The 7 Best Teams That Should Have Won A Championship But Fell Short

In sports, only one team gets to raise a banner at the end of the season, but the winner isn’t always the one most people would consider the best. That includes losers who choked in a big moment or lost to a team that got hot at the right time while failing to win the title they probably should have, and there are some that stick out more than the rest.

These Are The Seven Best Teams That Never Won A Championship

There’s nothing more painful than watching your team dominate over the course of the regular season to the point where it seems like a championship is inevitable only to watch them fall short of that goal.

That was the case with these teams on this list, including those who seemed like a lock to win a title in one particular year and others who appeared poised to do so in multiple seasons but failed to.

Before we dive in, I should note I’m not going to include ones that capitalized on an immediate shot at redemption (like the 2015-16 Warriors, who won the year after going 73-9 in the regular season with the same core).

Without further ado…

2014-15 Kentucky Men’s Basketball

The 2014-15 Kentucky Wildcats started their season 38-0. The stacked roster looked unbeatable before ultimately falling to Wisconsin in the Final Four.

They remain the only NCAA Division one team to start a season 38-0. They featured NBA All-Stars Karl-Anthony Towns and Devin Booker, and neither of them was the leading scorer.

Their point guard, Aaron Harrison, led the Cats in PPG that year, which is why many people consider them the greatest college roster ever assembled.

The Wildcats finished the regular season with a 31-0 record, kept it clean with three straight wins to clinch the SEC Tournament, and earned the top seed in the NCAA Tournament before dispatching their first four opponents.

However, Wisconsin ended their season and their dreams of a championship with a 71-64 win in the Final Four.

2007 New England Patriots

The 2007 New England Patriots ran the table in the regular season in 2007, and they reached the Super Bowl XLI with an 18-0 record before falling to the New York Giants.

Like Kentucky, the Pats remain the only NFL team to go 18-0 in a season; the only other team with a similarly spotless record is the 1972 Miami Dolphins, who capped their perfect season with a Super Bowl victory to go 17-0.

The 2007 Patriots saw Tom Brady throw for 50 touchdowns and win MVP. Randy Moss caught 23 touchdowns, which remains an NFL record. Even though Brady would win with other Patriots teams, this version with Randy Moss and Wes Welker never did.

The 1996-97 and 1997-98 Utah Jazz

Reaching the NBA Finals in back-to-back seasons is extremely difficult. The Utah Jazz did it in 1997 and 1998 but ultimately lost both times thanks to the other team that was also able to check that box: the Bulls, who pulled off their second threepeat to cap off the end of the Jordan Era.

The team featured two Hall of Famers: Karl Malone and John Stockton. The former was a two-time MVP, and Stockton remains the NBA all-time leader in assists thanks in no small part to his chemistry with The Mailman.

Utah was outmatched by those Bulls teams, but it is a shame this great duo had so much success and never got a ring.

The 2019-2023 San Francisco 49ers

The San Fransico 49ers made the NFC Championship Game four times in five years between the 2019 and 2023 seasons. They fell short of the Super Bowl on two occasions, and while they also made it to The Big Game a couple of times, they lost to Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs in each instance.

The makeup of the team obviously varied from year to year, but the core of George Kittle, Fred Warner, and Nick Bosa (coached by Kyle Shanahan) has remained. The 49ers consistently had an elite roster but always seemed to come up a play or two short in the biggest games.

The roster has maintained enough continuity and kept the same coach, so if San Francisco gets it done in the next few years, it probably justifies removing them from this list.

2011 LSU Football

The 2011 LSU Tigers entered the BCS National Championship game 12-0, already having beaten the team they were playing, Alabama. However, this time, LSU failed to score a single point, losing 21-0 to the Tide.

The teams finished 1-1 against each other, but Alabama got to call themselves national champions. The title game was an all-time dud for LSU, which put up a mere 92 yards of total offense and crossed the 50-yard line only once.

But the 13-1 Tigers are still one of the best college teams ever assembled. The defense featured future pro bowlers Tyrann Mathieu and Eric Reid, and the offense had Odell Beckham Jr. They definitely wish there had been a rubber match after ending the year 1-1 against Bama.

2001 Seattle Mariners

No team in MLB history has won more games in a single regular season than the 2001 Seattle Mariners. The Mariners won 116 games, but failed to win when they needed to most by losing to the New York Yankees in the ALCS.

What makes it even more of a bummer is that the Mariners have never made the World Series in their history.

The Mariners were stacked in 2001; rookie sensation Ichiro Suzuki won the league MVP with a .350 batting average. Second Baseman Bret Boone finished third in MVP voting with a .331 average and a league-leading 141 RBIs.

If there was ever a year Seattle was going to get it done, that was it.

1990-93 Buffalo Bills

The Buffalo Bills won the AFC four times in a row from 1990 to 1993, and somehow they never won a Super Bowl. Three of those four games were not particularly close, but  in their first attempt, they lost on a last-second missed field goal that Scott Norwood infamously sent wide right at the end of Super Bowl XXV.

Losing a Super Bowl is painful enough, but four in a row is almost impossible. It’s a shame this one didn’t happen in the modern era, because the slander memes would be priceless.

But the early 90s Bills were no joke. Quarterback Jim Kelly was a five-time Pro Bowler and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2002. Running back Thurman Thomas won league MVP in 1991, and defensive end Bruce Smith remains the all-time NFL sack leader.

The Bills are still searching for their first Super Bowl victory to this day, which makes this run sting even more.