Remember how there was that kind of … tiny-long gap… the Bills had between playoff appearances? The ol’ 17-year thing?
Well not only is that long in the past, that honor has now, eventually, been passed down from AFC East team to AFC East team.
In 2017, the Bills broke that drought. Fast forward to the current NFL and a couple of teams that took their spot near the top of that totem pole have now also cracked the playoffs.
The Buccaneers had a 13-year drought snapped this season and the Browns have had an even longer one of 18 years come to an end. Now that leaves one team in the entire NFL with a playoff drought that’s up in the double-digits.
The New York Jets, who reached a decade following the 2020 season. No other team has a drought longer than five years.
Since 2010 the Jets have failed to make the playoffs and in that time frame have only had a winning record once (2015). In a bit of a sweet twist, the team that season to keep the Jets out of the postseason despite a 10-6 record? The Bills, who upset them in that year’s season finale, 22-17.
But wait, there’s more.
In that 2010 campaign, the Jets won a postseason game and in terms of playoff-win droughts, another team in the division, again a complement of the Bills, have moved up on that list.
In the AFC Wild Card round, the Bills won in the playoffs for the first time in 25 years. However, the Browns get an assist here, too. They also won last weekend, in surprising fashion and they’re still playing. Their last postseason win came in 1994.
Those two wins moved the Dolphins up on this list. Their last playoff win came in 2000, despite having cracked the postseason in 2001, 2008 and 2016.
In order for the Dolphins to continue climbing that list… we might need a miracle of sorts, though. The two clubs ahead of the ‘Fins are the Bengals (1990) and Lions (1991).
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