How does the New York Red Bulls slow start compare to other Shield winners?

Sam Stejskal

The New York Red Bulls have gotten their Supporters’ Shield defense off to a slow start, posting a 1-4-0 record through their first five games of the 2016 season.

That got us wondering, how does the Red Bulls rough early-season record compare to the starts of other teams in the year after they won the Supporters’ Shield?

Unsurprisingly, it doesn’t stack up so well. This 2016 Red Bulls are tied with three other teams for the fewest points of any Supporters’ Shield defender through five games, though a few teams – including the 2014 Red Bulls, who were 0-1-4 – were winless through their first five matches.

The full table of how each Supporters’ Shield winner began their Shield defense is below:

Year	Shield winner	Record through first 5 games of following year
1996	Tampa Bay Mutiny	4-1 (12 points)
1997	D.C. United	4-1 (12 points)
1998	LA Galaxy	2-3 (6 points)
1999	D.C. United	1-4-0 (3 points)
2000	Kansas City Wizards	3-1-1 (10 points)
2001	Miami Fusion	N/A (Folded after 2001)
2002	LA Galaxy	0-2-3 (3 points)
2003	Chicago Fire	2-1-2 (8 points)
2004	Columbus Crew	2-3-0 (6 points)
2005	San Jose Earthquakes	3-2-0 (9 points)*
2006	D.C. United	1-3-1 (4 points)
2007	D.C. United	2-3-0 (6 points)
2008	Columbus Crew	0-2-3 (3 points)
2009	Columbus Crew	3-0-2 (11 points)
2010	LA Galaxy	2-1-2 (8 points)
2011	LA Galaxy	2-3-0 (6 points)
2012	San Jose Earthquakes	2-2-1 (7 points)
2013	New York Red Bulls	0-1-4 (4 points)
2014	Seattle Sounders	2-2-1 (7 points)
2015	New York Red Bulls	1-4-0 (3 points)