NFL Teams That Overcame a Dismal 0-3 Start to Secure a Playoff Spot: Is There Hope for the Cincinnati Bengals?

The Cincinnati Bengals entered the 2024 NFL season with visions of a fully healthy Joe Burrow leading them into playoff and Super Bowl contention. Optimism is pretty well justified, after all, given appearances in the 2021 title game and a showing last year well better than solid, even though they weren't around for the latter stages as Burrow nursed a wrist injury.
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But the real-life story has been starkly different.The Bengals now are 0-3, and the team's playoff hopes already hang on a thin thread. Making the playoffs in the regular season only after losing three consecutive games is rare in history. In the Super Bowl era, this has been done by only five teams, excluding the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 1982 who qualified with a 5-4 record because of the shortening of the season due to the strike.

Here are the teams that came back from a 0-3 start -

It didn't start great, after all, losing to the Patriots in Week 1, or at least suffering defeat in a game easily written off as a fluke. Nor did it get much better after that when they lost to the Chiefs in Week 2—a loss partly understandable, given Kansas City's standing as the two-time defending Super Bowl champs. It was, however, in Week 3 that the real shock came when they were overwhelmed at home by the Washington Commanders, a team they were supposed to beat. The loss was very disappointing because their defense collapsed, giving way to an offense led by rookie Jayden Daniels as it concedes 38 points.
Since 2000, only the 2018 Texans have come from an 0-3 start into the playoffs. Meanwhile, the 1992 Chargers are the only team on this list to begin 0-4 and reach the postseason. So, hope has not gone completely dark for the Bengals in Joe Burrow, but this group needs to find their problem and correct it in a hurry to get themselves into the postseason.
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