The story of the last decade in the NFL has been that of a few long-woebegone franchises finally turning around their fortunes.
In 2017, the Bills crashed the postseason for the first time in 18 years; now, with reigning MVP Josh Allen under center, they are perennial division champions.
During the COVID-stricken 2020 campaign, the Browns won a playoff game for the first time in 23 seasons.
The following year, their downstate rivals in Cincinnati won its first postseason contest in 31 years en route to a conference title. Joe Burrow and Ja'Marr Chase have the Bengals on the cusp of contention every year now.
Two seasons ago, the Lions won their first postseason game in 32 years and then came one half away from their first-ever Super Bowl berth. They were the NFC's No. 1 seed last season and have their sights set on another strong run in 2025.
Ask those four franchises and fan bases -- all it takes is the right combination of front office, coach, quarterback and culture to leave eras of ineptitude in the dust and never look back.
But for the clubs that have yet to see that turnaround and are in the middle of their darkest days, it's hard to see the light.
Of the NFL's 32 franchises, six teams haven't been to the playoffs in at least four years. That the number is so low is a testament to the league's parity -- and the the 2020 expansion from 12 to 14 playoff teams didn't hurt.
But fan bases of the Falcons, Panthers, Bears, Colts, Saints and Jets can't pass their pain off as merely a statistic. The emptiness of January without football feels very real and painful; the shortest day of the year gives way to the longest night.
Still, as Buffalo, Cincy, Cleveland and Detroit can attest, there's hope for these clubs yet! Here are the six clubs with playoff droughts of four or more seasons, ranked in ascending order based on the likelihood they will snap their streaks in the 2025 campaign.
Last playoff season: 2020
Since Drew Brees and Sean Payton wrapped up their fourth consecutive division title in 2020, losing to the eventual-champion Buccaneers in the Divisional Round, the Saints have not returned to the postseason. The four-year absence is the team's longest since the Jim Haslett era, with the team displaced due to devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina in Haslett’s final season at the helm. After the Derek Carr-Dennis Allen experiment failed, the franchise is going with a fresh approach (save for the front office, which is still run by Mickey Loomis) in 2025. While the additions of Kellen Moore and second-round signal-caller Tyler Shough might pay off in the end, expectations are low this season for a first-time head coach and an experienced but unproven QB -- Shough, who still needs to win the starting job, will turn 26 in September. New Orleans has the second-easiest strength of schedule based on its opponents’ 2024 winning percentage and was judged by my colleague Eric Edholm to have the fourth-most forgiving path in 2025, but the Saints are familiar with falling flat despite having a favorable slate. The Saints' SOS ended up in the middle of the pack last season, but they still went 5-12. Complicating matters is the reliable quality of Tampa Bay, division champs four times running, and improved rosters in Atlanta and Carolina (more on the Panthers shortly). With no prime-time games this season, I’m expecting New Orleans to march in silence -- not toward a return to the playoffs.
Last playoff season: 2020
Chicago hasn't won a playoff game since the 2010 season. If it weren't for the Great Matt Nagy-Mitchell Trubisky Run of 2018, the Bears would not have had a winning season since 2012. They last reached the postseason in 2020 at 8-8, a berth that resulted in a forgettable loss to the Saints -- forgettable that is, aside from Trubisky's NVP. Regimes have come and gone since then, and now, we're entering Year 1 of the Ben Johnson-Caleb Williams partnership. The offensive line has been rebuilt, offseason controversies have been quashed, and in early June, optimism is high. There's only one problem (well, three). The Bears are currently the least proven team in the league's toughest division. Despite finishing last in the NFC North in 2024, Chicago boasts the second-toughest strength of schedule based on their opponents’ winning percentage from last season. You can thank the three other playoff teams in your division, Bears fans -- and they're not going anywhere. Chicago has 10 games against teams coming off a playoff appearance (six against its division rivals in Detroit, Green Bay and Minnesota). Consider also that the Bears are under the microscope with four prime-time games and get a way-too-early Week 5 bye. Under Johnson, Chicago might be the league's most improved team in '25, but that doesn't mean its postseason drought will end this winter.
Last playoff season: 2017
Lost in the quarterback wilderness since well before Cam Newton's first departure, the Panthers have yet to make the postseason under owner David Tepper, who bought the team in 2018. Carolina hasn't won a playoff game since its run to Super Bowl 50 in the 2015 campaign. Back then, the Panthers were consistent contenders with Newton and Ron Rivera. Now, after a surprising late-season flourish from Bryce Young and Dave Canales' club in 2024, Carolina is a sneaky pick to get back to the playoffs in '25. In the Panthers' favor: They added more offensive weapons for Young in No. 8 overall pick Tetairoa McMillan and former Cowboys RB1 Rico Dowdle. Carolina is tied for the fifth-easiest strength of schedule based on its opponents’ 2024 winning percentage. But standing in the Panthers' way are the four-time reigning division champion Buccaneers and a Falcons team that came this close to a berth in '24. This could be the year Young puts it all together and validates his top-pick status right by returning the Panthers to a .500-plus record and the postseason for the first time since 2017. But it's unclear, here in June, if Carolina's late-season surge was a fluke or a sign of things to come.
Last playoff season: 2010
Not only is the Jets' 14-season streak of postseason-less football double the length of any other drought in the NFL, it's also tied for the longest current period of such mediocrity in all American professional sports. Sure, they've gotten close since their back-to-back AFC title game appearances in 2009 and 2010. They were a Kenbrell Thompkins drop (and then some) away from returning in 2015. New York's first year with Adam Gase and Sam Darnold resulted in a seven-win campaign in 2019, only to be followed by a two-win fiasco, the Zach Wilson selection, the Aaron Rodgers gamble, the Achilles tear, whatever last season was … You get the picture. It's been one battle after another in New York for a whole bar mitzvah-plus. Will wholesale changes in the front office, on the coaching staff and under center spell a turnaround for Gang Green in 2025? Darren Mougey, Aaron Glenn and Justin Fields benefit from a roster with cheap, young talent (Sauce Gardner, Garrett Wilson, Breece Hall) that was built to succeed with Rodgers. Plus, the AFC East ain't what it was, with Miami in purgatory and a new regime in New England. The Jets' .460 strength of schedule is 26th in the league, but it was not considered by Edholm as one of the league's seven easiest -- a Week 1 reunion with Rodgers and the Steelers kicking off a stretch with four playoff opponents in six games will do that. For the Jets to become one of the AFC's seven playoff teams in '25 and snap the longest playoff drought in franchise history (saying something), several better-seasoned and rising contenders will have to fall off to make room.
Last playoff season: 2020
I know what you're thinking: A team quarterbacked by the unreliable Anthony Richardson (presuming his shoulder heals in time for him to compete for the job) or Giants castoff Daniel Jones is going to snap the Colts' longest playoff drought in 30 years? Classic Indiana bias. But the pieces for a run to the playoffs are in place. The Colts are, for the most part, returning a roster that went .500 over the last two seasons under Shane Steichen. Their weaknesses in the secondary have been bolstered by the additions of Camryn Bynum and Charvarius Ward. Indy's AFC South rivals in Tennessee and Jacksonville picked No. 1 and No. 2 in the draft and have major question marks, with less-experienced coaches at the controls and first-year stars in the spotlight. The Texans have been division champions two times running, but they've also lost more juice than they've gained this offseason, particularly on the offensive line, behind which C.J. Stroud has gotten used to scrambling for his life. In short, the division is there for the taking. Also, don't discount the motivational factor that might come from playing a season in honor of late owner Jim Irsay. The Colts franchise has rallied in spite of tragedy before, memorably after Chuck Pagano's cancer diagnosis in 2012, when they went on a run to the postseason under interim boss Bruce Arians. An inspired, focused campaign after Irsay's passing could provide a similar result -- and a special story.
Last playoff season: 2017
The Falcons have had golden opportunities before to snap their now seven-year playoff drought -- and they've come up just short. Atlanta faced the easiest strength of schedule in the NFL the last two seasons but responded with two sub-.500 campaigns, finishing two games behind the NFC South-champion Buccaneers each time. The Falcons' seven seasons without postseason action is their longest such streak since 1990. But it's poised to end in 2025. In their second season under Raheem Morris and their first full campaign with highly touted southpaw Michael Penix Jr. under center, the Falcons figure to be Tampa Bay's main competition in the division. Additions of veteran Leonard Floyd and first-rounders Jalon Walker and James Pearce Jr. to the pass rush should bolster Atlanta's longtime Achilles' heel. Their schedule isn't a cakewalk (.478 SOS), but it's manageable; a run of six road games in eight weeks late in the year, Atlanta's toughest stretch, includes just one '24 postseason team (at TB in Week 15). The NFL currently has the Falcons set for seven standalone games (six prime-time, one in Berlin), including two in the last four weeks -- a sign from the omniscient powers at league headquarters that Atlanta is a team worth watching deep into the season. Put your trust in the schedule-makers, Falcons, and win your first NFC South title since 2016.
