"must win"
"don't go 0-2 or you're DOOMED".
In a sixteen game season, there was still like a 22% chance to make the playoffs if you start 0-2. The 1994 San Diego Chargers started 0-4 and somehow made it all the way to the Super Bowl.
Well, it's a seventeen game season now, so maybe there's even less of a dire consequence if you start 0-2.