From 2000 to 2013, we saw five teams win their first Super Bowl. Since 2014, however, the 2017 Philadelphia Eagles are the only other squad to scratch their names off the list of teams that have never won football’s ultimate prize.
The list of Super Bowl-less franchises has stayed at 12 for almost a decade. So, how do they all stack up heading into the 2025 season? Here, we rank every team that’s never won the Super Bowl in order based on when we expect them to finally get the job done.
Which Super Bowl-less NFL teams are poised to win one soon?
12. Cleveland Browns
We’re at the point where we don’t know what the Cleveland Browns’ long-term direction is. Trading Myles Garrett would have netted a monster haul to help their rebuild, but they instead made him the NFL’s highest-paid defensive player.
It’s also hard to get a read on the QB situation. Joe Flacco, Kenny Pickett, Shedeur Sanders and Dillon Gabriel? A 40-year-old veteran, a Pittsburgh Steelers draft bust, and two unproven rookies. Anyone else struggling to find a solution there to challenge Joe Burrow and Lamar Jackson in the AFC North?
Cleveland’s top three offensive linemen, Wyatt Teller, Joel Bitonio, and Jack Conklin, are on the wrong side of 30. Nick Chubb’s gruesome knee injury and subsequent departure left the Browns without a game-changing, top-five running back, too.
Garrett isn’t getting any younger heading into his age-30 season. Playing Jackson and Burrow in the AFC North makes the Browns’ path to a championship even harder.
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Add it all up, and no Super Bowl-less franchise faces a more challenging road to championship glory than Cleveland.
11. Carolina Panthers
Unlike the Browns, the Panthers at least have a potential long-term solution behind center. Bryce Young lost his starting job to Andy Dalton last year but was thrust back into the starting position after the latter suffered minor injuries in a car accident.
Young played very well down the stretch and looked like the guy Carolina envisioned that would go first overall in 2023. So there’s that.
But the jury is still out on Young. We gotta see him put it together for another year. Young receivers Xavier Legette and Tetairoa McMillan have high upside, so imagine where this offense could go if all three players hit their ceilings.
The main worry here is Carolina’s helpless defense. They finished 32nd in scoring defense a year ago and don’t have much to offer outside of star cornerback Jaycee Horn and defensive tackle Derrick Brown. But even Horn is a concern, as injuries have limited him to just 37 games over his first four seasons.
Carolina is in “We need to see it to believe it” territory. One thing going for them is that they play in football’s worst division, the NFC South. So if their young guns get going sooner than expected, Carolina could emerge as a contender much sooner than expected.
10. Tennessee Titans
After being stuck in the “mushy middle” for a while, the Titans sank to the bottom of the standings and got themselves a promising quarterback, Cam Ward, with the top pick of 2025.
It’s not fair to assume that Ward and the Titans will make an immediate jump similar to last year’s Washington Commanders. Ward isn’t surrounded by a proven All-Star coaching staff and the same talent that Jayden Daniels has, but there is a solid young core intact.
The Titans allowed the second-fewest yards last season and have a loaded front seven led by Jeffery Simmons, Arden Key, T’Vondre Sweat, and rookie Oluwafemi Oladejo. If last year’s marquee trade pickup, L’Jarius Sneed, can regain his star-like form, the Titans’ D will be in even better hands.
Tennessee needs more offensive weaponry around Ward. Calvin Ridley and Tyler Lockett are on the wrong side of 30, and three-time 1K rusher Tony Pollard, at age 28, isn’t young anymore.
2025 will be a year of growing pains, but the Titans can’t rush the process. Take your time developing Ward. When the time comes, free agency and the trade market can be used to bolster his supporting cast.
9. Arizona Cardinals
Arizona fans won’t be happy with this spot. But hear us out.
Kyler Murray has been in the NFL for six seasons now. We haven’t seen one consistent season from start to finish. A 36-45-1 record and one playoff trip is underwhelming for a former highly-touted first-overall pick.
Murray’s tendency to start a season off strong before cooling down in the second half is the real cause for concern. If he ever finds a way to be consistent, Arizona will go from “mushy middle” to championship contention. Big if, though.
Now, we love their offensive nucleus of Murray, Trey McBride, Marvin Harrison Jr., and James Conner. The defense looks better now with prized rookie corner Will Johnson and veteran pass-rusher Josh Sweat arriving in The Desert, too.
But we’re hesitant to buy the Cardinals’ hype until they show us they’re worthy of it. Also factoring in their low ranking here: They’re the fourth-best team in the unforgiving NFC West division. The Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco 49ers are perennial Super Bowl contenders, and the new-look Seattle Seahawks aren’t to be slept on with three straight winning seasons in the post-Russell Wilson era.
If Arizona finishes below .500 again in 2025, there will be significant changes. Could that mean moving on from Murray and going back to square one? The uncertainty here makes us doubt that the Cardinals are close to capturing their first-ever Super Bowl.
8. Jacksonville Jaguars
The Jaguars appeared to be on the up in 2022 when they won the AFC South and reached the Divisional Round, where they put up a scare on the eventual Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs.
But a late-season collapse in 2023 and a disastrous 2024 season forced sweeping changes. Owner Shad Khan fired head coach Doug Pederson and GM Trent Baalke, replacing them with Liam Coen and James Gladstone, respectively.
Gladstone wasted no time leaving his mark in Duval County. At the draft, he moved up from 5 to 2 to take two-way phenom Travis Hunter. Gotta love the aggression, and now there’s a clearer long-term path for Jacksonville to re-emerge as a Super Bowl player.
We’re still waiting to see Trevor Lawrence, once regarded as a generational QB prospect, put it all together. Truth be told, we’re struggling to see how he’ll fail with Hunter and rising superstar Brian Thomas Jr. as his top two receivers. And if Coen could get a career year out of Baker Mayfield in Tampa Bay, why can’t he get the ultra-talented Lawrence to finally break out?
Jacksonville has a lot of talent on defense, too, namely Josh Hines-Allen, Travon Walker, Tyson Campbell and now Travis Hunter. Playing in the weak AFC South makes life easier, too.
A bit more patience is needed in Jacksonville, but the talent is there on both sides for the Jags to soon become a contender again. And Khan has always been willing to pay top dollar to bring marquee free agents to Duval County.
But again, we need to SEE Lawrence break out to believe it. If he can’t get it going with Hunter and Thomas, then what does Jacksonville do at QB?
7. Atlanta Falcons
The signing of Kirk Cousins last year was supposed to put Atlanta in Super Bowl contention. They had an elite set of offensive weapons, a top-tier offensive line, and a talented young defense.
But Cousins’ inconsistent play and second-half unraveling forced the Falcons to play rookie Michael Penix Jr. for the final three games. The offense showed more life with Penix, but we haven’t seen enough to justify putting Atlanta higher.
Here’s the thing: The pieces ARE THERE. Penix Jr. has a super-high ceiling. Bijan Robinson, Drake London, Darnell Mooney, and Kyle Pitts are all 1,000-yard weapons, too.
The defense added more juice with Leonard Floyd and the first-round selections of Jalen Walker and James Pearce Jr. With AJ Terrell and Jessie Bates patrolling the secondary, Atlanta has what it takes to be a Super Bowl team.
Now, it’s time to put all the talent together and execute. Atlanta plays in the weak NFC South, and they have a much better long-term outlook than their three rivals. But the Falcons have quite a history of entering the season as a “paper tiger” without living up to it.
If Penix Jr. breaks out and leads Atlanta to the playoffs in 2025, we’ll have them higher on this list next year. But it’s not realistic to think the Falcons will scratch their names off the list of Super Bowl-less franchises this season.
6. Los Angeles Chargers
We honestly wanna put the Chargers higher. But the “Chargers gonna Charger” thing won’t escape our minds.
The Bolts blew a 27-0 lead in their first playoff game of the Justin Herbert era. Playing a short-handed Houston team in the 2024 wild card round, LA lost 32-12. Pee-eww.
They’ve got a star-studded group on both sides of the ball. Jim Harbaugh is arguably a top-five coach in football. Other than the fact that they play in the brutal AFC West, the only other major obstacle is erasing the “Chargers gonna Charger” jinx. We gotta see ‘em to believe ‘em.
5. Minnesota Vikings
We’d like to have the Vikings higher. They won 14 games last year with Sam Darnold. They added Jonathan Allen, Javon Hargrave, Will Fries, and Ryan Kelly to the Justin Jefferson-led squad. Why aren’t they higher?
3 simple things:
1. J.J. McCarty still hasn’t played an NFL snap. We don’t know what Minny has in him
2. The Vikings are snake-bitten like the Chargers and find ways to blow it every time you think “this year is different.”
3. They play in the NFC North with three other star-studded teams and championship hopefuls.
Those three questions must be answered for us to consider moving Minnesota higher. But yes, Kevin O’Connell’s group has all the talent in the world to trim this Super Bowl-less group down to 11 teams very soon.
4. Houston Texans
This ranking will surprise some. But unlike the Vikings and Chargers, the Texans have played well in the postseason and don’t look fazed by the playoff pressure.
This team has all the main ingredients to win. A top head coach in DeMeco Ryans, a franchise QB in CJ Stroud, a deep set of offensive weapons, and a championship-caliber defense. Oh, and they get to beat up on their three inferior divisional opponents annually. That never hurts.
Even without Tank Dell and Stefon Diggs for last season’s Divisional Round with KC, the Texans gave them a scare and only lost by nine. Now imagine what Houston could do in the postseason at full strength?
The offense is loaded with Stroud, Nico Collins, Tank Dell, Joe Mixon, Jaylin Noel, and Jayden Higgins. Will Anderson Jr., Derek Stingley Jr., and Danielle Hunter are as good a defensive trio as it gets.
On paper, Houston has the pieces to finally win it all.
3. Cincinnati Bengals
In two of Joe Burrow’s three fully healthy seasons, the Bengals have played in two AFC Championship Games and a Super Bowl. They’re a few bounces away from having at least one banner hanging in Paycor Stadium.
So, we don’t have to ramble too much here. Burrow led the NFL in passing yards and TDs last year. Ja’Marr Chase won the triple crown of receiving. Trey Hendrickson led the NFL in sacks.
Cincy was let down by a porous defense last year, but that was a one-off and not the sign of a decline. The unit has too much talent to be a letdown again, plus they just need a healthy Burrow, Chase, and Tee Higgins to really contend for a title.
Burrow has three wins against Patrick Mahomes, including one in the 2021 AFC title game. If they stay healthy, the Bengals will eventually win a Super Bowl or two with the Burrow-led core. Bank on it.
2. Buffalo Bills
We don’t have a lot more tooting of the Bills’ horn to do here. We all know what they’re capable of.
Reigning MVP Josh Allen proved last year that he doesn’t need Stefon Diggs to succeed. The Bills always have a top-10 defense. The only thing stopping them from a Super Bowl is the Kansas City roadblock.
After the “13-second game”, “Wide Right Part II” and this year’s heartbreaking AFC title game loss…you gotta think the Bills are due for ONE LUCKY PLAYOFF BOUNCE AGAINST KANSAS CITY. Right?! Right?!
Or are the Bills just forever jinxed? And will they never solve the Chiefs? Will the Ravens and Bengals also step up and become new obstacles for the Bills? Hmm…
1. Detroit Lions
On paper, nothing is stopping the Lions from being the next Super Bowl-less team to win it all. They get the nod here over Josh Allen’s squad because the Lions don’t have a “Kryptonite” in the NFC like the Bills do with the Chiefs.
They have a top-five offense loaded with star power: Jared Goff, Jahmyr Gibbs, David Montgomery, Amon-Ra St. Brown, Jameson Williams, and Sam LaPorta. To say nothing of that star-studded o-line that should still be elite without Frank Ragnow.
The defense was ravaged by injuries last year, but you won’t find many deeper groups than Detroit’s at full strength. Aidan Hutchinson, Kerby Joseph, and Terrion Arnold can become top-five guys at their positions. The signing of DJ Reed bolsters an already strong secondary, and imagine if Jack Campbell takes that next step forward.
A healthy Lions club is neck-and-neck with the Philadelphia Eagles, but otherwise ahead of every other NFC team by a healthy margin.
A 2023 NFC title game appearance followed by a franchise-best 15-win season. It just feels like Detroit’s time is bound to come. Perhaps as soon as 2025?
