will be fine.
Bengals (-175): Another AFC North matchup for the Bengals, this week against Baltimore. Joe Burrow’s “chill out, it’s only one week” ethos after opening the season with a loss is exactly what you want from a sane human … which means it enraged the football-is-life segment of Bengals fans.
Seahawks (+180): This might be the season the Seahawks regress to the mean. You give up 23 unanswered, second-half points to the Rams, and you pin your hopes on Geno Smith, well, you kind of deserve what you get. Bad luck for Seattle that they drew the Lions, who for the first time in two generations aren’t a guaranteed W on the slate.
Chargers (-150): Clearly the Chargers are going to sling it this year. The question is whether the defense can hold back anything more fierce than a gentle breeze. The Chargers are headed to Nashville, where, coincidentally enough, they'll play the …
Titans (+125): Ryan Tannehill needs to be less generous than he was against the Saints. On the other hand, if he threw three interceptions every week of the season, that would be some kind of record, so there’s that.
Bears (+120): Drew Tampa Bay this week. Doesn’t matter if they win 400-0, the Bears aren’t going to the playoffs.
Chiefs (-185): The Jaguars, KC's opponent on Sunday, haven’t beaten the Chiefs since 2009. That won’t change on Sunday … but it will in January. (Yep, i just gave you a look at the 2023 script. Don’t tell anyone.)
Colts (+100): We’re going to need more data on whether Anthony Richardson is awfully good or just awful. The Colts are hoping for the former, but no one should be surprised if they end up with the latter. They’ll be in Houston, and so will the …
Texans (-120): We’d say that someone has to win this game, but this is the AFC South, so both teams probably ought to lose. The Jaguars are going to stomp holes in this entire division.
Giants (-210): Apparently thought that Week 1 was the fourth preseason game. Could use some team-wide hypnosis to forget that 40-0 night ever happened. Fortunately for the Giants, they’ll be facing the consensus favorite for worst team in the NFL …
Arizona (+170): Somehow will manage to be 0-3 after this weekend. Nothing more needs to be said.
Broncos (-185): If Denver starts the year 0-2, Sean Payton is going to take a machete to his desk. Fortunately, the Broncos drew Washington, which is not exactly a world-beater.
Patriots (+135): My son loves to discreetly flip on the seat heater in my car in the middle of the summer and wait until I notice that my seat is hotter than I expected. Why am I telling this anecdote in the middle of a blurb on the Patriots? Oh, no reason.
Panthers (+140): Bryce Young will suffer a second straight loss against the state of Louisiana. At least this time he won’t have to hear that the Panther dynasty is crumbling.
Steelers (+115): Two losses to open the season will mean that Mike Tomlin will have an uphill fight to keep that miracle .500-or-better run alive. If Cleveland looks anything like it did against Cincinnati, the Steelers will be the focus of a thousand STEELERS IN TROUBLE sports radio segments and podcast bits on Tuesday.
Enjoy the weekend, friends, and we'll catch you right back here on Monday!
—Follow Jay Busbee on Twitter
