INDIANAPOLIS — With the help of a Denver Broncos penalty on a missed field goal, the Colts won Sunday 29-28 and are 2-0 for the first time since 2009 when then opened the season 14-0.
Winning your first two games has historically been a key data point for making the playoffs and that hasn’t changed with the move to the 14-team playoff format. Since 2020, here are the odds of making the playoffs based on a team’s record the first two games (dataset does not include any team with a tie):
>> 2-0: 42 teams have started 2-0, 33 of them made the playoffs, 78.6%
>> 1-1: 75 teams have started 1-1, 32 made the playoffs, 42.7%
>>0-2: 43 teams started 0-2, 5 made the playoffs, 11.6%
There’s still a long way to go but the Colts have a far better chance to make the playoffs than most felt two weeks ago.
Joel A. Erickson covers the Colts all season. Get more coverage on IndyStarTV and with the Colts Insider newsletter.