Which NFL team has gone the longest without a playoff win?

The goal during the NFL regular season is to get into the playoffs. It usually involves a team needing a winning record, but there are those cases where a sub .500 team sneaks in as a wildcard or division winner. It helps being in the NFC South or NFC East sometimes.

Longest active NFL playoff win drought spans 31 years

Some teams, including the Pittsburgh Steelers, New England Patriots and Green Bay Packers, are stables making the playoffs year in and year out. Unfortunately, there are a few teams who aren't nearly as lucky in the postseason. Some have a poor track record in winning games in the playoffs, but there are a select few who are historically bad at even making the postseason. The New York Jets have the longest drought, dating back to 2010, 11 seasons ago. They went from being one win away from playing in the Super Bowl to never seeing the playoffs for over a decade. But which team has gone the longest without a single win in the postseason?

Ironically enough, this team is in position to earn the No.1 seed in the AFC right now. The Cincinnati Bengals have had some of the worst heartache in the NFL postseason under head coach Marvin Lewis. It has been a total of 31 seasons since the Bengals last won a playoff game. They won a wildcard game in 1990 against the Houston Oilers (not Texans) 41-14.

Since 1990, the Bengals have made the playoffs seven times under Marvis Lewis and went 0-7 in the wildcard round. There was a stretch from 2011 to 2015 where the Bengals went to the playoffs every season and lost in the first round every year. After 31 years, the Bengals now have a chance to be the No. 1 seed in the NFL, or at least a seed in the top four. If there was ever a season for the Bengals to break the longest playoff win drought in the NFL, it is now. Should they win, the Detroit Lions will have the longest drought at 31 seasons after the 2021 NFL season.