Playoff teams that could have had bad starts (to their season)

[7DnBrnc53]

For this thread, I would nominate the 1981 Bengals:

Week 1 (Seattle): They were down 21-3 in the second quarter and 21-10 at halftime before coming back to win 27-21.
Week 2 (@Jets): They were down 17-3 in the second quarter and 20-10 in the third quarter before pulling out a 31-30 win.
Week 3 (Cleveland): They were down 20-10 in the fourth quarter before getting a Pete Johnson TD. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough, and they lost 20-17.
Week 4 (Buffalo): The Bills had a 21-10 lead in the fourth quarter before the Bengals took the lead with two Anderson to Kreider TD passes. The Bills did force OT, but lost 27-24 on a 28-yard Jim Breech FG.
Week 5 (@Houston): They were winning 10-7 in the third quarter before giving up ten unanswered points and losing, 17-10.

The eventual AFC Champs were not that far away from starting 0-5.

[Brian wolf]

1971 Cowboys were only 4-3 before Staubach finally took the starting job and went undefeated the rest of the season. The season before, they started 5-4 before losing the SB.

[Gary Najman]

For this thread, I would nominate the 1981 Bengals:

Week 1 (Seattle): They were down 21-3 in the second quarter and 21-10 at halftime before coming back to win 27-21.
Week 2 (@Jets): They were down 17-3 in the second quarter and 20-10 in the third quarter before pulling out a 31-30 win.
Week 3 (Cleveland): They were down 20-10 in the fourth quarter before getting a Pete Johnson TD. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough, and they lost 20-17.
Week 4 (Buffalo): The Bills had a 21-10 lead in the fourth quarter before the Bengals took the lead with two Anderson to Kreider TD passes. The Bills did force OT, but lost 27-24 on a 28-yard Jim Breech FG.
Week 5 (@Houston): They were winning 10-7 in the third quarter before giving up ten unanswered points and losing, 17-10.

The eventual AFC Champs were not that far away from starting 0-5.

The 1981 49ers had also a bad start. They were 1-2 and then beat only by 7 the Saints, who was the worst team in the league in 1980, but then beat the Redskins at Washington and Dallas when they acquired Fred Dean from the Chargers.

[CSKreager]

2001 Patriots

1-3 start, trailed the Chargers by 10 with under 5 minutes to go

There’s a huge difference between 2-3 and 1-4

[SeahawkFever]

Possibly the 2011 Giants fit here?

They were 5-2 through seven games.

But that included a win over the Dolphins where they trailed 14-3 early, 17-10 just after halftime, and didn’t take the lead until over halfway into the fourth quarter.

There was also a game where the Giants beat the Cardinals after having trailed 27-17 with 5:16 to go in the fourth quarter.

If not for those two games where they didn’t come back until the last eighth of the game, the Giants start 2011 3-4 instead of 5-2.

[Bryan]

The 68 Jets had two ghastly losses (Buffalo & Denver) a close 1 point win against KC, and 4th quarter come-from-behind wins over Houston and SD in the first 7 weeks of the season. Instead of 5-2, they could have easily been 2-5.

[7DnBrnc53]

2001 Patriots

1-3 start, trailed the Chargers by 10 with under 5 minutes to go

There’s a huge difference between 2-3 and 1-4

So much so that Brady may have been benched for Bledsoe when he was ready.

[Brian wolf]

1992 Chargers started 0-4 before going 11-1 to win the division. Shutout by the Dolphins in the divisional round.

[7DnBrnc53]

Possibly the 2011 Giants fit here?

They were 5-2 through seven games.

But that included a win over the Dolphins where they trailed 14-3 early, 17-10 just after halftime, and didn’t take the lead until over halfway into the fourth quarter.

There was also a game where the Giants beat the Cardinals after having trailed 27-17 with 5:16 to go in the fourth quarter.

If not for those two games where they didn’t come back until the last eighth of the game, the Giants start 2011 3-4 instead of 5-2.

2007 also qualifies. They lost their first two games to the Cowboys and Packers by double digits, and were down 17-10 to the Redskins going into the fourth quarter.

They ended up taking a 24-17 lead, but the Redskins had the ball on the Giant 1 with under a minute left. However, they took Portis out and put Ladell Betts in, and he got stuffed twice, helping the Giants to hold on. Stark Raving Sports did a video about this here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKq704xX_K4

They ended up winning five more games in a row before losing to Dallas 31-20 in Week 10, but who knows what happens if they don't get this win.