When Carson Wentz tore his ACL against the Rams in December 2017, a 13-3 Philadelphia season looked like it would become another what-if. Instead, backup Nick Foles stepped in and led the Eagles to a 15-10 win against Atlanta and a 38-7 triumph over Minnesota, then outdueled Tom Brady in a 41-33 Super Bowl LII win over New England. Foles caught the “Philly Special” touchdown on fourth-and-goal, collected the MVP award, and handed the franchise its first Lombardi Trophy.
No team has won its first Super Bowl since. The Eagles, however, have gone on to add one more Lombardi to their newly growing collection. Philly lost a 38-35 shootout to Kansas City in Super Bowl LVII, then came back two years later to dismantle the Chiefs 40-22 in Super Bowl LIX, ending their three-peat bid in the process as quarterback Jalen Hurts was named MVP.
While no team has claimed a maiden Lombardi since that 2017 Eagles side, four franchises are still waiting for their first Big Game appearance, let alone a Super Bowl win. Jacksonville, Detroit, Houston, and Cleveland have never played on Super Bowl Sunday, and their fans wear the near misses like scars.
Make no mistake: two of them look like genuine contenders this season. The other two are fighting their own histories.
Jacksonville Jaguars
Twenty points to ten, fourth quarter, Foxborough. The 2017 “Sacksonville” Jaguars had gone 10-6, ground out a 10-3 win over Buffalo, and outlasted Pittsburgh 45-42. Jalen Ramsey, Calais Campbell, A.J. Bouye, Yannick Ngakoue, Blake Bortles, and Leonard Fournette were a quarter away before New England rallied back with two fourth-quarter touchdowns to win 24-20, a defeat that followed AFC title-game losses in both 1996 and 1999.
Lean years followed, bottoming out at 4-13 in 2024. Then Liam Coen arrived. Jacksonville went 13-4 last term, won the AFC South on an eight-game winning streak, then lost a 27-24 wildcard thriller to Buffalo.
The 2026 side is 4-2: it beat Cleveland 34-10 and New England 35-6, won 22-17 in Cincinnati, and edged Philadelphia 19-17 in London. Its only losses were 20-13 in Denver and 34-31 to Houston at Wembley, where Trevor Lawrence threw four touchdowns, Travis Hunter caught one and intercepted C.J. Stroud, and Cam Little hit from 60 yards.
The defense was third in points allowed going into the bye, and Josh Hines-Allen and Travon Walker should only get better. As such, online betting sites make them the most likely of the four to end their barren spell in 2026. The latest NFL lines today list the Jags as a +550 third-favorite to win the AFC and reach the Super Bowl, solely behind Josh Allen’s Buffalo Bills and Patrick Mahomes’ Kansas City Chiefs. Therein lies the catch and the mountain that Jacksonville has to find a way to climb.
Detroit Lions
Half-time at Levi’s Stadium in January 2024 still stings for Detroit. A 12-5 side had edged the Rams 24-23 and Tampa Bay 31-23, then led San Francisco 24-7 in the NFC Championship before losing 34-31.
The following year, Jared Goff, Amon-Ra St. Brown, Sam LaPorta, Penei Sewell, and Aidan Hutchinson were meant to finish the job. Instead, a franchise-record 15-2 season that saw them finish as the NFC’s No. 1 seed ended in a home divisional loss to Wild Card Washington, and last year’s 9-8 slide left Detroit bottom of the NFC North and Dan Campbell grading himself a “freaking F.”
This season opened with a 31-30 overtime escape when New Orleans failed on a two-point try. Defeats at Buffalo and Carolina followed. Wins over the Jets, Arizona, and, in Week 7, Green Bay (20-17) have the Lions at 4-2, and Goff’s 14 touchdowns without an interception tie an NFL record through six games.
How many times can a franchise come within one half of the Super Bowl and still believe? The NFC North won’t make it easy; all four teams are above .500, and unbeaten Minnesota visits Ford Field next.
Houston Texans
For Houston, even a conference championship remains out of reach. The Texans are 0-7 in the divisional round, and none of those defeats hurt like January 2020.
After a 22-19 overtime Wild Card win over Buffalo, Deshaun Watson, DeAndre Hopkins, J.J. Watt, and Laremy Tunsil led Kansas City 24-0, then lost 51-31. But in recent years, DeMeco Ryans has made the playoffs a habit.
Last season’s 12-5 side won 30-6 in Pittsburgh, the franchise’s first road playoff win, before Stroud threw four first-half interceptions in a 28-16 loss at New England. But this year has been harder. Houston lost its first four, won 26-3 in Tennessee and 34-31 against the Jaguars at Wembley before falling to a devastating 27-21 overtime defeat at home to the Giants as 10.5-point favorites, dropping them to 2-5 and ensuring they remain winless at home.
Will Anderson Jr. and Danielle Hunter give the pass rush teeth, and Stroud didn’t throw his first interception until Week 6. Marvin Harrison Jr. has also arrived by trade to line up alongside Nico Collins. A wildcard surge is the realistic ceiling, and the scheduled December 20 rematch with Jacksonville in Houston may decide whether it’s even that.
Cleveland Browns
January 1987 is where Cleveland’s scar tissue starts. Marty Schottenheimer’s 12-4 Browns beat the Jets 23-20 in double overtime, then led Denver 20-13 in the AFC Championship until John Elway’s 98-yard march, forever known as The Drive, forced overtime and a 23-20 defeat. Bernie Kosar, Ozzie Newsome, Kevin Mack, Hanford Dixon, and Frank Minnifield lost twice more to Denver in title games, and Earnest Byner’s goal-line fumble a year later remains the cruelest image of all.
The Browns haven’t won their division since 1989. Kevin Stefanski was fired after a 5-12 season in 2025, Todd Monken was hired in late January, and on June 1, defensive superstar Myles Garrett went to the Rams for Jared Verse, a 2027 first, a 2028 second, and a 2029 third.
The bookies promptly listed Cleveland at 250-1. Now they’re 5-2 and top of the AFC North after wins over Tampa Bay, Carolina, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, and Tennessee. Deshaun Watson has led five fourth-quarter game-winning drives, and he threw for 308 yards in Week 7. Verse and Denzel Ward anchor the defense.
Yet the Browns have been outscored by 13 points. Can a team with a negative point differential really be 5-2 on merit? Ending the division drought is the realistic ceiling, and in Cleveland, it would feel like a parade. Anything more than that is highly unlikely.