We Explain the NFL’s 0‑4 Teams and Their 1976 Echoes

We just witnessed a great weekend of NFL football, weekend of upsets, a weekend of divisional foes and rivalries that just had some really brilliant games coming up with some great records that were set.

Excuse me, I can't see.

Hello, my football friends.

This is Darren Hayes of pigskindispatch.com welcome once again to the Pig Pen, your portal deposit of football history.

With me, as always, is Ed Cleese.

Ed, welcome back to the Pig Pen.

Hey, Darren.

Ed, you know, it's been a great week.

This had a lot of history happen this week.

Sure.

I figured we'd start talking about the teams that are 4, 0 and the teams that are 0 and 4.

So where do you want to start, the good or the bad?

Let's go with the O and four teams because this is kind of a unique situation.

It is a unique situation.

As a matter of fact, it's.

O&4 this year, of course, those five teams, the Dolphins, Texans, Titans, Chargers and Bucks.

And then you might note that the other two were the Seahawks and the Bucks.

So that might explain it.

The Bucks didn't win a game at all that year.

The Seahawks wound up with two wins.

The jets and the Giants both wound up with three wins.

And the Falcon.

I'm sorry, the Chiefs were the big winners.

They started 0 and 4 and actually wound up 5 and 9 that year.

So nobody wound up having a very good season.

But I guess the Chiefs kinda turned it around.

After that 014 start, they went 11 and 1.

They got swept that year by the Chiefs.

Their one loss after the 014 start was to Kansas City.

But San Diego won the division anyway.

They played the Chiefs in the wild card round.

They beat the Chiefs 17 to nothing.

So they got Their revenge.

And then sort of oddly, they went to Miami in the divisional round and they lost 31 to nothing.

So it ended with a sputter.

But what a run there for the 92 Chargers.

And we'll see if any of the teams this year can match it.

Yeah, and, you know, maybe this is a year where somebody can match that because three of these teams.

And let's take the Titans and the Dolphins out of it because I think everybody sort of knew they weren't going to have, you know, real successful years going into this.

I think we talked about it in our.

Our preseason draft that we talked about.

But the, the.

You have the Houston Texans, you have, you know, the Chargers and the Bucks, those are all teams that maybe had a chance to win their divisions and maybe go far in the playoffs.

People were expecting a lot more out of them than the 04 records that they have shown so far.

Right.

And then we can look at the other side is the, the four and O teams that are off to good starts.

So the, the most interesting thing to me is that the, the Minnesota Vikings are four.

No.

And this, of course, led me down a rabbit hole, Darren, as I like to go.

That was the Detroit Lions.

And get this.

I'm just going to rattle these off real quick.

Here are the Lions scores.

All wins from their first seven games that year.

Nine, nothing.

Six, nothing.

Three, nothing.

10, Nothing.

24, Nothing, 28, nothing, 38, nothing.

They.

They started the season with seven straight shutouts.

And get this, Darren, they did not make the playoffs.

They started 10 0.

They lost their last three games, the last two games in sort of an odd quirk.

I'd love somebody to explain this to me.

Their last two games of the year were on a Thursday and then the Sunday right after it, both against the Bears, and then the Bears knocked him out.

And then the Giants wound up winning the NFL title that year.

So the Lions, maybe that's where they started.

You start 10 and, oh, and don't make the playoffs.

Well, remember, they didn't have a playoff back then.

All they had is they had the best team in the east, best team in the West.

They had just two divisions.

That's who played for the NFL championship.

So, yeah, the playoffs were a long ways away before we got to that.

So I guess I should say the postseason they didn't even make the postseason.

Start the season with seven straight shutouts and don't make the postseason.

So that was probably of the 4 and O teams.

That's really what stuck out with me.

Yeah, and they both are really actually looking good.

The Chiefs are looking good on both, both facets of the game.

I mean the Raiders really, really tested their defense a little bit and they ended up winning.

But you know the Vikings, they seem to be the one sided.

Like you said, all defense.

But what a defense it is.

It's really strong enough.

And defense wins championships, as we know for sure.

So that was back when Bill Parcells was their coach.

That's the last jets win in Chicago.

Here's your quiz for the week.

Can you name the three starters for the Jags in 97 from the Jags in 90 each got wins.

Well, I'd have to say Mark Brunel.

That's one.

Oh gosh.

What was it?

What was the guy that came up after him?

God.

Starts with a G, right?

I don't know.

You got me for a second time.

Shane Matthews and Rob Johnson, other two quarterbacks and I didn't.

I'm sure there were some injuries in there, which is why it all went down.

But this is kind of funny.

So some weird symmetry there.

But the Bears are the first team since those Jags teams to get three wins in the first four games with three different quarterbacks.

Interesting.

And I guess it's really interesting we got to bring this up because I don't know that this has ever happened before with Case Keenum he plays the first play from scrimmage of.

For the.

The Vikings and for the Bears and then gets taken out and the other guy comes in.

Beijing.

Beijing comes in and plays the rest of the game.

I'm wondering if that's like a contractual thing, you know, maybe Keenum get an incentive for starting so many games or.

But that was just kind of odd that that occurred.

They may have been throwing him a bone there.

That.

That would.

That would be my guess.

That would be my guess.

Moving on to.

I don't want to.

I don't want to leave this game yet.

Because there's something that was really stuck out in the history of the game, and that's the parody of the.

How many offensive plays, the defensive plays.

Chicago ran 89 offensive plays in that game.

New York ran 32.

Oh, my gosh.

So it's kind of an anomaly, you know, anomaly of games to have somebody have that many more offensive plays than the other team.

Just dominance, I guess, is maybe the.

Jets were doing their fans a favor.

We do not want you to have to watch our offense today.

Yeah, maybe.

Maybe so.

Okay.

So moving on to another AFC east team, the Bills, now in the Josh Allen era, are 20 and 7.

This includes a couple of playoff games, 20 and 7 at home versus the other AFC east teams.

But two of those losses of the last two years to Drake May and the Patriots, and those two games in Buffalo this year and last year are two of Drake May's better games.

So while the Patriots have struggled a little bit, they look like he might be a little bit of a problem.

Specifically for the Bills.

Yeah, I think.

And.

And a lot.

He has a lot of the same characteristics that make him successful that Josh Allen does.

You know?

You know, we know he has a good set of legs.

We know he can throw the ball when he has to.

And they're both dangerous weapons.

And it's kind of almost a mirror image.

Not that the same stature, not the same type of player, but the same fears for the defense.

Right.

Staying in the AFC but moving to the other coast now.

You know, that was a really fun game between the Chiefs and the Raiders.

That was that.

And that felt a little old school, like a little Chiefs Raiders.

And the reason, Darren, that it kind of felt like old school is because we haven't seen that between these two teams in a long time.

Because the Raiders in the Mahomes era, since Mahomes was drafted, the Raiders are only three and 14 against the Chiefs.

And one of those wins was last year when Mahomes was hurt at the end of the year and it was a meaningless game.

So really 2 and 14.

And in that since Andy Reid got there, going back a little bit further, The Raiders are 5 and 19 versus the the Chiefs.

So if Vegas wants to kind of get over that hump, they are going to have to figure out this Chiefs riddle because that really is a very fun rivalry with when both teams are good.

Yeah, it definitely is.

It's really interesting to watch this dynamic of what's happened with Kurt Cousins being with Kubiak.

You know, I think there's like this magic of Cousins has got the fountain of youth in him again and because he really had that offense humming and that's, that's really the only second time I watched him this year.

But both times I was kind of impressed.

Smart guy.

Super smart guy.

He, if you put him in the right positions, he's going to move your offense.

He's proven that for, gosh, almost 15 years now.

It's crazy.

Yeah, yeah, definitely.

Especially to be the second quarterback taken in that draft he was in on the same team.

So.

Yes, yes, exactly.

And there's.

They have.

And you can write a novel about that whole dynamic for sure.

And talking about the two night games, the Sunday night and the Monday night, I've got a little nuggets here.

Both involving NFC south teams.

That was the first, that was 11 years between Sunday night home games for the Panthers.

And they delivered for, for their fans.

That was, that was a pretty impressive showing.

And Bryce Young looks like maybe he has figured it out.

And then speaking of the NFC south and at night, this kind of blew my mind.

The Falcons, that is only their seventh road Monday Night Football win ever.

Darren and the Falcons have been around since the 60s.

Right?

Right.

So that's only the seventh time that they have won recently.

It's been a little bit better.

But that's only the seventh road win they've ever had on Monday Night Football.

And between.

They lost a lot.

They lost 12 in a row on the road on Monday night over that, over that span.

And also, you know, they, they had the 10 year anniversary of the Katrina game against the Saints.

The Falcons won and scored 45 points.

This week they had the 20th anniversary with the Katrina game.

And the Falcons were in there again.

They beat the Saints and scored 45 points.

So if they have a 30th anniversary, the Saints may ask the NFL to please schedule someone other than the Falcons.

Yeah, that's for sure.

What some really magic moments there at the beginning of that game before the game started with the coin toss and everything with the, you know, the hero, that Katrina game, being on the field and having some.

His difficulties that he's had.

But.

But what a fan support.

And his own team members from that team back 20 years ago, they're supporting him as well.

So really, really good stuff there.

You know, I'm gonna, I'm gonna go back to the Panthers for a second and Bryce Young, because he is the leading passer, the most yardage in the NFL of any quarterback of all 32 teams right now is Bryce Young.

And the guy that's in second place is Jared Goff.

And he's.

Young's got him by like 54 yards.

And it was kind of odd they faced each other that night too, and that's the result.

So good.

Good for him.

You know, Bryce Young really helped my fantasy team this week.

Oh, okay.

All right.

So what else do you have?

I'm on the score gummy, if you're ready for it, Darren.

Well, let me talk about a little bit, a couple items that I have.

First of all, going to that, that Seattle and LA Chargers game.

You know, we have the running backs of Seattle.

I mean, just unbelievable.

Okay, so they lose Kenneth Walker to Super bowl mvp.

He's now playing for the Chiefs.

The Charbonnet is off injured.

He was like their number two last year, very talented back.

So they haven't had him.

They go to Jardarian Price, the rookie.

The first few games, he gets injured, he can't play in this game.

And what do they do?

They get 120 yards from Emmanuel Wilson, who comes out of there.

So just kudos to that offensive line and to the staying power of staying with the run, even when you're.

You're down your top players because you have that much faith in your running game.

So good job for Emmanuel Wilson and the line of the Seattle Seahawks.

Also the Kansas City and Vegas game, we go in there, you know, Kansas City going 4 0.

This ties a record.

They may be the first to reach four games.

And I'm sorry, they went 40 and don't have a sack.

Their defense is not registered a sack in three games.

They could get that fourth game this week and be undefeated.

So that's.

That's kind of hard to believe that you could go and your defense doesn't even get like an accidental sack, like the quarterback falls down on a bad snap or anything.

You know, that's just crazy.

Only three teams have done that before reach three games in a row with that and the Minnesota and Miami game going back to that, you know, we like.

I love talking about the tight ends.

They don't get enough attention, I don't think.

But the Vikings are 40 and with Jeff Justin Jefferson was out.

Kyler Murray found tight end TJ Hawkinson who caught 13 passes that came his way.

And talking about catching passes, how about CD Lamb was 17 receptions in that game for the Cowboys.

And I, I'm sat there and I'm like, wow, that has got to be so some kind of a record.

But it is not.

There's probably about five or six other people that have more than 17 catches in one game.

So I don't know where what I was thinking.

But still, 17 catches in one game.

I think your hands will be tired,.

You got to be tight.

But just.

It's a great game for that.

So that's all I have for historically speaking for the week.

I think we're ready to go on to score.

Gami.

All right, so let's start with where we always start.

Darren, we were very, very close to a scoragami this weekend.

So I'm gonna let you guess.

What do you think was the most rare score of the weekend?

Well, I'm stuck between two games and I'm.

It's almost a coin toss to me right now.

I'm looking at that Minnesota Miami game.

I'm looking at New England Buffalo game and I think I'm going to go with.

I'm going to go with New England buffalo 29, 26.

Okay, you're incorrect.

Either way.

You'd be incorrect really?

Because the Minnesota Miami game, the 15 to 10 final, that's actually happened.

That was the 26th time that's happened.

Really?

And 29 to 26, the Patriots Bills game, that's happened 12 times.

There are actually four games that are more rare than that this week, Darren.

And, and the most rare with the one that was so close is for only the second time in NFL history we had a game end 32 to 26.

That was the, the Sunday night game between the Panthers and the Lions, 32 to 26 final with the Panthers winning only the second time that's happened.

Interesting.

Okay, but the other.

The other kind of rare games we had 36 to 24, that the giants win over the Cardinals, it's only the fourth time that's happened.

24 To 18.

The Ravens over the Titans, that's only the ninth time that's happened.

And even the 23 to 12 Bears over Jets, that's only the 10th time that has happened.

And the reason that 23 to 12 kind of sticks out to me is because that's actually the final of a NFL championship game that you might remember.

The Browns.

I'm sorry, the packers beat the Browns 23 to 12.

And what was significant about that particular championship game, Darren?

It was significant about that championship game.

That would have been the last one before the super bowl era.

Exactly.

Yes.

The last.

That was the.

The Browns were that close to being in a Super Bowl, Darren.

And if we talk about the common score, we had a very common score of 17 to 14.

That was the packers over the Bucs.

That's happened 201 times.

However, we've gone almost four years since that's happened.

Wow.

I wouldn't have thought that either.

Well, I think.

I think that probably explains the change of the game.

There was way more 17 to 14 finals in the early days of the NFL than there have been recently, for probably some obvious reasons with the lower scoring and.

And things like that.

But that's what I've got for score gummy.

And the score gummy index for this week, we had some really low ones and some really high ones, so it kind of skewed it.

So this would be 63.75, which is.

Out of four weeks now.

That's the third most rare.

It is not as rare as weeks one or three, but it was more rare than week two.

Wow.

All right.

Yeah, I guess that puts that mean average at a little bit higher number than we would have had.

So maybe if we didn't have that one, it was 200 times right in there that probably would have been.

Put us into more into that 53 range or whatever it was for those top games.

All right, well, very good.

And, you know, we love talking about the history here.

And we're glad that you could join us today to talk about the history of this past week.

We have a prediction show coming up, Ed, with everybody tomorrow.

Coming up into Week 5 of the NFL, you can catch that on the Pixie and Dispatch podcast, wherever your favorite podcast providers are shown or on pigskindispatch.com Ed, we will love to talk to you next week about the history of week five and tomorrow about our predictions for week five.

See you tomorrow.