Contender Status Droughts in the 21st Century

[Cowboys5217]

Definition of "Contender Status" - must appear in a conference finals, conference championship, championship semifinals, or a pennant series.

With the Detroit Lions leaving the losers club there are now only 4 NFL teams that have not been to a conference title game in the 21st century.

In the Big 4 professional team sports there are not many teams that have failed to even reach a conference final.

NFL: Washington Commodes, Dallas Cowboys, Miami Dolphins, Cleveland Browns

NBA: Washington Wizards, Charlotte Hornets

MLB: Pittsburgh Pirates, Cincinnati Reds

NHL: Columbus Blue Jackets, Seattle Kraken (recent expansion team)

Only 10 professional sports franchises of the Big 4 out of 124 total teams have failed to reach a conference finals.

 

[Jake]

Quite an exclusive club. Thanks, Jerry.

Worse? I've been a fan of two of these teams for decades (Pirates).

 

[Chasing6]

Quite an exclusive club. Thanks, Jerry.

Worse? I've been a fan of two of these teams for decades (Pirates).

Time to punt?

 

[Jake]

Time to punt?

I'm too old to punt.

 

[FanofJerry]

Let me ask you...

If you could invent a perpetual motion machine and it benefit you or the Word directly would you?

Well...this is all an illusion to keep a motion machine in motion.

Create a problem that cant be fixed...so the "problem solver" keeps hammering away as long as it can go.

Thats the Dallas Cowboys. Its always something. And never a reasonable answer. Its an unsolvable....by design.

Give up.

 

[BleedSilverandBlue]

Definition of "Contender Status" - must appear in a conference finals, conference championship, championship semifinals, or a pennant series.

With the Detroit Lions leaving the losers club there are now only 4 NFL teams that have not been to a conference title game in the 21st century.

In the Big 4 professional team sports there are not many teams that have failed to even reach a conference final.

NFL: Washington Commodes, Dallas Cowboys, Miami Dolphins, Cleveland Browns

NBA: Washington Wizards, Charlotte Hornets

MLB: Pittsburgh Pirates, Cincinnati Reds

NHL: Columbus Blue Jackets, Seattle Kraken (recent expansion team)

Only 10 professional sports franchises of the Big 4 out of 124 total teams have failed to reach a conference finals.

The law of averages would indicate that even a franchise run at a league average (or even below average) level would be overwhelmingly likely to have lucked into a conference title game at least once this century.

To not have most likely indicates that there is an extra, progress stopping force at work in these franchises that have not been able to do so.

It doesn’t take a genius to look at this list of teams and realize the common thread is exceptionally dysfunctional ownership and or front office.

 

[PA Cowboy Fan]

The law of averages would indicate that even a franchise run at a league average (or even below average) level would be overwhelmingly likely to have lucked into a conference title game at least once this century.

To not have most likely indicates that there is an extra, progress stopping force at work in these franchises that have not been able to do so.

It doesn’t take a genius to look at this list of teams and realize the common thread is exceptionally dysfunctional ownership and or front office.

And then you look at those 4 NFL teams and we've been in the playoffs so much more than them this century. It's just impossible to imagine we couldn't luck into a title game but it's true.