What NFL Teams Have Never Gone to the Super Bowl?
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It’s hard to believe but there are still four NFL teams who have never made it to the Super Bowl. Find out which teams they are and why they haven’t been able to make it to the big game.
NFL Teams That Have Never Gone to the Super Bowl
There are a total of 32 NFL teams, and of those, 12 have never made it to the big game. The Super Bowl is the biggest game in American football, and it’s the annual championship game of the National Football League (NFL). Let’s take a look at which NFL teams have never gone to the Super Bowl.
Arizona Cardinals
The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football franchise based in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The Cardinals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league’s National Football Conference (NFC) West division. The Cardinals were founded as the Morgan Athletic Club in 1898, and are the oldest continuously run professional football team in the United States. The franchise was established in Chicago in 1898, and then was a charter member of the NFL in 1920. They moved to St. Louis in 1960 and then to Phoenix in 1988. The Cardinals have won two NFL championships, both while they were based in Chicago.
Detroit Lions
The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit, Michigan. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference (NFC), and play their home games at Ford Field in Downtown Detroit. Originally based in Portsmouth, Ohio and called the Portsmouth Spartans, the team began play in 1929. Despite success within the NFL, they could not survive in Portsmouth, then the NFL’s smallest city. The team was purchased and relocated to Detroit for the 1934 season.
The Lions have won four NFL Championships, tied for 9th overall in total championships amongst all 32 NFL franchises; although they have not won an NFL title since 1957. The franchise has also experienced long periods of futility, mostly during the 1990s and 2000s; including an NFL-record 26-game losing streak from 2007 to 2010.
Houston Texans
The Houston Texans are a professional American football team based in Houston, Texas. The Texans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division. The team plays its home games at NRG Stadium.
The Texans first played in 2002 as an expansion team after Houston’s previous franchise, the Houston Oilers, relocated to Nashville, Tennessee where they are now the Tennessee Titans. The Texans joined three other AFC teams that expansion year, the Chicago Bears, Cleveland Browns and Indianapolis Colts.
In their 16 years of existence, the Texans have compiled a record of 143–141 (.504), and won their first AFC South championship in 2011.
Reasons Why These Teams Haven’t Made It to the Big Game
There are a few reasons why some NFL teams have never made it to the Super Bowl. One reason is that they haven’t had a good enough team. Another reason is that they haven’t had the luck of making it to the playoffs. We’ll take a look at each of these reasons in more detail.
Lack of Consistent Success
There are a number of reasons why NFL teams have never made it to the Super Bowl. One reason is that they have not been able to achieve consistent success over the years. A team needs to have a winning record year after year in order to have a chance at making it to the big game. Another reason why some teams have never made it to the Super Bowl is that they have never had a great quarterback leading their team. A quarterback is the most important player on an NFL team, and without a great one, it is very difficult for a team to be successful.
Injuries
Injuries are one of the most common reasons why NFL teams fail to make it to the big game. When a team’s star player goes down, it can often be the difference between winning and losing. For example, the New Orleans Saints lost their starting quarterback, Drew Brees, to a season-ending injury in Week 11 of the 2019 NFL season. The Saints went on to lose their next two games and ultimately missed out on a playoff spot.
Another reason why injuries can be so costly is that they often force teams to rely on inexperienced players. This was the case for the Green Bay Packers in 2019, when their starting quarterback, Aaron Rodgers, missed several games due to a collarbone injury. The Packers were forced to start backup quarterback Brett Hundley, who had very little NFL experience. As a result, the Packers offense struggled and they ultimately failed to make the playoffs.
Injuries are just one of many factors that can prevent an NFL team from making it to the big game. Others include poor coaching, lack of talent, and bad luck.
Bad Luck
Bad Luck
For some teams, it just seems like they can never catch a break. The Buffalo Bills made it to the Super Bowl four years in a row but never won. They’ve been trying to get back ever since. The Minnesota Vikings have been to the Super Bowl four times but have never won. And the San Diego Chargers have only been to one Super Bowl, and they lost.
Other teams have had their share of bad luck too. The Atlanta Falcons blew a 28-3 lead in the 2017 Super Bowl and lost in overtime. The Seattle Seahawks were one yard away from winning the 2015 Super Bowl, but they threw an interception instead. And the Denver Broncos lost the 1998 Super Bowl when they were stopped on fourth down with less than a minute to go.
