As we reach the end of another gruelling, exciting, heroic, disappointing (select/add the adjective of your choice) regular season in the National Football League, the playoffs are now taking our full attention. The teams that have made it are readying themselves for the next challenge while the rest reflect on what could have been en route to the drawing board.
So, out of the 32 teams that make up the league -- which as you know since 2002 has been divided into two conferences of 16 teams in the AFC, American Football Conference, and the NFC, National Football Conference -- how many have never reached the postseason? The answer says a lot about how the draft system balances things out over the years.
The #NFLPlayoffs are set! pic.twitter.com/vo4P57jduL
— NFL (@NFL) January 9, 2023
Every current NFL team has reached playoffs
Seven teamsfrom each of the NFL’s two conferencesqualify for the playoffs, and a tie-breaking procedure is used when required to ensure we end up with a total of 14. And as it turns out, all 32 active NFL teams have qualified for and even won a game in the playoffs.
There are only three teams that have not made it to double figures in playoff appearances, namely, the Carolina Panthers (8), the Jacksonville Jaguars (7) and the Houston Texans (6). At the other end, those with the most times in postseason are the Green Bay Packers (35), Dallas Cowboys (34), Pittsburgh Steelers (33) and the New York Giants (32).
What is the longest playoff drought?
OK, so we now know that there is not an active NFL teams that have never made itto the playoffs ever since the AFL and the NFL merged, there area few teams who have really struggled in recent years to make it past the regular season, never mind getting all the way to the Super Bowl. Here is a list of those teams with rather frustrated fans:
Team | Last appearance in post-season | Seasons |
---|---|---|
New York Jets | 2010 AFC championship | 12 |
Denver Broncos | 2015 Super Bowl 50 | 7 |
Detroit Lions | 2016 NFC wild card | 6 |
Carolina Panthers | 2017 NFC wild card | 5 |
Atlanta Falcons | 2017 NFC divisional | 5 |
Which NFL team has never played in the Super Bowl?
The Detroit Lions came so, so close to reaching the playoffs this year with a Week 18 victory over the Green Bay Packers. Yet, it wasn’t to be, and they are actually the oldest NFL team never to have appearedin a Super Bowl andthe only franchisefrom the NFC to have never played for the trophy. Theirlast playoff victory came in 1992.
Which NFL teams have never won the Super Bowl?
In all, there are12 teams who are yet to win the Super Bowl. They are as follows: