NFL Sees Record-Tying Five Teams Start Season 0-4

A historically high number of NFL teams are winless through the first four weeks of the season, with five franchises currently holding an 0-4 record. This ties the league record for the most winless teams at this point in the season, a mark previously set in 2019.

Among the winless teams, some are less surprising. The Miami Dolphins are in a rebuilding phase and are contending with significant dead cap money. The Tennessee Titans are also winless after two consecutive seasons with only three victories.

More unexpectedly, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who entered the season as favorites to win the NFC South, find themselves winless. Similarly, the Houston Texans and the Los Angeles Chargers are also 0-4, despite both teams having made the playoffs last season.

This is only the third time in NFL history that two teams have started the season 0-4 after qualifying for the playoffs the previous year. This rare occurrence also happened in 1999 with the Atlanta Falcons and Denver Broncos, and in 1992 with the Los Angeles Raiders and New York Jets.

The Buccaneers have lost four games decided by one score. Their point differential of minus-20 is the fifth-best ever for an 0-4 team, and the best since the Minnesota Vikings were outscored by 19 points in their first four games of the 2011 season.

The Chargers have struggled significantly more, being outscored by 39 points, which is the second-worst point differential in the league so far. The Texans have experienced a frustrating start, having held a lead in the final two minutes in three of their four losses. Their Week 4 game against the Dallas Cowboys, which they lost 34-30, saw the winning touchdown scored with only 40 seconds remaining.

Since at least 1991, only one other team, the Chargers in 2016, has lost three games in the first four weeks after leading in the final two minutes. In the Super Bowl era, only the 2013 Buccaneers and the 2011 Vikings also started 0-4 despite leading in the fourth quarter in three of those games.

Houston's quarterback, C.J. Stroud, has achieved a statistical anomaly: he is the first quarterback since 1950, when starts were first tracked, to lose the first four games of a season without throwing an interception.

On the other end of the spectrum, three teams have started the season 4-0. The Kansas City Chiefs and Minnesota Vikings are among these undefeated teams, having both missed the playoffs in 2025. The last time two teams started 4-0 after missing the playoffs the previous year was in 2013, when the Chiefs and the New Orleans Saints achieved this feat.