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The Long Road Back: NFL Ties League History With 5 Winless Teams Through Week 4

The NFL has entered uncharted territory after five teams entered Week 5 with a 0-4 record, tying the league’s worst-ever start for multiple franchises at once. The latest slate of winless squads includes the Miami Dolphins, who are navigating a rebuild amid a staggering $184 million in dead-money cap charges, and the Tennessee Titans, who failed to improve on back-to-back three-win campaigns.

More surprising is the presence of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who entered the season as NFC South favorites, alongside the Houston Texans and Los Angeles Chargers—both of whom made the playoffs last year. This marks only the third time in NFL history that two playoff teams have begun a season 0-4, joining the 1999 Atlanta Falcons and Denver Broncos and the 1992 Los Angeles Raiders and New York Jets in that grim company.

The Buccaneers’ struggles are particularly stark, with a -20 point differential—the fifth-best ever for a 0-4 team—and four one-score losses, while the Chargers have been outscored by 39 points, the second-worst margin in the league. Meanwhile, the Texans have led in the final two minutes of three of their four losses, including a 34-30 defeat to Dallas where the Cowboys scored the game-winning touchdown with 40 seconds left, a pattern last seen by the 2016 Chargers and the 2013 Bucs.

Quarterback C.J. Stroud has also set a modern record by losing his first four starts without throwing an interception, a feat unmatched since interception tracking began in 1950.

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