ESPN staffFeb 6, 2024, 02:11 PM ET
It's been over 50 years since the NFL and AFL rival football leagues decided to merge and establish the Super Bowl, the annual league championship that has been claimed by 20 different teams since 1967. Yet there are still a dozen franchises in pursuit of that elusive Vince Lombardi Trophy. Four of them -- the Cleveland Browns, Detroit Lions, Houston Texans and Jacksonville Jaguars -- have never reached the big game, while five others have fallen short despite multiple title appearances. Here is a look at all 12 teams who have never won a title, along with their number of Super Bowl appearances.
Cleveland Browns (0)
There was a time when the Browns were the class of the NFL, winning seven championships with three runner-up finishes in their first 10 years as a franchise. However, it's been a different story in the Super Bowl era, particularly over the last three decades. Cleveland reached the AFC Championship Game three times after the 1986, 1987 and 1989 seasons but lost all three to John Elway and the Denver Broncos -- often in heartbreaking fashion. Over the last 30 years, Cleveland has posted more winless seasons (one) than division titles and Super Bowl appearances combined (zero).
Detroit Lions (0)
The Lions are one of the NFL's oldest franchises (founded in 1930), yet they have zero Super Bowl appearances and arguably the worst postseason résumé in league history. That's why this year's run to the NFC Championship Game was such a big deal for Detroit fans. The Lions won their first playoff game since 1992, ending the NFL's longest active drought (and the fifth-longest all-time, right behind the team's previous 33-year winless run from 1958 to 1991). The Lions seemed poised to make their first Super Bowl appearance, but the San Francisco 49ers erased a 17-point deficit and defeated Detroit to punch their Super Bowl ticket.
Houston Texans (0)
The Texans are the newest franchise in the league, having joined as an expansion team in 2002, so Houston's inclusion on this list shouldn't come as much of a surprise. Still, it's been a tough couple of decades for the Texans, who had reached the playoffs six times in 21 years entering the 2023 season and remain the only team that has never reached a conference championship. However, that could change in the coming years, as rookie quarterback C.J. Stroud already looks like a potential superstar, while head coach DeMeco Ryans is a rising star himself and has Super Bowl experience from his time as an assistant coach in San Francisco. This year's 45-14 wild-card win over Cleveland has Texans fans feeling hopeful.
Jacksonville Jaguars (0)
The Jaguars have had a checkered history across nearly 30 years of existence. Shortly after they joined the NFL in 1995, they found immediate success, making the playoffs four times in their first five seasons -- including two trips to the AFC Championship Game. However, both ended in a lopsided defeat, and Jacksonville reached the playoffs just twice in the next 17 years before making another run to the AFC title game in the 2017 season -- only to blow a double-digit lead in the fourth quarter to Tom Brady's Patriots, squandering the team's best shot to reach a Super Bowl so far.
Arizona Cardinals (1)
Having been in existence since 1920, the Cardinals are the oldest franchise without a Super Bowl victory, though they did win two league championships (1925, 1947) prior to the Super Bowl era when they were based in Chicago. Arizona came oh-so close to its first Super Bowl victory in 2009, when star receiver Larry Fitzgerald scored a go-ahead touchdown with 2:37 left in Super Bowl XLIII. The Pittsburgh Steelers responded with one of the most impressive game-winning drives in Super Bowl history, scoring in the final seconds to sink the Cardinals' title hopes.
Los Angeles Chargers (1)
Few teams have done less with more than the Chargers, who have consistently boasted elite teams that come up short in the postseason. The franchise did reach the Super Bowl once in 1995, falling victim to Joe Montana's 49ers in a 49-26 rout. The Bolts also reached the AFC title game in the 1980 and 1981 seasons and again in 2007, losing by a touchdown or more in all three. While the Chargers have won 10 or more games six times in the last 20 years, they've won just five playoff games in that stretch, and their 12-19 playoff record ranks fourth-worst all-time. Will new coach Jim Harbaugh be able to end the drought?
Tennessee Titans (1)
While other franchises have seen a chance at a championship slip through their grasp, none have come closer than the Titans did in 2000. With six seconds left in Super Bowl XXXIV and Tennessee trailing by seven, receiver Kevin Dyson caught a slant pass over the middle and was wrapped up by St. Louis Rams linebacker Mike Jones near the 1-yard line. Dyson stretched out his arm toward the goal line, but he was inches short. The play, known as "The Tackle" or "One Yard Short," became the enduring image of that game and the Titans' years-long quest for their first Lombardi Trophy.
Atlanta Falcons (2)
While other teams on this list have reached more Super Bowls, none blew their chance at hoisting the Lombardi Trophy like the Falcons in 2017. Atlanta held a 28-3 lead over the New England Patriots in the third quarter of Super Bowl LI, when they boasted a win probability as high as 99.7%. That was before Tom Brady launched the defining comeback of his career, leading his team to the biggest comeback in Super Bowl history and the only overtime victory in the game's 57-year history. It was the second title game loss for the Falcons, who got blasted by the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XXXIII. Still, nothing compares to that loss in '17, and the team has reached the playoffs just once in seven seasons since.
Carolina Panthers (2)
The Panthers have only been around since 1995, but they've reached the Super Bowl twice in their relatively brief existence. Both times, they were defeated by an all-time great quarterback. In 2004, Brady and the Patriots outlasted Carolina, 32-29, in Super Bowl XXXVIII. Twelve years later, Peyton Manning led the Broncos to a 24-10 win over the 15-1 Panthers in Super Bowl 50 -- his second Super Bowl victory and the final game of his storied career. Despite those gutting losses, Carolina remains the only team on this list with a winning record in the postseason (9-8) and one of just 13 teams with multiple Super Bowl appearances this century.
Cincinnati Bengals (3)
The Bengals nearly worked their way off this list in 2022, when Joe Burrow led his team to Super Bowl LVI. However, the Bengals came up short against the Los Angeles Rams, 23-20. That marked Cincinnati's first Super Bowl appearance since 1989, when Montana led his 49ers to their second Super Bowl victory over the Bengals in an eight-year span -- with both games decided by five or fewer points. The Bengals were among the title favorites entering the 2023 season before Burrow suffered a season-ending right wrist injury.
Buffalo Bills (4)
No team has fallen short more often than the Bills, who lost four consecutive Super Bowls from 1991 to 1994 -- a run memorialized by the ESPN 30 for 30 documentary "Four Falls of Buffalo." The first was easily the most painful, as kicker Scott Norwood famously missed wide right on a 47-yard field goal in the final seconds to seal a 20-19 loss to the Giants in Super Bowl XXV. It would be the closest Buffalo came to a title, as they lost the next three Super Bowls by a combined 65 points (with none closer than 13 points). The cruelty of those losses is magnified by the fact that the Bills won the two final AFL championships (1964, 1965) before the introduction of the Super Bowl following the 1966 season.
Minnesota Vikings (4)
The Vikings are easily the most successful team on this list: Their 54.5% win percentage in the regular season ranks eighth all-time, and their four Super Bowl appearances are tied for the 13th-most in NFL history. Of course, their inclusion on this list makes all of those stats even more unsatisfying. Not only have they lost four Super Bowls, their six losses in conference championships are tied for fourth-most all time. All four of Minnesota's Super Bowl losses came in the 1970s. All six of their NFC title game losses have come since, including a 38-7 beatdown to the eventual champion Philadelphia Eagles in 2018.
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