There are a dozen NFL teams that have never won a Super Bowl, and two of them could soon play one another in the big game.
The Detroit Lions against the Buffalo Bills is a popular, and very realistic, pick for this year's Super Bowl. Neither team has won a Super Bowl, with the Lions having never appeared in the game, and the Bills having infamously lost four in a row from 1991 to 1994.
Both enter this weekend's Divisional Round needing two more playoff victories to get to the Super Bowl, with the Lions set to host the Washington Commanders and the Bills facing a challenging home game against the Baltimore Ravens.
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A Super Bowl matchup between the two -- or between the Lions and Houston Texans -- would guarantee the end of one team's lengthy championship drought. It would also be the first time in many years that the game would be between two teams that have never been victorious in the Super Bowl, which has been played since 1967.
The last time two teams that had never won a Super Bowl met in the big game was in 2000 when the St. Louis Rams defeated the Tennessee Titans 23-16. Prior to that, the Rams, who won NFL championships in 1945 and 1951, lost their only other Super Bowl appearance in 1979.
The Titans -- formerly the Houston Oilers, who moved to Tennessee ahead of the 1997 season -- remain one of the NFL's 12 teams to have never won a Super Bowl.
Before Rams-Titans, the last Super Bowl matchup between two teams yet to win one was in 1987 when the New York Giants defeated the Denver Broncos 39-20.
Overall, there have been 12 Super Bowl matchups between two teams never to win one, starting of course with Super Bowl I, in which the Green Bay Packers defeated the Kansas City Chiefs 35-10.
The last Super Bowl between two teams that had never appeared in one was in 1986 when the Chicago Bears defeated the New England Patriots 46-10. That streak could end this year if the Texans, one of four teams that have never played in a Super Bowl, manage a few upset victories en route to a championship matchup against the Lions.
Here's the full list of Super Bowls played between two teams that had never won one:
- Super Bowl I -- Green Bay Packers 35, Kansas City Chiefs 10
- Super Bowl III -- New York Jets 16, Baltimore Colts 7
- Super Bowl IV -- Kansas City Chiefs 23, Minnesota Vikings 7
- Super Bowl V -- Baltimore Colts 16, Dallas Cowboys 13
- Super Bowl VI -- Dallas Cowboys 24, Miami Dolphins 3
- Super Bowl VII -- Miami Dolphins 14, Washington 7
- Super Bowl IX -- Pittsburgh Steelers 16, Minnesota Vikings 6
- Super Bowl XI -- Oakland Raiders 32, Minnesota Vikings 14
- Super Bowl XVI -- San Francisco 49ers 26, Cincinnati Bengals 21
- Super Bowl XX -- Chicago Bears 46, New England Patriots 10
- Super Bowl XXI -- New York Giants 39, Denver Broncos 20
- Super Bowl XXXIV -- St. Louis Rams 23, Tennessee Titans 16