Let’s not beat around the bush here, not every team can reach the pinnacle of their sport. Not everyone can get to the top of the mountain, and not everyone can proudly wear a world championship ring on their finger. It’s unfortunate, but there comes a point where fans of certain teams just need to take what they can get.
Within the National Football League, in particular, there are a staggering amount of franchises who have never claimed a Super Bowl victory, which in itself is a testament to those elite sides who manage to contend year in and year out. Then again, it also makes us envy them as the true villains of the game.
What’s even rarer than that, however, is the amount of teams that have never even competed at the greatest show on earth: with the total currently standing at four. If you’re a fan of one of these teams then you’ll know what’s coming, and we would like to kindly advise that you cover your eyes now.
Cleveland Browns
In the current era of professional football, it’s fair to say that the Cleveland Browns are one of the most depressing teams in all of sports. Following a period of inactivity they were announced as an expansion team in the late 90s, and since then they’ve had just two winning seasons with a grand sum of zero playoff wins. Honestly, Ohio natives, just give up and move to Cincinnati or focus on basketball instead.
Detroit Lions
Considering that they moved from Portsmouth to Detroit back in the mid 30s, you’d think the Lions would’ve captured quite a few championships by now – but you would most certainly be wrong. The loveable losers are an on and off playoff team in the present day, but they also hold the second longest NFL championship drought in the league behind the Arizona Cardinals. Who, ironically, HAVE competed in a Super Bowl.
Jacksonville Jaguars
It may be a little harsh to point this out given that they’ve only existed for just over twenty years, but the Jags just aren’t a very good football team. They burst into life during their first few playoff appearances, but since then they’ve drifted into the distance and it doesn’t seem likely that they’ll return to the promised land anytime soon.
Houston Texans
With the Texans’ first season taking place in 2002 they are still very much in their infancy, but their roster over the last decade or so means that we shouldn’t ignore a statistic that outweighs the failure of many infamous NFL organisations: the Texans are the only franchise to never have played in a conference championship game. Honestly, that has to sting more than anything else we could possibly say about the boys from the lone star state.
