You may have heard by now, but starting 0-2 in the NFL is essentially a murder-death-kill to your playoff dreams.
We know this from our statistically minded friend, Pat Kirwan, who reports that in the past three seasons, not a single team that went winless in the first two weeks made the playoffs.
It gets even worse the farther back you look through the NFL history books.
Since 1990, starting 0-2 gives a team a 12 percent shot at making the playoffs. Whereas starting 1-1 offers a 41 percent ray of hope and going 2-0 offers a 63 percent chance of playing in January.
But what about when it comes to fantasy football? Does an 0-2 start ensure doom? Should your focus shift toward, oh, fantasy basketball I guess.
Fantasy, my friends, does imitate reality.
Using data mined from the deepest abyss of our Apple IIGS-powered databases, we learn that a smidge over 10 percent of teams that started 0-2 in head-to-head leagues during 2012 made the playoffs.
On the flip side, for all you fortunate, nay, skilled, players who have gone 2-0 so far, your playoff chances are a robust 40 percent.
So if you're worried that your 0-2 fantasy team is in trouble, well, it is. Just don't go 0-3, for only 3 percent of playoff teams started off with such an ineptitude.
Eric Kay is an assistant managing editor at CBSSports.com, and enjoys Belgian trappist ales, but not in the bottle.
