Every 2-0 NFL team in 2024 ranked by how much you should trust them

On the other end of the spectrum from hopeful (and hopeless) 0-2 NFL teams is the obvious. The league’s cream of the crop. The undefeated teams that have begun 2024 on a sparkling note.

Of course, not every 2-0 start is built the same.

Just because you began the season undefeated does not mean your record will hold up throughout the year. On a micro level, it’s a two-game winning streak that happens to come in September and ratchet up the vibes after the long offseason. It’s really easy to think this success will last forever when an NFL season is long, arduous, and filled with unexpected hurdles.

Let’s look at all the undefeated teams in the NFL and rank them by which ones will sustain and which ones are more likely to fade over time. My criteria are rooted in quarterback play, overall roster talent, the schedule, and the precedent each team has established in recent years.

9. Minnesota Vikings

Yeah, they beat the San Francisco 49ers, but I’m not sure how the Vikings will sustain their early-season success. Quality coaching — and Minnesota has a lot of it between Kevin O’Connell and Brian Flores — can only take you so far when your quarterback is a journeyman like Sam Darnold.

Eventually, the Vikings will be asked to win a shootout or three because Flores’ defensive scheme already covers up many warts. I don’t think Darnold will keep pace. I also still believe Minnesota is firmly behind the Detroit Lions and Green Bay Packers in the NFC North when everyone is healthy. That should bear itself out in the long run.

8. Pittsburgh Steelers 

I only stopped myself from putting the Steelers last because I trust Mike Tomlin so much. Of every active coach in the NFL, no one gives their team a higher floor than the future Hall of Famer. With that said, the way these Steelers win — namely by hoping Justin Fields makes a few big plays and doesn’t kill your chances otherwise — is not a steady winning recipe for 2024.

If this were 20 years ago, I would love the strategy of keeping games close enough to hope T.J. Watt makes a play that steals it. It’s not a bad idea. Heck, even today, that plan still works sometimes. But the Steelers are in a gauntlet of an AFC with an embarrassment of riches at quarterback all over the conference. They don’t have the firepower to match. Pittsburgh won’t crater, but it should come back to Earth eventually.

7. New Orleans Saints

Alvin Kamara is running through defenses like it’s 2018, and the Saints have curtailed Derek Carr’s worst impulses. Hurrah! However, even if rushing offenses are back in style, New Orleans will eventually have to open the salvos. I question how much it has in stock.

Carr has thrown 39 total passes in two games to start 2024. There will come an outing where he’ll likely have to throw that many in one game. How will the Saints’ offense look then? I can’t imagine it’ll be any less disappointing than his uninspiring 2023, even if I think situations like this will arise so rarely.

6. Seattle Seahawks

Mike Macdonald was the best possible coach for a dynamite secondary that already featured Devon Witherspoon and Tariq Woolen. So much so that Seattle has a top-six defense in the NFL through two weeks. Factor in the return of an uber-efficient Geno Smith, and I love what the Seahawks are cooking up.

I only harbor any reservations with the Seahawks because of their status in the NFC West. The 49ers remain a juggernaut, and the Arizona Cardinals — revitalized by a seemingly Pro Bowl-caliber Kyler Murray — might be a sleeping giant. It’ll be a tall task to play this well throughout an entire season when you’re in a race with two potentially great teams.

5. Los Angeles Chargers

A Jim Harbaugh team wouldn’t be a Jim Harbaugh team if it couldn’t run the ball. And by golly, Harbaugh’s Chargers are committed to pounding the rock. Through two games, L.A. has the NFL’s second-best rushing offense, effectively taking pressure off of Justin Herbert and his limited receiving corps. Part of that success stems from the addition of rookie Joe Alt to the Chargers’ offensive line.

After shutting down Maxx Crosby and Jadeveon Clowney in successive weeks, Alt is already piecing together an All-Pro-caliber campaign.

The crazy thing about the Chargers’ absurd offensive balance is that I think it can last. Their matchup with the Steelers on Sunday is the last battle with a truly elite defense on paper for at least a month. If teams keep letting them take the air out of the ball, Harbaugh will be content to grind everyone into a fine paste.

4. Houston Texans 

This will be an unpopular assessment, but I’m not sold on the darling Texans yet. Yes, C.J. Stroud is special. He’s probably already a top-five quarterback supported by a great coach in DeMeco Ryans and one of the NFL’s better rosters from top to bottom. But it seems apparent that this Houston team still has to polish some things up around the edges.

For example, the Texans’ offense has been middling thus far. It’s just 16th in FTN’s DVOA and is only 11th in expected points added (EPA) per play, per RBDSM.com. Stroud’s exceptional ability is masking a lot of issues for a team trying to live up to Super Bowl expectations. Of course, the Texans won’t play a defense like the elite Chicago Bears every week. So that helps. They also reside in the putrid AFC South, so they should cruise to the division title.

But their bona fides do not nearly feel as strong to me as the teams above them on this list. Full stop.

3. Tampa Bay Buccaneers 

You’re damned right that I think the Buccaneers are legit. This is a team that should have NFC championship expectations, not only winning a single Wild Card round. It’s hard not to love what Todd Bowles and Co. have manifested in Tampa Bay.

Baker Mayfield is the (extremely) early 2024 NFL MVP. Mike Evans and Chris Godwin are playing like the NFL’s top receiving duo. Bowles’ defense, which still has plenty of holdovers from the Super Bowl 55 championship team, is doing enough to hem in powerful offenses with stout offensive lines like the Detroit Lions.

The Buccaneers might not have the classic, high-end talent you’d expect of an undefeated team. But they are assuredly in for the long haul and are going nowhere.

2. Buffalo Bills

The Bills have outscored their opponents — two solid Cardinals and Dolphins squads — by a healthy 65-38 margin. At the same time, Josh Allen has just 371 passing yards on only 42 attempts. Hoo baby. Are these the two-way demon Bills we know and love? I … think so.

After falling short in the playoffs over the last few years, the conversation around the Bills has been about how they ask Allen to do much. Yes, he’s remarkable. Yes, he’s a Terminator. Yes, he’s the second-best quarterback in the sport. But you can’t have your quarterback doing absolutely everything to have a chance to win. That’s not how the NFL works.

It’s still early, but it appears the Bills have learned their lesson. They’re leaning more on budding star running back James Cook. They’re letting a receiving corps by committee do its thing. Even without Matt Milano, the Bills’ defense has been formidable, showing why Sean McDermott remains one of the better defensive minds in the game.

The Bills I’ve seen so far are more than worthy of winning Super Bowl 59. That’s specifically because they haven’t had to unleash their best player in a convincing win yet.

1. Kansas City Chiefs

The Chiefs could have one healthy receiver. Their defense could be in tatters, surrendering every possible big play every week. And I’d still pick Patrick Mahomes and Co. to win the Super Bowl. When it comes to adversity, the Chiefs’ resolve is unmatched. It’s uncanny and inevitable.

I will only write this Kansas City team off, I will only say they can’t be trusted, when/if they’re officially eliminated. The Big Red Machine usually finds a way, folks.