Getty Matthew Stafford stumbles in the playoffs in Seattle.
The Kansas City Chiefs have finally made the Super Bowl at long last, and it’s a moment which the city has been waiting for since 1969.
Now that the Chiefs have ended their elongated drought, the Detroit Lions come into focus as one of the teams that has the last remaining excruciating Super Bowl drought. It’s reached 54 years, tied for the highest total in football with that of the Cleveland Browns.
Now that the Chiefs have snapped their Super Bowl drought, here are the longest streaks remaining:
– BROWNS 54 years
– LIONS 54 years
– JETS 51 years
– VIKINGS 43 years
– DOLPHINS 35 years
The Lions and their fans have been waiting for a long time for a Super Bowl, and will seemingly have to keep waiting for a while given the turn things took in 2019 on the field.
Though the Lions have been miserable through the years in terms of a drought, strangely enough, however, they don’t have the longest current drought in the league in terms of a playoff win. That belongs to the Cincinnati Bengals, who haven’t won a playoff game since 1990. The Lions last playoff win came in 1992 against the Dallas Cowboys at home.
Longest draught since a team’s last playoff win:
1. Bengals: 1990 Wild Card
2. Lions: 1991 Divisional
3. Browns: 1994 Wild Card
4. Bills: 1995 Wild Card
An opportunity for the Bills to take another step forward today.
Obviously, the Buffalo Bills are one of the next teams on the list, and in terms of this group, they are the squad that looks like they can break through and do the biggest amounts of winning in the future.
Detroit still has a ways to go, but the good news is, they don’t have the worst playoff win drought even though their Super Bowl drought persists.
Lions Playoff History
The Lions have been one of the more miserable teams historically when it comes to the playoffs. Detroit, as the tweet points out, hasn’t won since 1991. It’s not just 1991, however. Prior to that win, the Lions hadn’t won a playoff game since 1957. They had lost three times combined in the 1970s and 1980s. They’ve had plenty of misfortune in the playoffs as well, losing games in heartbreaking fashion and blowout fashion as well.
Detroit last appeared in the playoffs in 2018, but quickly bowed out, losing to the Seattle Seahawks in close fashion. They haven’t been consistent enough through the years at both making the playoffs and also winning when they do manage to get there.
With Matt Patricia in the fold, the goal is to get to be a team that not only makes the playoffs consistently, but is able to deliver big wins when they get there.
Why 49ers Offer Lions Hope
Though many Detroit fans likely won’t let bygones be bygones with several of the players, executives and coaches they used to have, it’s probably a good time to do just that. San Francisco offers Detroit hope that one day, the Lions could be in their shoes. Just a year ago, the 49ers were coming off a dreadful 4-12 season, picking high in the draft and looking like they were in trouble from the front office down. Now, they are being celebrated as one of the better up and coming franchises in football. It merely goes to show how quickly things can and do change in football with health, good drafting and savvy executive work.
The Lions have a long way to go before qualifying as such a team, but if San Francisco can put the pieces together and go worst to first, there’s no reason teams in a similar boat can’t put it together to do it too.
Yes, that might even include the Lions one day.
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