The Jets Are On The Verge Of Joining The 11 Teams With The Longest Playoff Droughts In NFL History

Half of the teams in the NFL end up missing the playoffs every year, and fans of every franchise are going to find themselves dealing with a string of seasons where they end up on the outside looking in at some point in time. History has shown those droughts will always come to an end at some point, but there are a number of situations where it took a very long time for those streaks to be snapped.

The New York Jets currently boast the NFL’s longest active playoff drought after extending it to 14 seasons during the first full year of the seemingly ill-fated Aaron Rodgers Experiment, and they have plenty of work to do if they want to bring it to an end in 2025.

With that said, they also have plenty of work to do when it comes to outdoing the two teams tied for the longest postseason drought in NFL history as well as some others that have had to deal with a similarly brutal stretch.

Commanders—25 Years (1946-1971)

The team currently known as the Washington Commanders initially set the mark to beat thanks to what began to unfold just a few years after the franchise that played its first season in 1932 won its second title.

In 1945, Washington fell to the Rams in what was then known as the NFL Championship in a 15-14 game—a loss that marked the end of an era for a team that had played in that contest six times in the span of a decade.

They missed the playoffs after going 5-5-1 the following year and would go through eleven coaches over the course of 25 seasons before George Allen helped them snap the streak with a one-and-done playoff showing after coming aboard in 1971 (they’d make it all the way to the Super Bowl the following year before losing to the Dolphins).

Cardinals—25 Years (1949-1974)

The Cardinals kicked off an equally terrible streak of their own just a few years after Washington, as the team that was playing in Chicago when it began missed the playoffs in 1949 by posting a 6-5-1 record— a year after going 11-1 and falling just short in its question to defend its championship.

The team had relocated to St. Louis by the time it also snapped the streak with a one-and-done appearance of its own after going 10-4 in 1974 when Don Coryell was able to do what more than a dozen head coaches before him had failed to.

Steelers—24 Years (1948-1972)

The Steelers emerged as one of the best teams in the NFL in the 1970s, and that was an especially satisfying development for fans who’d spent more than two decades waiting for them to just make the playoffs.

It took 15 years for Pittsburgh to punch its ticket to the postseason for the first time in franchise history, but anyone who was feeling optimistic when they finally got over the hump in 1947 was left sorely disappointed.

The Steelers only finished above .500 five times in the 24 years that followed. It took Chuck Noll a few seasons to find his footing after replacing Bill Austin as head coach in 1969, but the Steelers snapped the streak in 1972 and would win the first of back-to-back Super Bowls just a couple of years later (a feat they’d repeat at the end of the decade).

Saints—20 Years (1967-1987)

The Saints joined the NFL in 1967, and anyone who decided to start rooting for the team probably regretted that decision thanks to the misery that defined the first two decades of their existence.

The Saints not only failed to make the playoffs during their first 20 years but never even posted a winning record during that span (they finished at .500 just two times) before Jim Mora brought the drought to an end by leading them to a 12-3 record during his second year as head coach in 1987.

Eagles—17 Years (1961-1978)

There are four teams that have endured a playoff drought spanning exactly 17 years, and the Eagles were the first to join that particular club.

In 1960, Philadelphia not only snapped a ten-year postseason dearth but won the NFL Championship over the Packers. The team finished at a respectable 10-4 the following year but failed to make the cut and wouldn’t do so again until securing a wild card berth in 1978 before being eliminated by the Falcons.

Giants—17 Years (1964-1981)

One of Philly’s biggest rivals was also down pretty bad around the same time, as the Giants ushered in a 17-season drought of their own in 1964 in the wake of three consecutive losses in the NFL Championship,

A 9-5 campaign in 1970 was really the only bright spot for a franchise that had a ton of brutal seasons during the stretch that came to a merciful end during Lawrence Taylor’s rookie year in 1981, as they topped the Eagles in the wild card round before the 49ers brought their campaign to an end.

Bills—17 Years (2000-2017)

The first two 17-season droughts are relatively ancient history compared to a couple of others I assume most NFL fans are familiar with based on how recently they came to an end.

The dawn of the new millennium marked the advent of a dark time in Buffalo, as a Bills team that had made the playoffs in four of the five seasons that closed out the 20th century missed them by going 8-8 in 2000.

That marked Wade Phillips’ final year with the Bills, and none of the eight coaches who spent time at the helm were able to do what Sean McDermott finally did when he led them to the playoffs in his first season after taking over in 2017.

Browns—17 Years (2003-2020)

Most NFL fans are intimately familiar with the struggles the Browns faced after returning from their three-year hiatus in the mid-1990s, and the wheels really fell off after they went 9-7 in 2002 to make the playoffs.

Their 10-6 campaign in 2007 was the only time Cleveland posted a winning record during a drought where they became the second team in NFL history to go 0-16 (which transpired a year after they posted a 1-15 record).

Kevin Stefanski more than earned Coach of the Year honors when he brought the unenviable run to an end during his first season in 2020, and while the team hit a rough patch this year, it’s kind of hard to complain due to what preceded it.

Lions—16 Years (1936-1952)

The Lions are the second team on this list to kick off a lengthy postseason drought immediately after winning a championship, as Detroit missed the playoffs with an 8-4 record in 1936 after beating the Giants for the title.

The team was fairly competitive during this streak (they finished at .500 or better nine times) but also had some brutal seasons (including a 0-11 showing in 1942) before they bounced back in a big way with a championship in 1952.

Cardinals—15 Years (1983-1998)

The Cardinals are the only team on this list to make multiple appearances; the franchise wasn’t able to match its dubious record-tying achievement, but it still subjected a new generation of fans to some rough times after making the playoffs in the strike-shortened 1982 season.

The Cardinals relocated to Phoenix in the midst of a drought that was still ongoing when they rebranded to swap the city’s name for Arizona. None of those changes were able to spark a drastic turnaround, but they returned to the playoffs in 1998 and advanced to the divisional round before kicking off another nine-year drought.

Packers—15 Years (1945-1960)

The Packers quickly turned over a new leaf after the legendary Vince Lombardi took over in Green Bay at the end of the 1950s, but it had spent 15 years rotting due to the downturn that began after the team won the NFL Championship in 1944.

That marked the sixth title Curly Lambeau won during his time as the head coach of the Packers, but it was also the final one he’d win with a team that wouldn’t make the playoffs for the remainder of his tenure.

A handful of coaches that came and left Green Bay in his wake were unable to right the ship, but the streak ended in 1960 during the second year of the Lombardi Era with a loss in the NFL Championship (a game they’d win the next two seasons).