ATLANTA—The Falcons' home opener with the Panthers holds great significance to coaches, fans, players and those clamoring for Super Bowl history to be made by season's end.
(Since 1966, no NFL team has ever hosted a Super Bowl in its own home stadium ... otherwise known as The Super Bowl Curse.)
Obviously, the Falcons would like to do everything to avoid an 0-2 start, especially since a Week 2 defeat would reflexively bump the Panthers to 2-0.
But please, don't characterize Sunday's intra-divisional clash as a win-or-else proposition for Atlanta.
It's a frivolous statement to make, regardless of the debate angle; and anyone stating otherwise doesn't have a firm grasp of NFL history.
For starters, here's the listing of 0-2 teams to eventually qualify for the playoffs, dating back to 1990:
1990—Eagles, Saints, Houston Oilers (now Tennessee Titans)
1991—Falcons
1992—Chargers
1993—Steelers, Cowboys (first 0-2 club to win the Super Bowl)
1994—Patriots
1995—Lions
1996—Patriots (won the AFC championship)
1998—Cardinals, Bills, Jets (reached the AFC title game)
2001—Patriots (second 0-2 team to capture the Lombardi trophy)
2002—Falcons, Steelers
2003—Eagles (reached NFC title game)
2006—Chiefs
2007—Giants (third 0-2 team to win the Super Bowl)
2008—Dolphins, Vikings, Chargers
2013—Panthers
2014—Colts (reached AFC title game)
2015—Seahawks, Texans
2016—Dolphins
2017—Saints
Now, compare this historical tome to the few, the proud ... the NFL clubs which started 0-3 or 0-4, and still reached postseason paydirt:
0-3 TEAMS THAT MADE THE PLAYOFFS
1995 Lions
1998 Bills
0-4 TEAMS TO MAKE THE PLAYOFFS
1992 Chargers
Notice anything odd about the respective sizes of each list?
A quarter-century ago, it was a wonderful talking point of how, No 0-2 team had ever won the Super Bowl ... scaring just about every NFL fan whose club fell into a surprising September funk.
But then the 1993 Cowboys happened; and once that club came to contract terms with holdout rusher Emmitt Smith, Dallas subsequently won 15 of its final 17 games (including the playoffs) to produce the first set of back-to-back Super Bowl titles in Dallas franchise history.
Eight years later, the 2001 Patriots had to endure the Week 2 injury loss of starting quarterback Drew Bledsoe ... and were obliged to turn over the reins to a random second-year pro named Tom Brady.
In due time, Brady would rally New England back from an 0-2 start, capturing the AFC East title (11-5 record) and then shocking the world during the playoffs, staging a Super Bowl upset of the vaunted St. Louis Rams.
Of course, it's a double-edged sword when discussing Brady's presence with this listing.
In 2007, the Patriots cruised to an 18-0 start (including the playoffs), only to fall to Eli Manning and the Giants in Super Bowl XXXXII—the same New York team which looked dreadful in its first two games, sparking talk of head coach Tom Coughlin getting canned before October.
Of course, that was before Coughlin won two Lombardi trophies for the Giants (2007, 2011).
The busting of The 0-2 Curse goes deeper than glorious championship stock.
Since 1990, three 0-2 franchises rebounded to make their respective conference championship; and during this time stretch, NFL history boasts three different occasions when three 0-2 squads reached the postseason in the same season.
Bottom line: This time next week, if you'd like to bemoan the specter of the Falcons' season potentially being ruined by an 0-3 start ... we can definitely have that conversation.
However, in the meantime, we'll take comfort in the following factoid:
In the Super Bowl era, no team has ever posted a perfect record at home (all victories, no ties—for Cleveland's sake) ... and missed the postseason.