Have the Dallas Cowboys ever started a season 0-2 and made the playoffs?

How important is Sunday night’s game for the Dallas Cowboys?

If history is any indication, it’s huge.

In the previous 10 seasons, only 10 teams have made the playoffs after starting 0-2. The last to do it was the 2017 Saints who finished 11-5 and won the NFC South.

The ‘07 New York Giants won the Super Bowl. The Giants, who are also trying to avoid an 0-2 start, are the opponent Sunday night at AT&T Stadium.

The other teams to overcome an 0-2 starts were the ‘16 Dolphins, ‘15 Texans and Seahawks, ‘14 Colts, ‘13 Panthers and ‘08 Vikings, Dolphins and Chargers. Besides the ‘07 Giants, the ‘14 Colts are the only team since ‘07 to start 0-2 and reach a conference title game.

“Hopefully, we have the kind of urgency that allows you to win every week in everything that we do, as coaches, as players and the approach that we take in our meetings, our walk-throughs in practice every day,” said Cowboys coach Jason Garrett, who has started 1-1 in six of his seven full seasons. “That’s certainly something that’s very important for us that we try to instill in our team, that sense of urgency.”

Since 1990, the Cowboys have started 0-2 four times. The last time was in 2010, when Garrett took over for Wade Phillips after a 1-7 start. That team finished 6-10 and, of course, missed the playoffs. Starting 2-0 doesn’t guarantee anything either. Dallas started 2-0 in 2015 but finished 4-12. The Cowboys’ two best seasons in the past four years (2014 and 2016) they started 1-1.

The 1993 team that started 0-2 won the Super Bowl. But no one is confusing that Cowboys’ roster for 2018.

“None of that matters to us,” Cowboys defensive back Chidobe Awuzie said. “We don’t second guess anything like that. We don’t look at statistics. We’re trying to go 1-0 this week.”

Past is prologue

The Cowboys and Giants are both trying to avoid an 0-2 start Sunday night. Here’s how Dallas has started each season since 1990 and how it finished:

This story was originally published September 12, 2018 at 6:15 PM.