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Buffalo Bills, Los Angeles Chargers entering a near-playoff game in Week 2

The Bills and Chargers don’t want to start 0-2.

Matt Warren is Associate Director of NFL coverage for SB Nation and previously covered the Bills for Buffalo Rumblings for more than a decade.

The Buffalo Bills and Los Angeles Chargers started their 2018 seasons 0-1. Both teams want to avoid going 0-2, obviously, but if past history is any indication one of these two teams will be all but eliminated from the postseason with a loss today.

Since 2007, 91 teams have started 0-2 according to data compiled by OddsShark and of those teams, only 10 made the playoffs. That’s just better than a 1-in-10 chance of making the playoffs as an 0-2 team.

In 2017, just one team began the year 0-2 and made the playoffs; the New Orleans Saints. They finished the year 11-5 and won the NFC South on a tiebreaker.

In 1998, the Bills began the year 0-3, losing the three games by a combined nine points. They rattled off five straight wins after their bye week. That Buffalo team finished the year 10-6 and made the playoffs.

It’s way too early in the season to say the team is out of it at 0-2, but the numbers don’t lie and it would certainly be an uphill climb.