Since 1996, at least one conference finalist has failed to make playoffs the following year

[Ed_Formerly_of_Roch]

16 hours ago, Giuseppe Tognarelli said:

Initial credit on this goes to someone on Twitter who mentioned this; I haven't been able to track down the original tweet, but I have now done the research to verify it myself.

 

If Bills make playoffs, it would buck 24-year trend of at least one conference finalist from prior year not reaching playoffs the next year. This has happened every year since 1996.

 

Last year, the conference finalists were TB, GB, KC, and BUF. This year, TB and GB are 10-3, and KC is 10-4. These three teams are going to the playoffs, leaving only the Bills at 7-6. The question now becomes: Will the Bills buck the 24-year trend and make the playoffs, or will the streak continue to 25 years?

 

Listed below are the conference finalists from the year prior who failed to make the playoffs the next year. (Year listed is year playoffs were missed.)

 

1997: CAR
1998: PIT
1999: ATL, DEN, NYJ
2000: JAC
2001: NYG, MIN
2002: STL, NE
2003: TB, OAK
2004: CAR
2005: PHI, ATL
2006: CAR, PIT, DEN
2007: CHI, NO
2008: GB, NE
2009: PIT
2010: MIN
2011: CHI, NYJ
2012: NYG
2013: ATL, BAL
2014: SF
2015: IND
2016: CAR, ARI, DEN
2017: GB
2018: MIN, JAC
2019: LAR
2020: SF
2021: ?

 

Turns out, missing the playoffs after reaching the conference title game is very common. Since 1996, it has happened 4x to PIT, 3x to ATL, DEN, and MIN, and 2x to numerous other clubs.

 

So what's going to happen? Will the Bills be the exception or the rule?

 

Thanks for making us all feel better about things!  Merry Christmas to you too.

 

I was thinking that often teams would have set backs after advancing deep into playoffs year prior.  Didn't realize it was quite this common. 

 

Do recall too the year after the Giants beat the Bills in the SB in 1991, the Giants didn't make the playoffs  the next year.

[MrSarcasm]