Crew SC spent its first bye week of the season in last place in Major League Soccer's Eastern Conference, 0-2-1 after three games. It had plenty of company.

Crew SC spent its first bye week of the season in last place in Major League Soccer�s Eastern Conference, 0-2-1 after three games.

It had plenty of company.

Entering the weekend, the defending conference champion was one of four East teams without a win. Three of them were playoff qualifiers last season. Overall, six of the eight teams below the playoff bar reached the postseason last year.

So down is up and up is down and the mad scientists who oversee the convoluted, single-entity system in MLS are toasting with test tubes and tossing allocation money in the air.

To them, a topsy-turvy start to the season is proof of the league�s competitive balance, as was an MLS Cup final featuring small-market teams Columbus and Portland.

�It�s validation that the system works,� MLS commissioner Don Garber said in an interview. �You get success by working hard all season, staying healthy, being smart in how you manage the technical side of things and getting a bit lucky.�

Crew sporting director and coach Gregg Berhalter shares the long view.

�It�s hard to make much of it after three games,� Berhalter said. �If you look at where we were last year, we had three points after three games and we had five points after five. So you put it all in perspective and I think we�re fine. It�s a long season.�

Out West, the Seattle Sounders have started 0-3 for the first time since joining the league in 2009.

The Sounders have never missed the playoffs in seven seasons under former Crew coach Sigi Schmid, but his failure to lead the Sounders to an MLS Cup final has kept him under the gun for most of his tenure.

�You can�t keep hitting your head against a wall because eventually you�ll start bleeding and you won�t accomplish anything,� Schmid told reporters after a 2-1 loss to Vancouver last weekend. � But obviously we�re not happy. At the end of the day, we have to start getting results or quite a few of us will be looking for new jobs.�

Meanwhile, the Crew was content to come away with a point during a scoreless draw at Chicago last weekend. But matching last season�s modest point-per-game run through the season�s first five might be a tall order.

Next up are back-to-back road games at Dallas and Montreal, two of last season�s Cup contenders who have not slipped up at the start. Dallas has outscored its opponents 4-0 in two home wins. Montreal entered the weekend tied for first in the East with six goals in three games.

Berhalter said his team is beginning to get comfortable with the target on its back that comes with a run to a Cup final.

It took the Crew a while to do the same coming off its 2008 MLS Cup championship. It began the 2009 season with a franchise-worst 0-2-5 start but finished 13-7-10 and won the Supporters� Shield as the league�s top regular-season team.

�I think we�re relishing the challenge,� goalkeeper Steve Clark said. �Anything that is worth something doesn�t come easy.�

smitchell@dispatch.com

@smitchcd