Longest Super Bowl Droughts: Which Teams Have Never Won The Super Bowl?

What are the longest Super Bowl droughts in NFL history, and which teams have never won the Super Bowl? Twelve NFL franchises have never won the Super Bowl: the Arizona Cardinals, Atlanta Falcons, Buffalo Bills, Carolina Panthers, Cincinnati Bengals, Cleveland Browns, Detroit Lions, Houston Texans, Jacksonville Jaguars, Los Angeles Chargers, Minnesota Vikings, and Tennessee Titans.

Longest Super Bowl Droughts

Of those 12 franchises, only two have appeared in four Super Bowls: the Bills and Vikings. The Falcons, Panthers, and Bengals each have two Super Bowl appearances as well.

The Cardinals, Chargers, and Titans have all appeared in one Super Bowl. However, four teams have never even played in the Super Bowl: the Browns, Lions, Texans, and Jaguars.

Arizona Cardinals (77 Years)

The Cardinals were founded in 1898 in Chicago as an amateur team, the Morgan Athletic Club. They went on to become the Racine Street Normals. The team later moved to St. Louis, Missouri, as the St. Louis Cardinals in 1960, then to their current home of Phoenix, Arizona, in 1988. After playing as the Phoenix Cardinals from 1988 to 1993, the team took its current name in 1994.

The Cardinals have not won an NFL championship since 1947. They played as the Chicago Cardinals back then. The team finished 9-3 and went on to defeat the Philadelphia Eagles by a final score of 28-21 in the championship game. Jimmy Conzelman won Coach of the Year that season with Chicago.

The only time the Cardinals advanced to a Super Bowl was Super Bowl XLIII, when the Pittsburgh Steelers defeated them 27-23 at Raymond James Stadium. To this day, the Cardinals still have the longest championship drought out of the 32 NFL franchises.

Detroit Lions (66 Years)

The Lions were founded in Portsmouth, Ohio, as the Portsmouth Spartans and joined the NFL on July 12, 1930. After being purchased by George A. Richards in 1934, the franchise was relocated to Detroit and renamed to the Detroit Lions in reference to the city’s Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise, the Detroit Tigers.

According to Pro Football Reference, the Lions have won four NFL championships, all of which pre-date the existence of the Super Bowl. The last of these was in 1957, which gives the club the second-longest NFL championship drought behind the Arizona Cardinals.

The Lions have won a lot of playoff games in their franchise history, but not that many in the last 60 years. Since defeating the Steelers in the Playoff Bowl in the 1962 season, the Lions have lost 14 times in the postseason and won just three playoff games — two of those victories came in the 2023 season.

Minnesota Vikings (63 Years)

Arguably the most disappointing NFL franchise to have never won the Super Bowl is the Minnesota Vikings. Despite reaching Super Bowls IV, VIII, IX, and XI, the Vikings failed to win a single championship game in the Super Bowl era. The team won one NFL Championship in 1969 and was the last team crowned NFL champions before the AFL–NFL merger in 1970.

However, the Vikings have lost more big-time games in the postseason than even the Lions. They have the most conference championship appearances of non-winning Super Bowl teams. Enough said. The only other team to play in four Super Bowls and not win a single game is the Buffalo Bills.

The Vikings were established in 1959, when three Minneapolis businessmen – Bill Boyer, H. P. Skoglund, and Max Winter – were awarded a franchise in the American Football League (AFL).

In January 1960, the ownership group forfeited its AFL membership and, along with Bernie Ridder and Ole Haugsrud, was awarded the NFL’s 14th franchise. The team began play in the 1961 season.