Peppers take a long time to germinate and seem to be slow growers for me (I start them in my Iowa basement which is chilly, even with a heat mat.) I started my bell peppers on 2/21 and they germinated on 2/28. They are looking good with 2-3 sets of leaves, but are nowhere close growing out of their 4" container. I will plant them out mid May.

I have heard people say that the spicier peppers take even longer to germinate.

I would start them if you haven't already :)

Here is a link that might be useful: Zone 5 garden blog

Start them indoors now. I started my sweet bells on March 29th for May 14th set out.

I started mine April 5th. Today, the last seed finally made it's sprouty appearance.

I plan to transplant them, mid-late May. All depends on how much rain we get 'tween now & then. We've had way too much as it is.

I started mine, 144 and several varieties, on March 5th. They are not on a heat mat. Some are just now ready to pot up. They are in a couple of 72 cell containers. There are 5 just now coming up and 48 that still haven't, so plant extra. I will plant them out on May 31st. They take a loooong time :]

Mine start 10 weeks before last frost. I suspect most folks are 8-12.

Dan

For decades, mine always get started 10-12 weeks before plant out date.

Dave

So if I start them now, will I be hopelessly behind?

No...........probably not. It seems when the heat of summer hits, a lot of the latecomers do a catch-up. I pulled up the Illinois Vegetable Gardening guide to see what it said and the only reference I could find on the timing of peppers was that it would take eight to ten weeks from seed to the time it should be set out in the field. Two weeks is waaaaaaaaaay off.

Yes you will be behind but maybe not hopelessly. I got a late start on mine (about 4 weeks old now) and will probably end up buying transplants myself. IMO plant out date for peppers is at least 2 weeks after tomatoes and they (toms) will be going in the ground in 2 weeks, maybe less.
2 years ago my peppers were about 16 weeks old when they went in the ground and they did great. Hopefully I wont slip up next year as I have the last 2 seasons. I bit off entirely more than I can chew this year.

My guess is it can't hurt to try, especially if you have the room and can maybe buy starts to go with them!