The NFL season is two weeks old, and a minimum of six organizations are already essentially eliminated from postseason contention. It seems crazy to think that a team could go from dreaming about a deep playoff run to thinking about the 2019 offseason in a matter of 14 days, but history tells us that a team can ruin its season quicker than you might think.

Since the NFL adopted its current divisional format in 2002, just over 11 percent of teams that start the year 0-2 end up making the playoffs. The Saints pulled off the feat last season by turning their defense around. It also helped that their schedule got easier, given that the season started with games against the Vikings and Patriots. After that 0-2 start, the Saints didn't lose again before Thanksgiving, rolling off eight straight wins.

If any of this year's seven 0-2 teams can pull that off, they'll be back in playoff contention, but history tells us that no more than one will play past December.

Let's sort through them in order of their chances of returning to respectability and competing for a postseason berth, and pick one team from the bunch to survive its 0-2 start to make the playoffs. I'm including each team's preseason playoff odds and current playoff odds, according to the ESPN Football Power Index.

I've ranked the seven teams in reverse order of my hopes for their playoff future. I'm also cheating to talk about an eighth team that remains winless after two weeks because I wanted to take a closer look at what has gone wrong there. Let's begin with them ...

Jump to a winless team:

Bills | Cardinals | Giants | Lions |

Raiders | Seahawks | Texans

Preseason playoff odds: 77.7 percent

Current playoff odds: 36.6 percent

The Steelers don't technically belong on this list as an 0-1-1 team, but I'm sneaking them in because they seem to be in disarray. Pittsburgh is a blocked field goal away from 0-2. It just allowed Patrick Mahomes to throw six touchdown passes in his third career start. Le'Veon Bell doesn't appear to be on his way to work anytime soon. Antonio Brown is daring ex-Steelers PR people to trade him away, then missed practice on Monday. FPI suggests the Steelers' slow start has slashed their playoff odds by more than half. Pittsburgh was not supposed to be in crisis by mid-September.

I think the Steelers are going to be fine. Let's start with the easy stuff. Brown isn't going anywhere. Pittsburgh would incur $29 million in dead money over the next two years if it traded the star wideout. Even if the Steelers traded Brown next year, they would be responsible for divvying up $21 million on their cap over the 2019 and 2020 campaigns. They would be hitting the reset button on their team by trading Brown. It's not worth talking about again.

Antonio Brown's 33 targets lead the league, but he has only 18 catches. Charles LeClaire/USA TODAY Sports

There are other elements of Pittsburgh's slow start that I wouldn't expect to reoccur. Normally reliable kicker Chris Boswell has missed both of his field goal tries wide left. The Steelers recovered two of the eight fumbles in their games this season, including going 0-for-4 against the Browns. That's total randomness, and the Steelers won't have too many games in which they turn the ball over six times, as they did in Week 1. Keith Butler's defense isn't going to keep allowing six points per red zone trip. These sort of things can happen over a two-game sample, but they feel more meaningful because they happened to come during the first two games of the season.

There are genuine concerns about this team, though, and the issues aren't surprising. Pittsburgh sorely misses Ryan Shazier, and it didn't do enough to replace him this offseason. The Steelers are using athletic special-teamer Jon Bostic as a regular inside linebacker, playing more than 60 percent of defensive snaps, and Bostic just hasn't been successful against the pass in any of his three previous NFL stops. The Steelers also converted Sean Davis into a full-time free safety, and he was overwhelmed against the Chiefs, though he looked solid in the Browns game.

Injuries are also a short-term concern for what was the league's fourth-healthiest team a year ago. The Steelers lost cornerback Joe Haden during the Browns game, and Cleveland was able to pick on Cameron Sutton during its comeback. (Sutton later came up with an interception on an underthrown Tyrod Taylor pass.) Haden should be back this week, but star guard David DeCastro doesn't yet have a timetable for a return after breaking his hand. Brown is struggling with quad and calf injuries, though he has managed to average 80 receiving yards per game.

At the same time, this team just hasn't been bad enough to justify any sort of significant early-season concerns. The pass rush has been excellent, and while it got home more frequently against Taylor and the Browns, Pittsburgh ranks second in pressure rate (40.5 percent) through two weeks. Bell fill-in James Conner was effective as a runner in Week 1, and the Steelers rank eighth in the league in offensive expected points added through two weeks. The pass defense looked awful against the Chiefs, but I think a lot of pass defenses are going to be ripped apart by Mahomes, particularly during this first month of the season as Andy Reid shows off what he has been working on over the summer. The Browns even went into New Orleans and nearly beat the Saints, so a tie in Cleveland might not be as disappointing as it seemed at the time.

Anybody expecting another 13-3 season was likely to be disappointed, given that Pittsburgh went an unsustainable 8-2 in games decided by seven points or fewer in 2017. A more reasonable expectation for 2018 would have been a 10-win season, and barring a rash of injuries, the Steelers should still be able to get there by the time they get to the end of the season.

play 1:41 Wilbon predicts no 0-2 NFL teams will make the playoffs Michael Wilbon is writing off all NFL teams who started the season 0-2.

Preseason playoff odds: 6.8 percent

Current playoff odds: 0.3 percent

The Bills are in disarray. They trailed by a total of 48 points at halftime across their first two games, the worst mark in 40 years. They've already changed quarterbacks, benching Nathan Peterman for rookie first-round pick Josh Allen. Coach Sean McDermott took away defensive playcalling duties from Leslie Frazier during an eventful halftime last Sunday, with Vontae Davis retiring and heading home before the second half began. LeSean McCoy has cracked rib cartilage and had two first downs on 21 touches before getting injured. That Andy Dalton touchdown pass from Week 17 last year feels like it might as well be a decade ago.

This shouldn't be a surprise. Last year's Bills team was supposed to be the first season in a rebuild, but a team with 6.4 Pythagorean wins pulled out four wins in six games down the stretch to go 9-7 and sneak into the postseason. This season shouldn't be much better. After trading away several bloated contracts and enduring the retirements of players such as Richie Incognito and Eric Wood, general manager Brandon Beane is eating $53.9 million in dead money this year, which is one of the largest single-season figures in league history. The Bills are nearly paying as much in dead money to ghosts as they are to their entire offense ($57.0 million). They'll hit 2019 with $90 million in cap space before letting anyone else leave.

Josh Allen is completing only 50 percent of his passes, with one touchdown pass and two picks. AP Photo/Adrian Kraus

The schedule will get easier for the Bills, but it's not coming soon. They face road games against the Vikings and Packers over the next two weeks before a stretch with three games against the relatively meager AFC South. After Week 9, they play the Patriots and Jaguars, but their schedule otherwise consists of the Lions and two games each against the Dolphins and Jets. They have only a 1.3 percent chance of joining the Lions and Browns in the 0-16 club, and it's more likely that some late-season success will inspire optimism for 2019.

As for 2018, though, the Bills need to spend the rest of the season evaluating their current pieces and doing their best to form positive habits in Allen. The rookie quarterback was a major upgrade on Peterman and showed some of the upside that led to the trade up in the draft, though he also finished the game with a league-low Total QBR of 14.8. (Both of these things, somehow, are true!) Evaluating Allen in 2018 will be tough because the Bills simply don't have much of an offensive line after trading away Cordy Glenn and losing Incognito and Wood.

Building some long-term infrastructure also would help. Taking away the defensive playcalling duties from Frazier six quarters into the year after his defense made the playoffs a year ago seems shortsighted from McDermott, who said this week that the Bills would "collaborate" on playcalls going forward. It's hard to see that working out. The Bills also need to see what they have in players such as Kelvin Benjamin, Shaq Lawson and Logan Thomas to see if they have a future in Buffalo.

It would behoove the Bills to look into the midseason trade market for the veterans on their roster. Charles Clay's contract remains among the worst deals in the league, and the Bills would eat $13.5 million in dead money by trading their starting tight end, but he would make sense for a team like the Panthers if they can clear out cap space closer to the trade deadline. Linebacker Lorenzo Alexander is cheaper and can contribute on special teams and as a situational pass-rusher, but he's 35. Even McCoy, who is signed through the end of 2019, would be worth throwing out as a possible trade candidate if a contender with injury issues at running back needs a weapon and McCoy gets healthy.

play 1:12 Clark says Giants need to get OBJ more chances Ryan Clark explains why the Giants' offensive line continues to be a problem and that they need to give Odell Beckham Jr. more attempts.

Preseason playoff odds: 10.2 percent

Current playoff odds: 0.3 percent

The Cardinals don't have the same excuse as the Bills, given that they're presumably trying to win during what is likely Larry Fitzgerald's final year in the NFL. The Cardinals have scored six points through two games, which is tied for the seventh-worst figure since the merger. Even that touchdown came in garbage time against Washington in Week 1; Arizona is just the sixth team since 1970 to get shut out in the first half of each of its first two games.

Arizona made moves to add veteran help to its offense this offseason by signing away guard Justin Pugh from the Giants and giving quarterback Sam Bradford a one-year, $20 million deal. Bradford hasn't exactly impressed so far. The former first overall pick is completing 60.7 percent of his passes, which sounds passable until you realize that the league as a whole is completing 65.3 percent of its throws through two weeks. What's worse is that Bradford is averaging a scarcely believable 4.0 yards per attempt on those passes. The one benefit to shorter passes is that they should create more yards after catch, but Bradford's receivers are averaging a league-low 3.3 YAC through two games. Fitzgerald's hamstring injury isn't going to help matters.

David Johnson has just 22 carries for 85 yards and a touchdown so far. Christian Petersen/Getty Images

New coach Steve Wilks has suggested that offensive coordinator Mike McCoy needs to pare down the playbook, which seems strange given that Bradford famously picked up the Vikings' playbook in a matter of days after being traded to Minnesota just before the 2016 season began. Swapping out Bradford for rookie first-round pick Josh Rosen is an idea, but with Fitzgerald injured and the running game sputtering to start the season, it seems more of a desperate dart throw than anything else. If Bradford was the best option to start the season and the Cardinals still plan on trying to contend, two games shouldn't be enough for the Arizona staff to change its mind. It still wouldn't be a surprise to see the Cardinals make the move to Rosen in the second half of the Bears game in Week 3 if David Johnson can't single-handedly bring the offense back to life.

What has to be more concerning, though, is how the Cardinals' defense has struggled. Patrick Peterson & Co. ranked in the top seven in defensive DVOA each of the past six seasons, but through two weeks, they rank 26th. The offense certainly isn't doing Wilks' unit any favors, but it's not as if the Cardinals are gassing out late in games and allowing points. Washington scored 21 points in the second quarter of Week 1, and the Rams went up 19-0 by halftime. Washington actually had ugly field position for most of the game and scored anyway.

I do have more hope for the defense improving. The Cardinals are allowing teams to convert on 50 percent of their third downs, the second-worst rate in the league behind the Bengals, and even a bad defense won't keep that up for a full season. They have one takeaway in two games. Opposing receivers are averaging a league-high 7.27 yards after catch against the Cardinals and haven't yet dropped a pass. There's too much talent in this secondary for that to keep up, and the Cardinals are still third in the league in pressure rate on defense, so the pass rush has been lively.

Unfortunately for the Cardinals, they're just stuck in the wrong conference if they want to try to sneak into the playoffs with eight or nine wins. They're already two games behind the Rams in the NFC West, and while the Seahawks haven't impressed, there's just a logjam of teams they're going to have to compete with for a playoff spot. They needed the sort of 2-0 start the Bucs had to propel themselves forward. At 0-2, they're already done for 2018.

As is the case with the Bills, Arizona needs to evaluate its young guys. Deone Bucannon, who is in his fifth-year option and once looked like a star in the making, played 25 snaps last week. Former first-round pick Haason Reddick played three. The Cardinals need to see what they have there, even if it means taking away snaps from veterans like Antoine Bethea and playing more linebackers.

Bethea would be a trade candidate for the Cards, but there isn't a ton here. Bradford has a $5 million base salary and could plausibly make sense as an expensive short-term backup for a team with playoff aspirations, but he hasn't been any good this season, even by Bradford standards. Fitzgerald has an $11 million base salary, and while there are a few teams who could justify taking a shot on bringing the future Hall of Famer on board for a Super Bowl run, Fitzgerald wasn't interested in leaving Arizona this time last year. Things look bleak in the desert.