The good news for the Giants — maybe the only good news for them on Monday — is that a trip to the playoffs after an 0-3 start to the season is not without precedent. (This will also come as welcome news to the winless Steelers, Redskins, Vikings, Buccaneers and Jaguars.)

Three teams have accomplished the feat since the N.F.L. expanded its playoff format to 12 teams in 1990. The bad news for the Giants is that they have little in common with any of them:

1992 SAN DIEGO CHARGERS It might seem hopeless for the Giants, but things looked far worse for this Chargers squad. After going 4-12 in the 1991 season, San Diego opened 1992 being outscored by a 95-29 total en route to an 0-4 record. An emergency preseason trade for quarterback Stan Humphries — the incumbent starter, John Friesz, was injured — was looking to be a bust and Bobby Ross, who had won a share of the national championship with Georgia Tech in 1990, was not impressing in his first stint as an N.F.L. head coach.

The Chargers’ run to the postseason started modestly, with a 17-6 win over the Seattle Seahawks, a team that would finish the season with a 2-14 record. But San Diego then had a bye week and emerged from it a different team. Humphries and a hodgepodge group of running backs started putting points on the board, and linebacker Junior Seau and end Leslie O’Neal led the defense. The Chargers closed the season with 9 wins in 10 games.