When an NFL team begins the season 3-0, it usually means they’re poised for a playoff berth. After all, over the last three seasons, 3-0 teams have made the playoffs at an 80% rate. Also, since the NFL switched to its current 17-game season and seven-team playoff format, every team that has started 4-0 has made the postseason.
After a wild Week 3 that saw a number of upsets and a ton of important games heading into Week 4, let’s examine how many unbeaten teams remain throughout the NFL.
NFL’s Remaining Unbeaten Teams
Following Week 3, there are just five 3-0 NFL teams: the Pittsburgh Steelers, Minnesota Vikings, Seattle Seahawks, Kansas City Chiefs, and Buffalo Bills. How did each of these undefeated teams get to this point?
Pittsburgh Steelers
Mike Tomlin has never had a losing season since becoming an NFL head coach, and it certainly seems like that streak will expand to 18 seasons. Even with Russell Wilson sidelined due to a calf injury, the Steelers have yet to lose a game, defeating the Atlanta Falcons (18-10), Denver Broncos (13-6), and Los Angeles Chargers (20-10).
Justin Fields has filled in admirably for Wilson, proving he was a smart acquisition in a trade with the Chicago Bears over the offseason.
The Steelers have now won six straight regular-season games, which is the second-longest active streak in the NFL (behind only the Bills’ eight-game winning streak) and the longest by the franchise since Ben Roethlisberger powered Pittsburgh to an 11-0 start back in 2020.
Minnesota Vikings
Through three weeks, Vikings quarterback Sam Darnold might be the biggest surprise in the NFL. Darnold’s redemption tour has been incredible, as he has thrown for 657 yards, eight touchdowns, and just two interceptions with a 67.9% completion percentage.
In Minnesota’s 34-7 blowout win over the Houston Texans in Week 3, Darnold threw for four touchdowns and 181 yards with zero picks. He currently leads the league in passing touchdowns.
Sam Darnold's 4th TD pass!
📺: #HOUvsMIN on CBS/Paramount+
📱: https://t.co/waVpO8ZBqG pic.twitter.com/ykJlLMWmBK— NFL (@NFL) September 22, 2024
In three seasons under head coach Kevin O’Connell, the Vikings are 20-0 when they are even or better in the turnover margin — the only undefeated team in the NFL in that situation since 2022. Not only is Darnold limiting his turnovers, he’s wheeling and dealing like we’ve never seen since he entered the NFL.
In addition to beating the Texans, the Vikings have defeated the San Francisco 49ers (23-17) and New York Giants (28-6). Not only are the Vikings winning, but they’re doing so convincingly — even against contenders like Houston and San Francisco.
Minnesota’s start has been a shock, and what’s crazy is that this team should only get better once they get back key pieces like Jordan Addison and T.J. Hockenson in the coming weeks.
In Week 4, the Vikings could face one of their toughest tests of the season against their NFC North rival Green Bay Packers. Jordan Love msy return after suffering an injury during Week 1 in Brazil. The Vikings have a +55-point differential this season. That’s second best through three games in franchise history, trailing the 1975 season (+67 – finished 12-2, lost in the Divisional Round).
However, the Packers have a league-best nine takeaways this season, already halfway to last year’s total of 18. They’ve forced three turnovers in every game, and if they do that again…
The 2013 Bears are the last team to force at least three turnovers in the first four games of a season. The 1996 Packers were the last Green Bay team to force at least three turnovers in their first four games — that team went on to win the Super Bowl.
Seattle Seahawks
The Seahawks are also 3-0 after running away with their Week 3 contest against the Miami Dolphins, 24-3. They are looking solid on both sides of the ball.
Seattle’s pass rush has been really effective. Entering Week 3, the Seahawks pressured the opposing quarterbacks on at least 43.8% of dropbacks in both games — the only team in the NFL that can claim that. In fact, they are already halfway to reaching their 2023 total of such games. Against Miami, they had six sacks and 12 quarterback hits.
Meanwhile, Seattle’s offense looks exciting under new offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb, and quarterback Geno Smith is doing a great job of spreading the ball around to DK Metcalf, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, and Tyler Lockett.
The Seahawks have benefited from an easy opening schedule against the Denver Broncos (who they beat 26-20), New England Patriots (23-20 in overtime), and the Tua Tagovailoa-less Dolphins. Nevertheless, you can only face the teams on your schedule.
Next week’s contest on the road against the Detroit Lions will be a terrific litmus test for this squad.
Seattle has won a league-best 10 straight Week 4 games. Their last Week 4 loss came at the hands of Sam Bradford’s then-St. Louis Rams (Danny Amendola led the game in targets, receptions, receiving yards, and caught the only TD pass of that game…from punter Johnny Hekker).
This hot start has been fueled by excellent defensive play. Seattle is allowing a league-low 18.8 yards per drive. This week, they face the third-best yards per drive offense since the beginning of last season (35.5 yards).
Kansas City Chiefs
Perhaps the least surprising team on this list, the Chiefs advanced to 3-0 with a victory over the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday Night Football. Kansas City is off to an impressive start, especially considering the injuries they have dealt with early in the season.
The Chiefs lost two key players in wide receiver Hollywood Brown to a sternoclavicular joint dislocation (which is expected to sideline him for the bulk of the regular season) and running back Isiah Pacheco to a fractured fibula (which is expected to sideline him for six to eight weeks).
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However, Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce, and Co. still managed to defeat the Baltimore Ravens (27-20), Cincinnati Bengals (26-25), and Falcons (22-17).
Interestingly, the Chiefs have been doing most of their damage after the catch. Entering this week, Kansas City is averaging a league-high 8.3 yards per catch after the reception. Mahomes has the second-shortest average depth of target (aDOT) through Week 2 (5.1 yards), ahead of only Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels (4.6).
Buffalo Bills
After a blowout win over the Jacksonville Jaguars on Monday Night Football, the Bills are also 3-0. Believe it or not, Buffalo hasn’t lost a regular-season game in regulation since Joe Brady took over as the team’s offensive coordinator in Week 11 of last season (with their lone loss coming in overtime the following week against the Philadelphia Eagles).
Josh Allen hasn’t been asked to be Superman with his arm. In his past seven regular-season games, he’s completed more than 18 passes just twice. This is significant because he had reached 19+ completions in 13 of the previous 14 regular-season outings.
Also, Buffalo has rushed for at least 100 yards in 11 straight games, the NFL’s third-longest active streak behind only the Ravens (36) and 49ers (13). Since Brady took over as the team’s OC, the Bills have averaged 143 rush yards per game, the fourth-highest in the league over that span.
Defensively, Buffalo isn’t allowing anything downfield. Opposing quarterbacks were 4 of 22 (18%) when passing 10+ yards downfield against Buffalo through two weeks, the lowest completion percentage in the league. Last season, the Bills allowed a 53% completion percentage on passes of 10+ air yards, which was fourth-worst in the NFL.
After Monday’s dominant win over Jacksonville, the Bills look like arguably the most dangerous team in the NFL.