In the NFL, the fate of a team’s season can all change in an instant. They may enter the season thinking that they are going to be a shoe-in for the postseason—and maybe even have a chance at the Lombardi Trophy…
But once the season actually starts, all that can get flipped on its head rather quickly.
And with a couple of early losses, key injuries, or what have you—a team’s season can essentially be over even before it begins.
And you know what? We’ve already spotted 10 NFL teams that have met that exact fate thus far this season!
Denver Broncos
After a disastrous start to the Russell Wilson era in 2022, the Broncos looked poised to turn the page this year.
Denver was returning most of the big names from that fearsome defense that looked dominant all of last season—and they brought in offensive guru—and former Super Bowl-winning coach, Sean Payton, who folks in and around the league believed could revitalize Wilson’s career.
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Unfortunately for the fans in the Mile High City, things, frankly, could not have gone any worse thus far.
The Broncos have started the season 0-2 and done so in horrendous fashion.
Week 1, against a division rival—the Las Vegas Raiders… Denver got off to a great start. Wilson looked sharp in the first half completing nearly all of his passes and notching two touchdowns. But for whatever reason, the team seemed to take its foot off the gas and they ended up squandering a halftime lead, losing by a final of 17 to 16.
As gutting as that was, the Broncos still have enough talent on that roster to survive the season… At least… they DID before they upped the ante and blew a 21 to three lead against the Washington Commanders in Week 2 in the most gutting fashion imaginable.
After blowing the lead, Denver came all the way back and scored on a 50-yard touchdown pass from Wilson with time expiring to pull within two points, only to fail on the two-point conversion to force overtime.
With two losses of this magnitude to start the year, Denver’s season is as good as finished.
Houston Texans
Who here remembers David Carr? No… Not Derek Carr… David. Derek’s older brother, who was a first overall pick of the Houston Texans way back in 2002, Houston’s inaugural season.
Well… For anyone who doesn’t remember David Carr—that’s probably because the former Fresno State standout didn’t exactly live up to the billing over a number-one overall pick.
BUT… That wasn’t entirely his fault. After all, he was slotted straight into one of the worst starting lineups the league has ever seen. And to make matters worse—that Texans offensive line was far and away its “weakest of many weaknesses” for lack of a better turn.
Carr set a league record getting sacked 76 times as a rookie—and extreme skittishness in the pocket plagued him the rest of his career.
Why do I bring this up?
Well, the Texans rookie quarterback this year, CJ Stroud, who they took second overall in this past draft, has already been sacked 11 times! Meaning he is on pace to blow Carr’s dubious record out of the water.
To his credit, Stroud has looked a lot better than Carr did in stretches… But with this comparison in mind, there is no denying that the Texans season has gotten off to a terrible start.
Houston is 0-2 after getting thoroughly dominated by the Baltimore Ravens Week 1 and the lowly Indianapolis Colts Week 2.
This has all the makings over another long season in H-Town. From where I’m sitting—this season is already over… All that Texans fans can hope for is that Stroud continues to develop and doesn’t get beaten into submission like Carr once did!
Arizona Cardinals
The Arizona Cardinals were surprisingly competitive during Week 1 against the Washington Commanders, despite having their franchise quarterback, Kyler Murray, still sidelined with a torn ACL and a new head coach in Jonathan Gannon calling the shots.
Understandably, expectations were low heading into the season… I mean, Joshua Dobbs is a serviceable journeyman, but not exactly a guy who inspires Super Bowl aspirations when you have him as your starting quarterback.
Arizona did, however, have fans on the edge of their seat Week 2 against the Giants thinking that maybe this Cardinals team could make some noise… Arizona went up 20 to nothing at halftime and even answered the Giants first score with a quick touchdown and a two-point conversion in response, to take a 21-point lead.
This euphoria, unfortunately, was short-lived. Arizona squandered the lead and lost the game in the close seconds a Graham Gano 34-yard field goal that pushed New York ahead, 31 to 28.
And just like that the small sliver of hope that had emerged vanished—and the Cards’ season was officially… unofficially over!
Chicago Bears
The Chicago Bears were one of the most talked about teams during this offseason… Everything looked like it was ready to come up Chicago.
They tanked in the best way possible during 2022, got the number one overall pick, saw their quarterback, Justin Fields developing right before their eyes, and made a few strategic offseason moves—including trading that aforementioned number one pick, to really set themselves up for a nice run while Fields was still under a relatively affordable rookie contract.
There was one minor detail that we all seemed to forget though… This is still the Chicago Bears we are talking about! And they are already imploding in true Chicago Bears fashion.
Fields looks like he is regressing, they have one of the worst defenses in the league, and there are already rumors of discontentment swirling around that locker room.
But when you lose your season-opener at home in emphatic fashion to an Aaron Rodgers-less Packers team then get beat by Baker Mayfield and the Bucs Week 2, none of that should come as a surprise!
Minnesota Vikings
The Minnesota Vikings were everyone’s favorite team to hate on in 2022, because despite notching a 13 and four record, they seemed to exclusively win coin flip games and everyone and their mother was convinced that the team itself was as good as it was lucky.
Fast forward to 2023 and we are starting to see that luck turn around and this team come back down to earth, as its flaws have continually been exposed.
They lost to Baker Mayfield and a Tampa Bay Buccaneers team that was supposed to be in contention for the first overall pick in the upcoming draft Week 1, then were bullied by the Eagles on Thursday Night Football in Week 2.
The defense has more holes than Swiss cheese and perhaps even more concerning, their offensive line has really struggled to protect Kirk Cousins, who is a quarterback that absolutely needs all the protection he can get.
Minnesota will likely still win a few games in the coming weeks… They do have the Chargers and Panthers coming, which are both extremely winnable.
But it is safe to say that they aren’t going to come close to hitting the expectations that they had for themselves coming to the season.
New England Patriots
Let’s face it… While Bill Belichick is still rightfully regarded as one of… if not the… best coach in NFL history, these are not your daddy’s New England Patriots.
The team is still well-coached—and capable of winning some games… Don’t get me wrong. But after watching how the team as a whole, and its quarterback, Mac Jones, have played to start the year—well, the season feels like it is going to be another lost one in the post-Tom Brady era.
The Pats started off the year on a relatively decent note—with a hard-fought loss to the reigning NFC champion, Philadelphia Eagles. Though I’m sure the fact that we are even talking about “moral victories” for the New England Patriots is nauseating to their fan base, that’s the reality of where we are at with this team.
The days of winning the AFC East being a forgone conclusion—and Super Bowl or bust are over. They are now a team that has to celebrate moral victories, like they did after Week 1… And is more than they can say for their Week 2 showing against fellow AFC East member, the Miami Dolphins.
The Pats did a good job of fighting back to make this a close game after going down 17 to three at the half… But again, not to beat a dead horse, this is not the Tom Brady Patriots… This is the Mac Jones Patriots, who should not… and frankly cannot be in the business of staging double-digit comebacks.
That’s pretty hard to accomplish when your QB goes 31 for 42 for 231 yards, one touchdown, and one interception.
Sorry Patriots Nation… This season is OVER.
Indianapolis Colts
The Indianapolis Colts bounced back from a tough season-opening loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars, nicely in Week 2 against an admittedly terrible Texans team.
The 31-20 to victory was not, however, without setbacks. The dynamic rookie quarterback, Anthony Richardson, was sidelined during this one with a concussion—something that should be extremely disconcerting to the team and its fans, considering how it early it is in the season and his career… Not to mention the fact that running the football is a big part of his game.
Luckily, the Colts were able to rally behind one of the best backup quarterbacks in the game, Gardner Minshew. But even so… We’ve seen how that story plays out before… Minshew comes in and wins a couple games early, then the other defensive coordinators around the league wise up and target weaknesses and it all comes unraveled.
It isn’t like Indy was looking particularly geared up for a Super Bowl run this year anyway… So, at this point, with the way the team is looking and with Richardson sidelined, I think it is fairly safe to say that their season is finished.
New York Jets
While it was impressive to see the Jets rally to win their Week 1 matchup with the Buffalo Bills on Monday Night Football after the deflating, almost immediate, injury to Aaron Rodgers, the fact of the matter is that this team is going nowhere with Zach Wilson under center.
This may be a tough pill for Jets fans to swallow, after all, they spend an entire offseason getting worked up into a fervor over the excitement of having a future Hall of Famer under center to complement the rest of that talented, young core… But it is time to face facts.
Zach Wilson is a terrible quarterback and the Jets don’t have any better options internally… And it isn’t like the market is littered with Super Bowl caliber stand-ins.
Granted, the Jets were facing a juggernaut Cowboys D Week 2, but Wilson is still making the same old mistakes. He threw for just 170 yards and one touchdown to three picks, as the Jets got slaughtered 30-10.
Sad to say, but this Jets season is looking primed to go like many of the ones that came before it. New York is done.
Seattle Seahawks
After their shocking loss to the Los Angeles Rams in Week 1, there were a lot of people in and around the league ready to call the Seahawks and their Cinderella-esque run in 2022 frauds.
But after the their comeback win against the Lions in Week 2—that tune sure has quieted quickly… everywhere except on TPS, where we are still pretty confident that this Seahawks team’s season is kaput.
Let’s be honest… They were lucky that Detroit’s defense fell apart down the stretch of that game and the reality is that their “water level” is much closer to the team that lost 30-13 to the Rams and went down early to the Lions, then the team we saw come storming back to win that game in overtime.
Carolina Panthers
The Carolina Panthers are another team that didn’t exactly enter the season with serious ambition to win the Lombardi Trophy…
Granted, they play in the NFC South, an extremely winnable division, but even if they lucked into a playoff berth, I don’t think they’d have many backers in Vegas picking them to go all the way.
And after that pitiful performance, they had Week 1 against the Atlanta Falcons in which they mustered up just 10 points and got run all over – I think it is safe to say that assessment will ring true.
Bryce Young, the number one overall pick in this past year’s draft, did not look great, throwing for just 146 yards and one touchdown to two interceptions. And the team’s big offseason acquisition, former Eagles running back, Miles Sanders wasn’t overly explosive by any means, netting 72 yards on 18 carries in the loss. The fact of the matter is this Panthers team is not good… And their season is as good as finished.
Which NFL team’s season do you think is most over already?
