This is a list of current National Football League (NFL) franchise post-season and Super Bowl droughts (multiple consecutive seasons of not winning). Listed here are both appearance droughts and winning droughts in almost every level of the NFL playoff system.
Contents
- Post season droughts
- Playoff game victory droughts
- AFCNFC Championship game appearance droughts
- Super Bowl or NFL Championship appearance droughts
- Super Bowl win droughts
- Citiesregions awaiting first Super Bowl crown
- Division title droughts
- Playoff droughts of 5 plus seasons
- Most consecutive post season losses in team history
- Longest post season droughts in team history
- References
As of the 2016 NFL season, every active NFL team has qualified for, and won a game in, the playoffs at least once. Teams that have never made it beyond each successive milestone are listed under the year in which they began NFL play.
Of the 13 teams that have never won the Super Bowl, four (4) are expansion franchises younger than the Super Bowl itself (Bengals, Panthers, Jaguars, and Texans). The Falcons were enfranchised the season the Super Bowls began. The eight (8) other clubs (Cardinals, Lions, Eagles, Oilers/Titans, Chargers, Browns, Bills, and Vikings) all won an NFL or AFL championship prior to the AFL–NFL merger; in the case of the Vikings, however, the Super Bowl existed at the time they won their league title, leaving them and the Falcons as the only two teams to have existed for as long as or longer than the Super Bowl and to have never secured the highest championship available to them. The longest drought since a championship of any kind is that of the Cardinals, at 69 seasons.
Note that for continuity purposes, the Cleveland Browns are officially considered to have suspended operations for the 1996, 1997 and 1998 seasons, and that the Baltimore Ravens are a separate team that began play in 1996. The Ravens, as a result of the Cleveland Browns relocation controversy, absorbed the Browns' personnel upon their suspension, but not their history.
Post-season droughts
Updated through the 2016-17 post season.
At 17 seasons, the Bills' playoff drought is also the longest in major North American professional sports.
Playoff game victory droughts
Updated through the 2016 season.
Sortable table, click on header arrows.
(*): Franchise earned a bye in the Wild Card round.
(**): Franchise dormant 1996–1998.
AFC/NFC Championship game appearance droughts
This is also a list of the last time a particular club won a Divisional playoff game.
(*): Franchise first played in 2002 season
(**): Franchise dormant 1996–1998.
Super Bowl or NFL Championship appearance droughts
(*): Cleveland's drought does not include three seasons (1996–1998) where the franchise was dormant.
(†): Team was based in St. Louis.
Super Bowl win droughts
This list also counts all seasons since a team last won the league championship.
Cities/regions awaiting first Super Bowl crown
Listed according to seasons waited. Current NFL cities/regions only
Division title droughts
Listed according to seasons waited. Updated through the 2016 season.
**Does not include the three seasons (1996–1998) during which the franchise suspended operations.
Playoff droughts of 5 plus seasons
Updated through the 2016 season. Sort by clicking on desired column heading. When sorting, Indianapolis and Baltimore Colts are grouped together, Arizona, Phoenix, St. Louis and Chicago Cardinals are grouped together, Tennessee Titans, Houston Oilers and Tennessee Oilers are grouped together, Los Angeles, St. Louis and Cleveland Rams are grouped together, Oakland and Los Angeles Raiders are grouped together.7003197800000000000♠
a In 1944, during World War II, Pittsburgh and the Chicago Cardinals were a combined team called Card-Pitt. b The Cleveland Rams suspended operations in the 1943 season due to World War II.Most consecutive post-season losses in team history
This is a sortable table of all 32 current NFL teams. Ten teams have multiple losing streaks where they lost an equal number of post season games before breaking the drought.
Updated through the 2016 regular season.
Longest post-season droughts in team history
Updated through the 2016 season.
Note that the NFL did not institute a permanent playoff tournament until 1967 and that the NFL Championship Game and any impromptu one-game playoffs (played only in the event of a tie atop the division standings) were the only postseason matchups in this era (the Bert Bell Benefit Bowl is considered an exhibition game for the purpose of this list).