Two weeks into the 2026 NFL season, eight teams are staring at 0-2 starts, and that number alone doesn’t tell the whole story. A 17-game schedule and a 14-team playoff bracket leave room for recovery, but some of these clubs are already in a much tighter spot than others.
The first group is simple enough: Miami, Atlanta and Tennessee entered the year with little real reason to expect a clean path. For the Dolphins, more than half of the salary cap space is tied up in players who aren’t on the 2026 roster, and the season is about one thing above all else - finding out whether Malik Willis is the future, or whether he struggles enough to send Miami hunting for his replacement at the top of the 2027 NFL Draft.
Atlanta’s situation is messy in a different way. The Falcons have been dealing with an injured Michael Penix Jr., and the quarterback room has also included an injured Tua Tagovailoa.
On top of that, young defensive pieces Jalon Walker and James Pearce Jr. are both unavailable, with Walker injured and Pearce suspended following a domestic violence arrest. Penix’s return should help some, and the NFC South is always there for the taking, but the first two weeks have not made for easy viewing, even with too many primetime appearances.
Tennessee was supposed to be better in 2026, even if not yet a playoff team. Instead, Cam Ward has not found much chemistry with new receivers Wan'Dale Robinson and Carnell Tate, and the Titans have already dropped two games they could have won. That puts Ward, the first pick of the 2025 NFL Draft, at an early crossroads.
The next tier is where the worry starts to feel more immediate. Houston and Indianapolis both have reasons for the slow start, but neither can afford to drift too far in a division where the Jacksonville Jaguars’ backslide in Denver has kept everyone within a game of the lead. The Colts have run straight into a brutal opening stretch, with the Baltimore Ravens and Kansas City Chiefs on the schedule, and Daniel Jones still has a long way to go before getting back to his 2025 form after the torn Achilles that ended his breakout season.
The bigger concern in Indianapolis has been the defense. Against Lamar Jackson and Patrick Mahomes, the Colts have allowed 0.202 expected points added per snap, third-worst in the league. No team has given up more points or more yards.
Houston’s 0-2 start looks different, but the result is the same: unease. The Texans have already taken losses to Josh Allen and Joe Burrow, and after fielding a top-two defense last season, they are sitting at 25th in EPA per snap allowed at 0.90.
They’ve also allowed 7.5 yards per attempt through the air, which ranks 27th. There is enough talent on this roster to believe it can’t stay this way, but C.J.
Stroud’s struggles, an offensive line that still hasn’t been fixed and a thin receiving group could leave DeMeco Ryans needing an elite defense again just to reach the postseason. Houston and Indianapolis meet in Week 3, and the loser will hear the alarms getting louder.
Then there’s the group that should be sounding the panic button now: the Chargers, Commanders and Buccaneers.
Los Angeles is supposed to be in the middle of a smooth runway before the schedule gets nasty, but the first two weeks have been anything but smooth. Justin Herbert hasn’t lifted the offense around him, the blocking has been poor and the skill players keep tripping over one another.
The defense hasn’t helped much either. Against Jacoby Brissett and Kirk Cousins, the Chargers still rank 25th in passing EPA allowed.
That’s a rough place to be with five of the next seven games coming against 2025 playoff teams, and the two exceptions are the Chiefs and Ravens.
Washington’s problem got much bigger when Jayden Daniels suffered a dislocated elbow. That leaves Marcus Mariota to run the offense for now, and the timing is brutal because the Commanders’ defensive makeover hasn’t settled in yet.
They haven’t forced a turnover, they’re giving up 30.5 points per game, and opposing quarterbacks have thrown seven touchdowns against them. Washington’s 39.1 percent pressure rate is 11th best in the NFL, but it comes with a 37.7 percent blitz rate, seventh highest, and that is leaving an undermanned secondary exposed.
The result: a 137.1 passer rating allowed, the highest in the league and nearly 20 points worse than 31st-place Miami.
Tampa Bay’s 0-2 start is different, but no less troubling. A road loss to Cincinnati can be explained.
Losing at home to Cleveland, when Deshaun Watson averaged 3.7 air yards per pass, is a different kind of problem, especially after the Buccaneers gave Baker Mayfield a three-year, $165 million extension. Todd Bowles is now firmly on the hot seat and has the shortest odds to be the first coach fired in 2026.
Mayfield has not been sharp enough to cover for the issues around him. Through two games, he’s leading the league’s 30th most effective passing attack, even though Bucky Irving is back at full strength and the ground game ranks in the top five.
Tampa Bay has turned the ball over five times and allowed six scoring drives of 43 yards or fewer. The running game should hold up.
The question is whether Mayfield and the passing attack can rebound fast enough to keep the Buccaneers afloat in the always unpredictable NFC South.
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