Dolphins Now Have NFL's Longest Playoff Win Drought

The Detroit Lions won their first playoff game since the 1991 season one night after the Dolphins lost at Kansas City

The Miami Dolphins are now at the top.

Not in a good way, mind you, but they have taken over as the NFL team with the longest active streak of seasons without a playoff history.

That distinction belonged to the Detroit Lions until Sunday night when the team — led by former Dolphins interim head coach Dan Campbell — won a 24-23 squeaker against the Los Angeles Rams. That was Detroit's first playoff win since the 1991 season — Jan. 5, 1992, to be precise.

So now it's the Dolphins with the longest streak, which stretched to 23 seasons with the 26-7 loss against the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium on Saturday night.

BREAKING DOWN THE DROUGHT

The date should be well known by Dolphins fans by then: Dec. 30, 2000.

That was the day the Dolphins outlasted the Indianapolis Colts, 23-17 in overtime, in the wild-card round of the AFC playoffs. The Dolphins were shut out at Oakland, 27-0, the following week before the playoff winless streak began.

In the 23 seasons since that thriller against the Colts, the Dolphins have appeared in five playoff games and outright missed the playoffs 18 times.

The first two of the those five playoff games were at home, against the Baltimore Ravens each time, in the 2001 and 2008 seasons. The Dolphins since have played playoff games (and lost) at Pittsburgh in 2016, Buffalo in 2022 and Kansas City this season.

And the reality is none of the playoff losses were competitive games, except for the 34-31 defeat at Buffalo last season. The other four games were decided by 17, 18, 18 and 19 points.

Before the drought, the Dolphins had won a playoff game three consecutive seasons — in 1998, 1999 and 2000. And this also is a franchise that won eight playoff games in a three-year span while winning two Super Bowl titles in the early 1970s.

Yes, it's been quite the dry spell, the longest current spell in the NFL. The Las Vegas Raiders are next on this unenviable list with 21 seasons without a playoff win followed by the Washington Commanders at 18 seasons.

Every other team has won at least one playoff game since the 2010 season.

THE SEASON OF EACH TEAM'S LAST PLAYOFF WIN

2023 — Detroit, Green Bay, Houston, Kansas City

2002 — Buffalo, Cincinnati, Dallas, Jacksonville, N.Y. Giants, Philadelphia, San Francisco

2021 — L.A. Rams, Tampa Bay

2020 — Baltimore, Cleveland, New Orleans

2019 — Minnesota, Seattle, Tennessee

2018 — Indianapolis, L.A. Chargers, New England

2017 — Atlanta

2016 — Pittsburgh

2015 — Arizona, Carolina, Denver

2010 — Chicago, N.Y. Jets

2005 — Washington

2002 — Las Vegas

2000 — Miami

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