Which NFL Teams Have Never Won a Super Bowl?

There have been 54 Super Bowls in NFL history and, of the teams that have played in the big game, only eight have never won.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league’s National Football Conference (NFC) South division. The club joined the NFL in 1976 as an expansion team, along with the Seattle Seahawks.

The Bucs played their first season in the American Football Conference (AFC) West division as part of an NFL realignment plan that took effect that year. After the season, the club switched conferences with the Seahawks and became a member of the NFC Central, where they spent the next nine seasons. In 1995, realignment moved them from there to the NFC South.

The Bucs have won one Super Bowl, their first appearance in 2002, when they defeated the Oakland Raiders 48–21 to win Super Bowl XXXVII. They are one of five teams to have won a Super Bowl after entering a season 0–4; however, since then no other teams have accomplished this feat. As of 2020 they are also one of fourteen teams to never have won a conference championship game.

Detroit Lions

The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit, Michigan. They are members of the National Football League (NFL) as part of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Lions compete in the NFL as a member club of the league’s National Football Conference (NFC) North division. They have played in four Super Bowls, but have never won.

Cleveland Browns

The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland, Ohio. The Browns compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. The Browns play their home games at FirstEnergy Stadium, which opened in 1999, with administrative offices and training facilities in Berea, Ohio. The Browns’ official colors are brown, orange, and white. They are unique among the 32 member franchises of the NFL in that they do not have a logo on their helmets and are the only team named after a specific person, original coach Paul Brown.

The franchise was founded in 1945 by businessman Arthur B. McBride and coach Paul Brown as a charter member of the All-America Football Conference (AAFC). The Browns dominated the AAFC, compiling a 47–4–3 record in the league’s four seasons and winning its championship in each of them. When the AAFC folded after the 1949 season, the Browns joined the National Football League along with three other AAFC teams: the San Francisco 49ers, the original Baltimore Colts team and the Brooklyn Dodgers (now known as the Los Angeles Chargers). From 1965 to 1995, they made the playoffs 14 times, but did not win another championship or appear in Super Bowls XXI–XXVIII. In 1995, owner Art Modell, who had purchased majority control of the team in 1961; moved them to Baltimore where they became known as “the Ravens”, retaining all personnel and history from what then became known as “the Cleveland Browns legacy”.

Houston Texans

The Houston Texans joined the NFL in 2002 as an expansion team. They’ve never won a Super Bowl.