The Not-So-Fab Five

It's the first weekend of October, and while MLB's postseason is getting more exciting, we have an interesting development in the NFL. Five teams entered Week 4 at 0-3. Get this. They all lost. Now we have five teams at 0-4. This is the worst such occurrence in recent NFL history. 2019 had five winless teams after four weeks, but four of them were 0-4--the fifth team, the Cardinals, were 0-3-1, which is not totally futile.

Throughout NFL history, especially recent history, 0-3 is the kiss of death. 0-4? Forget it. Even with the added 17th game, 0-4 is quite an insurmountable hole to get out of. At an average, it takes 10 wins to get into the playoffs, and an 0-4 start means that a team has to win 10 of their final 13 games to get in, unless you're in a lousy division (more on that later).

So here are the five 0-4 teams this season:

Miami Dolphins

This is no surprise. The Dolphins pawned Tua off on the Falcons, they cut ties with Tyreek Hill, so they're playing for the draft. And with Devon Achane out, they're pretty much on the clock now. The Dolphins are definitely on pace to make history in the worst way. 54 years after going 17-0, they could be the first 0-17 team in NFL history. Their latest loss was a close one, a 15-10 loss to the Minnesota Vikings, who were playing without Justin Jefferson. Even so, this team is immensely bad, putting up 46 combined points (11.5 PPG) in the four games played. I won't even bother bringing up their next few games. The Dolphins' season ended before preseason started.

Houston Texans and Tennessee Titans

We definitely won't have five 0-17 teams, because two 0-4 teams are in the same division. Four weeks have passed, and neither the Houston Texans nor the Tennessee Titans have a win, but regarding the Titans, well, it's expected. They drafted first overall in 2026, and they're still looking to rebuild. The Texans, though, are another story. This team was in the Divisional Playoff last season, yet here they are, starting late yet again. The Texans have written the book on getting away with starting late; they've made the playoffs after 0-3 starts not once, but twice, with their more recent occurrence happening just last year. Though it helped that their fourth game of the season was a victorious one last year. Not so much this year. The Texans lost a home nail-biter to the Dallas Cowboys, 34-30, while the Titans were defeated by the Baltimore Ravens, 24-18.

The reason why I lumped these two teams together? They face each other next week in Nashville. Now, Tennessee's season is kaput; they're playing for the draft again, but regarding the Texans, they do have a cakewalk stretch coming up. After visiting Nashville, the Texans will face the Jags in London, host the New York Giants, and after their bye, they'll head to SoFi to face the Chargers, and then it's off to Cleveland. Houston should win four of those five games, so this stretch should see them back in the hunt.

Los Angeles Chargers

Another 2025 playoff team in this horrendous cluster, the Los Angeles Chargers just can't catch a break. It's bad enough that the lose their first two games to teams who went a combined 6-28 last season, they lost those games at home! Week 3 saw the Chargers take the ball away from the Bills five times, yet they still lost, and this week saw them defeated by the Seattle Seahawks, though they did try to make it close late. Now I mentioned Houston's knack for getting away with starting late, but the Chargers set the bar in that regard. They are the only team in history to ever reach the playoffs following an 0-4 start, doing so in 1992, and they nearly did it again in 2017, going from 0-4 to 9-7 but being eliminated via tiebreaker.

So can they do it again. It's possible. But their next five games are tough. Back-to-back division games, first hosting Denver before heading to Arrowhead. After their bye, they face the Rams, host Houston, and head to Baltimore. That's quite the gauntlet for the Chargers. We'll see how it goes, but methinks the Bolts won't have the magic touch.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

The only NFC team in this bunch, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are on quite a bad start to this season. The Bucs were coming off a horrible end to the previous season, going from 6-2 to 8-9 and missing the playoffs via tiebreaker. The woes are getting worse. They let go of Mike Evans, and they overpaid Baker Mayfield. Now, Mayfield's hurt, and could be out for another 2-5 weeks following their home loss to the Packers, which saw Jalon Daniels at QB for the injured Mayfield.

Now, out of the five 0-4 teams, the Bucs have the best chance at something, and the reason is simple: they're in the NFC South. That division's been a mess for the last four years. No one has a winning record at the moment; 2-2 leads the division, so yeah, Tampa Bay has a shot. Even better for the Bucs: they haven't played a division game yet. After heading to Dallas for Thursday Night Football, and hosting the Steelers, the Bucs will head to Charlotte and host Atlanta before heading to Chicago. The Bucs should probably take three of those games, maybe four, but it should be more than enough to keep the Bucs' hopes alive.

0-3 is a killer in the NFL, but 0-4? You may as well stick a fork in the season. These five teams have a very bumpy road the rest of the way, and they'll really have to play their cards right if they ever want a chance at something this season. One game at a time, right? But if these teams lose that next game, it could be their last.