Mike Celizic

There’s a reason why some teams get to be called elite and are always among the preseason contenders. As an example, look no further than the Colts' victory over the Vikings.

Week 2 was about 2-0 and 0-2. The first is a nice number — it’s not a playoff guarantee, but it’s as good a start as you can get. The second is one of the NFL's most dreaded numbers.

You don’t want to start 0-2 to start a season. Sure, the Giants won the Super Bowl after starting that way last year, and the Patriots and Cowboys equaled that feat in 2003 and 1993 respectively. But since the 2000 season, of the 74 teams that have started 0-2, only six have made the playoffs.

In other words, 92 percent of teams that started 0-2 since 2000 have finished out of the postseason.

On Sunday, the Colts and the Chargers were the two biggest contenders that were in danger of getting off to that dreaded 0-2 start. The Colts avoided it because of who they are. The Chargers didn’t because of who they are — the unluckiest team on earth.

Peyton Manning missed the entire preseason — and most of summer practice — because of knee surgery. Was it a coincidence that Indianapolis was mauled by the Bears in Week 1? And in Week 2, they were being pillaged 15-0 by the Vikings, who smothered Manning and the Colts' injury-riddled offensive line.

But they still won the game, scoring 18 points in little more than a quarter, helped by the Vikings failure to reach the end zone.

It’s no secret that Manning is a pretty special player. Let him hang around, and he’s going to make you pay for it. And this is the reason the Vikings aren’t elite. They didn't put away their opponent.

Video   Peyton happy to escape with win Sept. 14: Peyton Manning talks with Kenny Rice about the Colts' last-second victory over the Vikings in Week 2.

“It wasn’t the most artistic, and I told the team we’ve got a lot of glass-half-empty-glass-half-full stuff, but I was very, very proud of our effort,” Indianapolis coach Tony Dungy said during the postgame post-mortem.

Unlike in college, ugly wins don’t cost you your position in the polls. In the NFL, W’s are everything; margin of victory is meaningless.

The same goes for margin of defeat. Ask San Diego. The Chargers will tell you as much, just as soon as they finish gnashing their teeth after Sunday’s bitter loss to Denver.

The Chargers have lost two games by a total of three points. In Week 1, they fell to Carolina, 26-24. Sunday, after falling behind early, they rallied to take a 38-31 lead with time running out on the fourth quarter.

The Chargers got a huge gift from Broncos quarterback Jay Cutler, who threw one of the dumbest passes ever — on the Chargers goal line. He tried to force a ball into double coverage and got picked in the end zone. The Chargers took the favor, drove the field in no time at all, thanks to the electrifying Darren Sproles, and got their one-touchdown lead.

And then they lost the game. They shouldn’t have. A blown call that gave a Cutler fumble back to the Broncos, and allowed the quarterback a chance to atone for his sins by throwing a touchdown pass.

Coach Mike Shanahan showed more brass than any coach ever has by going for a two-point conversion and the win instead of a tie and overtime. Lucky for him he made it. Otherwise, we’d be beating him up for the next 40 years.

The Colts aren’t in the clear yet. They still have big problems. But they remain elite because of that Manning guy at quarterback. They’re not 0-2.

And if there’s a team that can beat the 0-2 jinx, it should be the Chargers. Two losses by three points shows they’ve got some talent. Now they have to show it. Stay tuned.