BroBible
Every NFL team heads into the season hoping to make the playoffs, and checking that box is an indication you’re doing something right. However, fans will still be disappointed if you aren’t able to get things done in the postseason, and that’s especially true when your squad earns a reputation for choking once it rolls around.
Making it to the playoffs is only half the battle when you’re an NFL team, as you’re subsequently tasked with trying to hold your own against the other franchises that earned the right to play for a championship.
Some players, coaches, and teams find themselves burdened with criticism for wilting in the spotlight due to their inability to get things done in the postseason, and those allegations ended up swirling around the squads responsible for the longest playoff losing streaks of all time.
There are currently six teams that suffered exactly six straight losses in the playoffs at some point, and we’re going to start with the most recent and work our way back.
The Dolphins are one of two teams on this list with an active streak, and theirs began with a loss to the Raiders in the divisional round at the start of the millennium.
Miami returned to the playoffs in 2001 but fell to the Colts in the first round. They snapped a six-year drought in 2008 before another one-and-done showing, and their appearances in 2016, 2022, and 2023 have all ended in the same fashion.
The Cowboys won three Super Bowls in the span of four years in the first half of the 1990s, but the dynasty effectively came to an end when they lost in the second round of the playoffs in 1996.
Dallas suffered back-to-back first-round losses in 1998 and 1999, and they didn’t make the postseason for three years before once again failing to advance in 2003. They bounced back from another one-and-done in 2006 by securing a bye in 2007, but they were eliminated by the Giants (who went on to win the Super Bowl).
The streak was finally snapped in 2009, but the Cowboys saw their season end the following week.
There are only a couple of losing streaks on this list that spanned a longer stretch of time than the one Bills fans were forced to endure in the wake of the run where Buffalo fell in the Super Bowl four years in a row.
The team missed the playoffs the season after that infamous era wrapped up, but they got a win over the Dolphins during the 1995 season before being eliminated by the Steelers. They fell to the Jaguars the following year, missed the playoffs yet again, and returned two seasons in a row only to lose to the Dolphons and Titans.
Buffalo subsequently endured a 17-year playoff drought that...
