What NFL Teams Have Never Played in the Super Bowl?

With the NFL playoffs in full swing, we thought it would be fun to take a look at which teams have never made it to the big game.

The NFL’s Beginnings

The National Football League (NFL) began in 1920 with eleven teams. The league has expanded and contracted numerous times throughout its 100 year history. As of 2020, there are 32 teams in the NFL. Of those 32, there are 12 teams that have never played in a Super Bowl.

The first NFL game

The first NFL game was played on October 3, 1920, between the undefeated Chicago Bears and the winless Detroit Lions. The Bears won their first game 7-6, but the Lions would go on to win the next four NFL championships. In 1933, the NFL split into two divisions, the Eastern and Western, and a championship game was added. The first championship game was held in Chicago and featured the Bears and Lions again, with the Bears winning 34-21.

The first Super Bowl

The first Super Bowl was played on January 15, 1967, pitting the NFL champion Green Bay Packers against the AFL champion Kansas City Chiefs. Green Bay won the game 35-10.

NFL Teams That Have Never Played in the Super Bowl

The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league. The Super Bowl is the biggest and most important American football game of the year. It is the annual championship game of the NFL. Every year, two NFL teams play against each other in the Super Bowl. But there are some NFL teams that have never played in the Super Bowl.

Cleveland Browns

Cleveland Browns- The Browns have never played in the Super Bowl, but they did make it to the NFL Championship game in 1950, which was the precursor to the Super Bowl.

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) in the National Football League (NFL), 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 financially in Portsmouth, then the smallest city in the NFL. 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 teams; although they have yet to win a Super Bowl. Their championship totals are surpassed by only eight other teams: Green Bay (13), Chicago (9), New York Giants (8), Pittsburgh (6), Oakland/Los Angeles Raiders (5), San Francisco (5), New England (5), and Dallas (5). They have compiled a record of 700–767–32 (.480) through the end of the 2016 season, good for 9th place overall since joining the NFL.

Houston Texans

The Houston Texans have never played in a Super Bowl. The Texans began play in 2002 as an expansion team, and have yet to make it to the big game. The Texans have made the playoffs five times in their history, with their best season coming in 2012 when they went 12-4 and won the AFC South.

Why These Teams Have Never Played in the Super Bowl

There are a few teams in the NFL that have never played in the Super Bowl. This could be due to a variety of reasons, such as never making it to the playoffs, or never having a good enough team. Let’s take a look at a few of these teams and the reasons why they have never made it to the big game.

Lack of success

There are a number of reasons why certain NFL teams have never played in the Super Bowl. Perhaps the most common reason is simply that the team has not been good enough. There are a number of teams who have never had a particularly successful season, and as a result, they have never made it to the big game.

Other teams have been good enough to make it to the playoffs on occasion, but they have never quite been able to make it all the way to the Super Bowl. This can be due to a number of factors, such as bad luck, injuries, or simply being in the same conference as another team that is consistently more successful.

Finally, there are a few teams who have had much success but who have never won a Super Bowl. This is often due to the fact that they have lost in the playoffs every time they have made it that far. In some cases, this is due to bad luck, but in other cases, it is simply because they were not good enough to win when it mattered most.

Financial reasons

Financial reasons are often cited as the main obstacle preventing certain NFL teams from ever appearing in the Super Bowl. Small-market teams simply cannot compete with the large-market teams when it comes to generating revenue, which is necessary for fielding a competitive team. For example, the Green Bay Packers have a much smaller fan base and generate far less revenue than the Dallas Cowboys, yet they have appeared in more Super Bowls.

Other reasonssmall-market teams cite for not being able to compete for a spot in the Super Bowl include a lack of access to quality players and coaches, and a smaller pool of potential fans to draw from when selling tickets. Additionally, small-market teams often have difficulty generating enough revenue to fund their operations, let alone build a competitive team.

Poor management

One of the most common explanations for why certain NFL teams have never played in the Super Bowl is poor management. This can manifest itself in a number of ways, such as a team consistently hiring bad head coaches, making poor personnel decisions, or being unable to build a good enough roster because of financial constraints.

The Washington Redskins are often cited as an example of a team that has been poorly managed for much of its history. The Redskins have only made it to the Super Bowl five times in their history and haven’t won a title since the 1991 season. Part of the reason for their lack of success is that they’ve only had three winning seasons in the last 20 years.

Another team that has been poorly managed is the Cleveland Browns. The Browns have only made it to the playoffs once since returning to the NFL as an expansion franchise in 1999 and have never made it to the Super Bowl. The Browns have had seven different head coaches since 1999 and none of them have been able to turn the team into a consistent winner.

The Detroit Lions are also often mentioned as an example of a team with poor management. The Lions have only made it to the playoffs once in the last 20 years and haven’t won a division title since 1993. The Lions have fired eight different head coaches since 2000 and haven’t been able to find any sustained success.