The Super Bowl era began in 1966, and despite 56 editions of the game having been played, there are still a handful of teams without a Lombardi Trophy.
While some of those teams are fairly recent expansion franchises, others have been playing professional football since well before the first Super Bowl.
Here, we have a list of all the teams without a Super Bowl, as well as a brief history of how close each franchise has come to winning it all.
Appearances: 1
The Arizona Cardinals are the oldest professional football team in American history, and they've only been to one Super Bowl.
The Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Cardinals 27-23 in the 2008 season's Super Bowl, and Arizona has only been back to the playoffs four times since then.
Arizona did win two NFL Championships before the merger in 1966, with the wins coming in the 1925 and 1947 campaigns.
Appearances: 2
The Atlanta Falcons joined the NFL at the start of the Super Bowl era, after making 14 playoff appearances in 59 seasons, they are still without a Super Bowl.
The closest they came was during their second-most-recent playoff appearance, in the 2016 season. Atlanta famously led 28-3 with just over eight minutes left in the third quarter against the New England Patriots, but they ended up losing 34-28 in overtime.
The Falcons also made the 1998 season's Super Bowl, where they fell to the Denver Broncos by a 34-19 score.
Appearances: 4
The Buffalo Bills have come the closest of any Super Bowl-less franchise to lifting the Lombardi Trophy. Hall of Fame QB Jim Kelly led the team to four straight Super Bowls from 1990-1993, and the Bills fell short in all four.
Buffalo lost by a point to the New York Giants in the 1990 season, by 13 to Washington in the 1991 season, by 35 to the Dallas Cowboys in 1992, and by 17 to Dallas in 1993.
Perhaps something of a silver lining is the fact the Bills won the two AFL Championships (1964 and 1965) immediately preceding the NFL-AFL merger.
Appearances: 2
The Carolina Panthers were founded in 1995, making it among the newest NFL franchises. The Panthers have yet to win a Super Bowl in 30 seasons of existence.
Their first Super Bowl loss was in the 2003 season, with John Fox coaching and Jake Delhomme under center. They went 11-5 in the regular season but fell to the New England Patriots by a 32-29 score at the final hurdle.
More recently, QB Cam Newton and LB Luke Kuechly led the team to the 2015 edition, but they lost 24-10 to Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos.
Appearances: 3
The Cincinnati Bengals joined the NFL in 1968, two seasons after the merger that kicked off the Super Bowl era, and they've since been to three Super Bowls.
The first was in 1981, when QB Ken Anderson and company lost 26-21 to the San Francisco 49ers, who were led by coach Bill Walsh and QB Joe Montana. Cincy's next Super Bowl loss was in the 1988 campaign when they lost 20-16, again to Montana and Walsh's Niners.
The Bengals' most recent Super Bowl loss was in the final game of the 2021 campaign, when they lost to the Los Angeles Rams 23-20.
Appearances: 0
The Cleveland Browns were founded in 1946, and they have never even appeared in the Super Bowl.
The closest they came was in the second half of the 1980s, when they reached three AFC Championship games in four seasons under head coach Marty Schottenheimer and QB Bernie Kosar.
As with the Bills, long-suffering Browns fans can take solace in the fact they won the second-to-last NFL Championship (1964) before the 1966 merger. This team has made just two playoff appearances since 2003.
Appearances: 0
The Detroit Lions were founded in 1930 and are one of the oldest American football teams in history, but they've still never been to a Super Bowl.
The Lions' glory years were in the 1950s, when they won three NFL Championships in four appearances between the 1952 and 1957 seasons. They also won a title back in 1935.
Detroit's most recent deep playoff run was in 2023, when they lost by just three points to the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship. That was their longest run in 32 years, as their last conference championship appearance was in 1991.
Appearances: 0
The Houston Texans are the NFL's newest franchise, as they were founded in 2002. They've never been past the Divisional Round of the playoffs.
The Texans have gone .500 or better in 12 of their 23 seasons, but they've never been able to make a deep playoff run.
Houston has gone 10-7 in each of its two seasons under current head coach DeMeco Ryans and second-year QB CJ Stroud. They'll hope to build on that in the near future in an effort to get off this list.
Appearances: 0
Another one of the newer teams on this list, the Jaguars joined the NFL in 1995 as an expansion team, and they've made the playoffs eight times in 30 seasons of existence.
The Jags have made the AFC Championship game three times, losing in the 1996, 1999 and 2017 seasons.
Jacksonville lost to the New England Patriots 24-20 in the most recent one. They lost 33-14 to the Tennessee Titans in the 1999 edition and 20-6 to the Pats in the 1996 campaign.
Appearances: 1
The Los Angeles Chargers have been in professional football since before the first Super Bowl, and they've still only appeared in the big game once.
That was in 1994, when the then-San Diego Chargers got blown out by the San Francisco 49ers by a 49-26 score. They've been to the AFC Championship just once since then, in the 2007 season with Philip Rivers under center and Ladanian Tomlinson in the backfield.
The Chargers are yet another franchise that won a title right before the Super Bowl era began as they won the AFL Championship in 1963.
Appearances: 4
All four of the Minnesota Vikings appearances were between the 1969 and 1976 seasons. Their last conference championship appearance was in 2017, and their last playoff win was in 2019.
For their first Super Bowl appearance, the Vikings had Bud Grant as head coach and Alan Page under center. They lost 23-7 to the Kansas City Chiefs.
In the team's three more recent appearances, they had Fran Tarkenton at QB with Grant coaching. They lost 24-7 to the Miami Dolphins in the 1973 version, 16-6 to the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 1974 season, and 32-14 to the Oakland Raiders in the 1976 campaign.
Appearances: 1
The Tennessee Titans have only appeared in one Super Bowl dating back to their time as the Houston Oilers.
Having played in the AFL - and won two championships in 1960 and 1961 - before the NFL merger, the franchise lost its footing after the leagues joined together. They didn't appear in a Super Bowl until 1999 and haven't appeared in one since.
In their only Super Bowl, the Titans - led by QB Steve McNair and RB Eddie George - lost 23-16 to the St. Louis Rams. They've made nine playoff appearances and two AFC Championship appearances since then.