Which NFL teams have never made a Super Bowl?
Every NFL team has one main goal, and that is winning the Super Bowl. The NFL has been around since 1920, and the Super Bowl has been played every year since 1967. Over that time, a number of teams have won the most important game of the year on multiple occasions. Even so, there are still plenty of teams that have never been to the NFL’s championship game, let alone win it. In this article, we are going to look at which NFL teams have zero Super Bowl appearances.
There are 12 teams that have never won the Super Bowl. Those teams are the Minnesota Vikings, Buffalo Bills, Carolina Panthers, Arizona Cardinals, Cleveland Browns, Cincinnati Bengals, Houston Texans, Jacksonville Jaguars, Detroit Lions, Los Angeles Chargers, Atlanta Falcons and Tennessee Titans.
Of those 12 teams, four of them have never even made the Super Bowl. Those teams are as follows.
The Jaguars, Lions, Texans and Browns have been looked down on by NFL fans for much of their existence due to lack of winning at the highest level. All of them seemed primed to break out and make a Super Bowl soon, though.
The Lions have been around for the longest of that group, as they have been in the league for every year the Super Bowl has been around. Detroit came into existence in 1934. The Browns became a team in 1946, although they had a three-year hiatus when they suspended activities in the late ’90s. Both the Jaguars and the Texans are newer teams. Jacksonville’s team was founded in 1995, and the Texans were created in 2002.
The four teams that haven’t made the Super Bowl are starting to turn things around, and all four of them have bright futures. In fact, of the four, the Jaguars were the only team not to make the playoffs this year, and they started 8-3 before some late-season struggles.
Jacksonville has a recent number one overall pick leading the way in Trevor Lawrence, the team’s quarterback. Lawrence was one of the best draft prospects in recent memory, and although he has been a little underwhelming compared to expectations, he is still a very good quarterback with room to get even better. The Jaguars offense should be a problem for opponents for years to come. Travis Etienne is one of the best running backs in the NFL, and Christian Kirk and Evan Engram form a formidable pass-catching duo. The team even has a chance to re-sign Calvin Ridley.
Jacksonville has also invested heavily into defense during the draft and free agency, with difference-makers like Josh Allen and Foyesade Oluakon leading the way. If the Jaguars can find season-long consistency on both sides of the ball that eluded them in 2023, they could compete for a Super Bowl berth as soon as a year from now.
The Browns also had a shot at the Super Bowl this year, but fell short as well. Unlike the Jaguars, Cleveland actually did make the postseason, albeit in unexpected fashion. The team paid handsomely to make Deshaun Watson its franchise quarterback, but he has struggled with injuries the last two seasons and underwhelmed even when healthy. Joe Flacco had a miraculous run leading the Browns this year, but the hope is that Watson will return to his past form and be good enough to give the offense a boost next year, because the defense isn’t a problem.
Cleveland had arguably the best defense in football this season. Myles Garrett will always be in the conversation for the Defensive Player of the Year Award, and Denzel Ward, Greg Newsome and Martin Emerson are a part of arguably the best secondary in the sport. Watson will need to step up his game for the Browns to become Super Bowl contenders, but he has a track record of being a an upper-echelon quarterback, so it’s still possible his improvement could propel them to greater heights.
Both the Lions and the Texans are still in the playoffs, and both teams have a solid chance of ending their droughts and reaching the Super Bowl. They could even do it against each other, as the two are in different conferences.
The Texans will be tested in the Divisional Round, as they are taking on the top-seeded Baltimore Ravens. C.J. Stroud has completely turned the Texans around, but the Ravens allow the fewest points per game in the NFL. Stroud and his team’s young core do have enough talent to make a run to the Super Bowl this year, but few are predicting that to be the case. The Texans are so young, though, that they should contend next season regardless of how this year’s run goes. Writing them off wouldn’t be fair, either, as Houston has proven doubters wrong all season after winning only three games in 2022.
The Lions have perhaps the best chance to make the Super Bowl this year. The team just won their first postseason game since 1991, and winning becomes contagious. Jared Goff has established himself as a franchise quarterback in Detroit, and he is surrounded by tons of talent. Amon-Ra St. Brown is one of the best receivers in the league, and Sam LaPorta and Jahmyr Gibbs were two of the best rookies this season. That youth means they should also contend for years, whether they make the Super Bowl this season or not.
