This is a list of current

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the majo ...

(NFL) franchise post-season and

Super Bowl The Super Bowl is the annual final playoff game of the National Football League (NFL) to determine the league champion. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966, replacing the NFL Championship Game. Since 2022, the gam ...

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. All 32 active NFL teams have qualified for and won a game in the

playoffs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eit ...

. Teams that have never made it beyond each successive milestone are listed under the year in which they began NFL play. Of the 12 teams that have never won the Super Bowl, four are expansion franchises younger than the Super Bowl itself (the Bengals, Panthers, Jaguars, and Texans), while the Falcons began playing during the season in which the Super Bowl was first played. The other seven clubs (Cardinals, Lions, Oilers/Titans, Chargers, Browns, Bills, and Vikings) all won an NFL or AFL championship prior to the

AFL–NFL merger The AFL–NFL merger was the merger of the two major professional American football leagues in the United States at the time: the National Football League (NFL) and the American Football League (AFL). It paved the way for the combined league, w ...

; in the case of the Vikings, however, the Super Bowl existed at the time they won their only league title (in 1969), leaving them and the Falcons as the only two teams to have never won the highest championship available to them. The longest drought since a championship of any kind is that of the Cardinals, at seasons. Note that for continuity purposes, the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conferenc ...

are officially considered to have suspended operations for the 1996, 1997, and 1998 seasons. Since returning years ago, they have only made the playoffs twice, while the

Baltimore Ravens The Baltimore Ravens are a professional American football team based in Baltimore, Maryland. The Ravens compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. The team plays its ...

are considered to be a separate team that began play in 1996. The Ravens, as a result of the

Cleveland Browns relocation controversy The Cleveland Browns relocation controversy - colloquially called "The Move" by fans - was caused during the 1995 NFL season by the announcement from then-Browns owner Art Modell that he intended to move the Cleveland Browns of the National Foo ...

, absorbed the Browns' personnel upon their suspension, but not their history.

Active team droughts

Post-season droughts

''Updated through December 27, 2022''

Playoff game victory droughts

Updated through the 2021 season
Sortable table, click on header arrows.

AFC/NFC Championship Game appearance droughts

This is also a list of the last time a particular club won a divisional playoff game. * The Washington Commanders last appeared in the NFC Championship Game as the Washington Redskins. * The Browns were dormant from 1996–1998. Since returning years ago, the Browns have never played in an AFC Championship Game. * The Las Vegas Raiders last appeared in the AFC Championship Game as the Oakland Raiders. * The Los Angeles Chargers last appeared in the AFC Championship Game as the San Diego Chargers.

Super Bowl or NFL championship appearance droughts

* The Browns were dormant from 1996–1998. Since returning seasons ago, Cleveland has never appeared in a Super Bowl. * The Washington Commanders last appeared in the Super Bowl as the Washington Redskins. * The Los Angeles Chargers last appeared in the Super Bowl as the San Diego Chargers. * The Las Vegas Raiders last appeared in the Super Bowl as the Oakland Raiders.

Super Bowl or NFL championship win droughts

This list also counts all seasons since a team last won the league championship. Team in 2022 playoffs * Team won as the Chicago Cardinals in 1947. * Team won as the Houston Oilers in 1961. * Team won as the San Diego Chargers in 1963. * Browns suspended operations from 1996–1998. Since returning to the league years ago, they have never appeared in or won a Super Bowl. * Team won Super Bowl XVIII as the Los Angeles Raiders. * Team won Super Bowl XXXVI as the Washington Redskins

Super Bowl crown droughts by division

Cities/regions awaiting first Super Bowl crown

Listed according to seasons waited. Current NFL cities/regions only.

Team in 2022 playoffs

Division title droughts

Listed according to seasons waited. Updated through December 23, 2022
**Does not include the three seasons (1996–1998) during which the franchise suspended operations.

Historical team droughts

Closest approaches without winning the Super Bowl

''Counted from the first Super Bowl season, 1966, to present.''
''Updated through December 26, 2022.''

Team in 2022 playoffs * First round in 1982 playoffs for Minnesota, Cincinnati, Atlanta, Los Angeles Chargers, Arizona, Cleveland, Detroit * Second round in 1982 playoffs for Minnesota, Los Angeles Chargers

Longest NFL / AFL / Super Bowl championship droughts through history

This list only shows droughts of 30 or more seasons for teams. A championship is listed as winning an NFL Championship (1920—1969), AFL Championship (1960—1969), and Super Bowl Championship (1966—present). Active droughts are listed in bold type.

Longest NFL / AFL / Super Bowl championship appearance droughts through history

This list only shows droughts of 20 or more seasons for teams. A championship appearance is listed as appearing in an NFL Championship (1932—1969), AFL Championship (1960—1969), or Super Bowl Championship (1966—present). Active droughts are listed in bold type.

Playoff droughts of at least five seasons

:''Updated through December 24, 2022.''
:Sort by clicking on desired column heading. :Teams grouped together when sorting - :

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

, Phoenix, St. Louis and

Chicago Cardinals The professional American football team now known as the Arizona Cardinals previously played in Chicago, Illinois, as the Chicago Cardinals from 1898 to 1959 before relocating to St. Louis, Missouri, for the 1960 through 1987 seasons. Roots ...

Indianapolis Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...

and

Baltimore Colts The Baltimore Colts were a professional American football team that played in Baltimore from its founding in 1953 to 1984. The team now plays in Indianapolis, as the Indianapolis Colts. The team was named for Baltimore's history of horse breed ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

, St. Louis and

Cleveland Rams The Cleveland Rams were a professional American football team that played in Cleveland from 1936 to 1945. The Rams competed in the second American Football League (AFL) for the 1936 season and the National Football League (NFL) from 1937 to 19 ...

Tennessee Titans The Tennessee Titans are a professional American football team based in Nashville, Tennessee. The Titans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division, and play their hom ...

Houston Oilers The Houston Oilers were a professional American football team that played in Houston from its founding in 1960 to 1996 before relocating to Memphis, and later Nashville, Tennessee becoming the Tennessee Titans. The Oilers began play in 1960 a ...

and Tennessee Oilers :

Oakland Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the Bay ...

and Los Angeles Raiders
: In 1944, during World War II,

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

and the

were a combined team called Card-Pitt. : The

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 2021 season.

Longest post-season droughts in team history

Note that the NFL did not institute a permanent playoff tournament until 1967 and that the

NFL Championship Game Throughout its history, the National Football League (NFL) and other rival American football leagues have used several different formats to determine their league champions, including a period of inter-league matchups to determine a true national c ...

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 (aka the Playoff Bowl; 1960–1969) is considered an exhibition game for the purpose of this list.
Updated through the 2021 season

References

{{NFL Franchise post-season droughts Franchise post-season droughts NFL non-appearance American football records and statistics