Look on the bright side, at least the Chicago Bulls are making history!

While most envisioned a rough start to the 2026-27 season for the Bulls, I'm not sure anyone expected it to look this bad. Sure, the NBA did Tiago Splitter and Co. no favors with one of the toughest schedules in the league over the first three weeks. But the Bulls were built to be young and fun! Even if the wins didn't stack up, their highly-flying athleticism would at least count for something, right?

Wrong.

The Caleb Wilson and Matas Buzelis tandem has been anything but dynamic. Josh Giddey has struggled to learn his new teammates. Norman Powell and Buddy Hield have failed to show much veteran savvy. Chicago's defense is porous. Their offense is inefficient. And their overall effort level has fluctuated.

It's all led to one of the worst starts in NBA history. And no, that's not an exaggeration.

Chicago Bulls Making Wrong Kind of History

Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic pointed out that the Chicago Bulls have been outscored by 144 over their first eight games of the regular season. The only teams to have a worse point differential through their first eight games are the Golden State Warriors at -149 (1997-98) and the Miami Heat (1988-89) at -147.

For what it's worth, that Warriors team went on to hold a final record of 19-63 and started the season 1-14. As for the Heat, they finished 15-67 and didn't win their second game of the season until two days before Christmas.

Are the Bulls destined for the same outcome? It's hard to say. There is no denying that the start of the year has been a true gauntlet, especially for such an inexperienced team. Things will eventually ease up in mid-to-late November, and the Bulls are certainly hoping that they will learn a lot from this brutal stretch. In theory, a young team like this should see slow and steady growth.

At the same time, the proof is in the pudding. Many of the on-court concerns that existed coming into the year have immediately come to fruition. Their lack of shooting and ball-handling has led to a dysfunctional offense, while their lack of perimeter defense has allowed too many easy trips into the paint. Will Claxton help clean up some of the latter with his rim protection skills? It's possible, but it's hard to see some of the Bulls' issues being fixed without some roster tinkering.

There is also no telling what a historically bad start like this can do for the psyche. Yes, it's a long season, and the Bulls have to keep their head on straight. But that's a lot easier said than done. Splitter is undoubtedly going to have his hands full when it comes to encouraging this team to fight through the adversity.

The next opportunity for this group to bounce back is on Sunday afternoon against the Philadelphia 76ers. What could go wrong!?

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