September 23–24, 2001
Twenty-five years ago, the NFL was slowly getting back to football.
Week 2 of the 2001 season arrived after the league postponed the previous weekend’s games following September 11.
And the football world was still trying to figure out exactly what kind of season this was going to be.
The big story: The Cincinnati Bengals were suddenly 2-0.
Cincinnati stunned the defending Super Bowl champion Baltimore Ravens, 21-10, as Baltimore turned the ball over six times.
Meanwhile, Peyton Manning and the Colts looked like a machine, piling up 555 yards in a 42-26 win over Buffalo. Manning threw for 421 yards and four touchdowns.
The Rams’ Greatest Show on Turf was still rolling. Kurt Warner threw three touchdowns as St. Louis beat San Francisco 30-26 to move to 2-0.
The Chargers also improved to 2-0, beating Dallas 32-21 behind 348 passing yards from Doug Flutie.
And then there was Green Bay.
On Monday night at Lambeau Field, Brett Favre threw three touchdowns and the Packers absolutely demolished Washington 37-0.
Other notable results:
- Jets 10, Patriots 3
- Eagles 27, Seahawks 3
- Broncos 38, Cardinals 17
- Dolphins 18, Raiders 15
- Jaguars 13, Titans 6
- Bears 17, Vikings 10
- Giants 13, Chiefs 3
At the end of Week 2, 11 teams were sitting at 2-0.
The Bengals, Chargers, Colts, Dolphins, Broncos, Jaguars, Rams, Packers, Giants, Eagles and Bears.
Some would remain contenders.
Some wouldn’t.
And nobody knew yet that the team sitting at 0-2 in New England was about to change football history.
The 2001 NFL season was just getting started.
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