Pain Rankings: Which NFL fan bases suffer the most?

[BurnleyJet]

Pain Rankings: Which NFL fan bases suffer the most?

 
Two summers ago, I sought the answer to a quantifiably impossible question: Which NFL team and fan base had suffered the most misery in the Super Bowl era?

The result of my research was the Pain Rankings, a collection of ill-fated teams who must've royally ticked off the football gods in a prior life. During these final quiet days of the NFL calendar, I thought it might be fun to revisit these rankings. Which teams are better off? Which have slipped deeper into the abyss? Should anyone be added? Who should escape?

My original rankings included seven teams. I'm going to expand the club to eight, adding two teams while removing one. Before we get started, here was the Sad Seven from July 2015. Click on the teams to read their original Pain Rankings dispatch.

7) Kansas City Chiefs
6) Cincinnati Bengals
5) Minnesota Vikings
4) Detroit Lions
3) Buffalo Bills
2) New York Jets
1) Cleveland Browns

To clear space for the newcomers, we'll say goodbye to the Chiefs. In the summer of 2015, they shared an NFL record with eight consecutive playoff defeats dating back to 1993. Fortunes have improved since, even if their 47-year Super Bowl drought continues. Working in favor of K.C.: The Chiefs have the best record in the NFL over the past season-and-a-half, they're the defending AFC West champions, and they snapped that ugly playoff-loss streak with a shutout road conquest over the Texans in January 2016, a performance so dominant it directly led to Brock Osweiler getting a bonkers $72 million contract. That's an impressive victory!

We fully acknowledge the frustration that comes with this past January's playoff bye followed by another quick ouster in the Divisional Round -- this is known as The Marty Special in K.C. -- but even the most pessimistic Chiefs fan would struggle to make a case that things are not trending upward in Arrowhead. We even like the decision to draft Patrick Mahomes, a move that should allow the Chiefs to win a game with a quarterback they drafted for the first time since 1987. Just a matter of time, baby!

The Pain Rankings say goodbye to the Chiefs. For now, anyway.

(One last thing before we go on. You probably think it's a cop-out to add two teams and only eliminate one. First of all, back off. You don't know me. Second, I could not, in good conscience, bump any of the remaining six teams off the list. They have suffered too much. To take this ignominious honor away is an exercise in irony I am unwilling to embrace. So the other six stay. Don't @ me.)

Onward and downward.

8) Bengals

Pain Resume

Regular season record (all-time): 344-408-4
Playoff record (all-time): 5-14
Super Bowl wins: 0
Super Bowl appearances: 2 (none since 1988)
2015 Pain Rankings: No. 6

The Bengals have done nothing to shed their reputation as the NFL's Kings of What Might Have Been. They jumped out to a 10-2 start in 2015 with Andy Dalton playing the best football of his career, but Dalton's season ended in a flash when he broke the thumb on his throwing hand in Week 14. Cincinnati limped to a 12-4 finish without the quarterback, then suffered one of the most crushing postseason defeats in recent memory against the Steelers on Wild Card Weekend. It was almost like Jeremy Hill, Pacman Jones and Vontaze Burfict conspired to keep Bengals fans miserable just for the fun of it.

The result? The Bengals still haven't won in the playoffs since Jan. 6, 1991. Last season's ho-hum 6-9-1 was almost an act of mercy after their act of self-immolation against the Steelers.

7) Vikings

Pain Resume

Regular-season record (all-time): 457-387-10
Playoff record (all-time): 19-28
Super Bowl wins: 0
Super Bowl appearances: 4 (none since 1976)
2015 Pain Rankings: No. 5

The Vikings re-upped their lease on the Pain Rankings thanks to a pair of devastating moments:

Blair Walsh ... meet Gary Anderson: Riding the tandem of rushing champion Adrian Peterson and a very good defense, the Vikings went 11-5 and won the NFC North in 2015. On a freezing day at TCF Bank Stadium, Minnesota appeared primed to take out the mighty Seahawks in the Wild Card Round. And then ...

The Vikes stood by Walsh after the crushing miss, but he struggled in 2016 and was released midway through the season.

Teddy goes down: This was the textbook definition of a freak injury. During a noncontact drill just a week before the start of the 2016 regular season, Teddy Bridgewater planted his leg and saw his life change forever. The 23-year-old suffered a catastrophic knee injury that ended his season and placed his career in jeopardy. There have been promising signs this offseason, but there's no guarantee we ever see the former first-round pick get back on the field for the Vikings ... or anyone else.

And, oh yeah, the Vikings started 5-0 last season before losing eight of 11 to miss the postseason. At least their new stadium is cool.

6) Lions

Pain Resume

Regular season record (all-time): 544-641-32
Playoff record (all-time): 7-13
Super Bowl wins: 0
Super Bowl appearances: 0
2015 Pain Rankings: No. 4

The Lions have qualified for the playoffs in two of the past three years, but does it actually feel like they've turned any corner? They still haven't won a postseason contest since January of 1992 and they remain one of just two teams (the Browns being the other) who have been around as long as the Super Bowl has existed without actually ever making it to the big game.

Now Megatron's retired and he's gone public saying he cut his career short because he just didn't see the Lions ever being winners during his career window. Come to think of it, Barry Sanders -- the team's other legendary talent of the past 25 years -- quit for the same reason.

Two of the greatest players in NFL history walked away in their prime solely because they were Lions. How could Detroit not have a permanent home on the Pain Rankings?

Not really related, but I found this funny:

5) Falcons

Pain Resume

Regular-season record (all-time): 341-437-6
Playoff record (all-time): 9-13
Super Bowl wins: 0
Super Bowl appearances: 2 (last appeared in, well, you know)
2015 Pain Rankings: Unranked

What do we even do with the Falcons now?

We're really in unprecedented territory here. A team loses the Super Bowl every year, but no team has lost a Super Bowl like the 2016 Atlanta Falcons. I feel confident calling it the most devastating defeat in the history of the NFL. Matt Ryan and Dan Quinn could win four Super Bowls in the next five years and they'll still never escape 28-3. It is on their football tombstones. Hell, it could end up on their actual tombstones.

The pain of the loss was obvious. But the fallout continues to surprise. The Falcons' collapse has become a societal obsession, a meme of misery. Everyone has taken a turn, from creative Boston Marathon motivators, to merciless NOLA float designers, to snarky, Tampa-based social media managers, to Peyton freaking Manning.

The Falcons and their fans are the butt of the joke over and over, the trauma of that Sunday evening now comedic fodder for the enemy and everyman alike. This is more than twisting the knife. It's death by a thousand cuts, the same method of destruction used by Tom Brady on that fateful night.

Will the Falcons peel themselves off the mat? Maybe. But they'll never fully escape LI. It's a scarlet letter that might as well be painted at midfield in their shiny new stadium.

Hey, at least the hot dogs are cheap.

4) Bills

Pain Resume

Regular season record (all-time): 400-460-8
Playoff record (all-time): 14-15
Super Bowl wins: 0
Super Bowl appearances: 4 (none since 1993)
2015 Pain Rankings: No. 3

Back in 2015, I spoke with NBC News correspondent and Bills superfan Luke Russert. Like many Buffalo diehards, he had fallen hard for Rex Ryan. Here's what Russert said on the eve of Ryan's first season in Orchard Park:

"Belichick is the master; however, the Jets beat Belichick before in the playoffs. If [Ryan] could pull that off one time, he'll be God. In all honesty, if he gets to the playoffs, they will erect a statue at this point. It doesn't even matter if he never goes for the rest of his coaching career in Buffalo. If he gets to the playoffs this year, they will erect a statue. They already hit their season-ticket record -- it's not even August and they did that. It's going to be mayhem, at least in those first few games."

I highlight Russert's misplaced optimism as a reminder of the cycle of disappointment the Bills have been locked into since their run of conference championships (and subsequent Super Bowl busts) concluded in the mid-90s. There's never any shortage of reasons why the Bills will finally snap their endless playoff drought -- 17 years and counting now -- but nothing ever actually takes hold. Of course, it's no coincidence that Buffalo's long run of dark Januarys has coincided -- to the year -- with the career of one Thomas Edward Patrick Brady Jr.

Rex is gone now. There will be no statue. The only consolation is that, one day, there will be no more Brady, either. Well, maybe.

3) Jets

Pain Resume

Regular season record (all-time): 392-468-8
Playoff record (all-time): 12-13
Super Bowl wins: 1
Super Bowl appearances: 1 (none since 1968)
2015 Pain Rankings: No. 2

These are dark times for Jets fans. There have been many, many years where you have been able to make that statement, but there just seems to be something a bit more depressing about their seemingly hopeless place in the football universe right now.

In 2015, Jets fans got sucked in by a career year from Ryan Fitzpatrick and the 10 wins Fitzmagic yielded. A stomach-punch season-finale loss to Rex Ryan and the Bills (naturally) ruined that year, and 2016 was a 5-11 disaster that's prompted a full-blown teardown. Even their own players are calling the season a tank job designed at landing a premier college talent in 2018. How confident should any Jets fan be that this will all actually work out as planned? Does it ever for this team?

Jets misery covers the spectrum: They can suck you in and crush you just as easily as they can remove hope from the equation entirely. They are the Daniel Day-Lewis of pain: gifted, mysterious, versatile, enduring. DDL announced this year he has quit acting. Critics are accusing the Jets of quitting the 2017 season before it starts.

2) Browns

Pain Resume

Regular season record (all-time): 509-470-13
Playoff record (all-time): 16-20
Super Bowl wins: 0
Super Bowl appearances: 0
2015 Pain Rankings: No. 1

Every couple years or so, a sense of optimism builds around the Browns. It happened when they hired Mike Holmgren, it happened when they brought in Mike Pettine. We saw it when they drafted Trent Richardson, then witnessed it once more when Johnny Manziel came to town. These are only the most recent examples.

You already know the hope was misguided in each and every one of those cases. We're in a new cycle now, with Sashi Brown and Hue Jackson coming off a draft in which they landed three promising first-round picks, as well as a quarterback with potential. They spent money, too, addressing problem areas on a roster that managed a single victory in 2016.

On paper, the Browns seem like a team finally ready to make a move out of the AFC North cellar, a place they've pretty much called home since re-entering the league in 1999. Frankly, we hope that's what happens. The Browns being forever terrible is a tired NFL storyline by now.

But we can't remove the Browns from the Pain Rankings until we see actual proof the Factory of Sadness is closing down. Hope is good. Results are better.

1) Chargers

Pain Resume

Regular season record (all-time): 426-431-11
Playoff record (all-time): 11-17
Super Bowl wins: 0
Super Bowl appearances: 1 (none since 1994)
2015 Pain Rankings: Unranked

There's a strong case to be made that the Chargers should have been on this list before they left their fans for the (ostensibly) greener pastures of Los Angeles.

NFL.com colleague Gregg Rosenthal lamented this often during our Pain Rankings conversations -- and he always had a good case. This team and fan base has seen it all: soul-crushing playoff losses, draft-day bumbling, bad trades, off-the-field tragedy, the cosmic joke of playing a jobber in their lone Super Bowl appearance. But nothing was worse than the interminable divorce proceedings with San Diego -- a city that doesn't even get left holding the bag. Those folks just got ... nothing.

Teams like the Vikings and Jets allow their fans to let their guards down before disaster strikes. The Falcons' devastation became the world's amusement. The Bills, Bengals, Lions and Browns won't always be lost -- even if it feels that way. Their time will eventually come. Tomorrow is promised.

The same can't be said for Chargers fans in San Diego. That book is closed. The team continues on, but Qualcomm Stadium will be uninhabited land on the Sundays to come. What could be more painful than that?

Not sure about the Chargers.

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000820528/article/pain-rankings-which-nfl-fan-bases-suffer-the-most

[AFJF]

Nobody's got it worse than the Browns.

Jets deserve to be second.

[BurnleyJet]

Just now, AFJF said:

Nobody's got it worse than the Browns.

Jets deserve to be second.

The Chargers C'mon man.

[Jet Nut]

1 minute ago, AFJF said:

Nobody's got it worse than the Browns.

Jets deserve to be second.

  No they don't.  How can the Jets, with a SB win be worse off than Detroit, with as deep a history of losing, if not worse, no playoffs and no SB for example. 

[AFJF]

Just now, BurnleyJet said:

The Chargers C'mon man.

Not even close IMO.

I mean, they've been huge under achievers, but never a laughing stock like the Jets and Browns have been.

If Phillip Rivers goes on to win a couple SBs after leaving town and San Diego gets a new team that sucks, as was the case with Cleveland, then they enter the conversation.

[ASH1962]

This is a very interesting thread. I would have to agree with those that say the Jets cannot be on the top half f this because we have 1 SB win, albeit eons ago. Teams like the Lions and Bills who have none, and especially cities that had their teams move would be higher. Funny, if the Jets moved to Mystery Alaska right about now I don't know how many of us would even care LOL.

[AFJF]

3 minutes ago, Jet Nut said:

  No they don't.  How can the Jets, with a SB win be worse off than Detroit, with as deep a history of losing, if not worse, no playoffs and no SB for example. 

The Jets and Browns haven't just been bad, but they've had to deal with stuff no other team has.

How many NFL teams don't have their own stadium and have to share it with a team with multiple SBs since the last time they got one?

The Jets had BB under contract and found a way to screw that up and he goes on to be the best HC in NFL history, the miserable bastard he is.

[section314]

Throw in the fact that we "share" a stadium with a team that has been to 5 Super Bowls, won 4, and has a great chance to be there again this year, and it's pretty easy to vote for the Jets in this poll.

[BurnleyJet]

7 minutes ago, AFJF said:

Not even close IMO.

I mean, they've been huge under achievers, but never a laughing stock like the Jets and Browns have been.

If Phillip Rivers goes on to win a couple SBs after leaving town and San Diego gets a new team that sucks, as was the case with Cleveland, then they enter the conversation.

To be honest the Ravens are the Browns, and Won resent SuperBowls. I say we should be #1!

[HessStation]

So as it pertains to football fandom, I have more character than anyone else on this site, maybe ever.

[HessStation]

To be fair, just looking at the numbers, I'd have to think about the Lions at #2 behind the Browns. 

[Sperm Edwards]

So the big problem with this article is maybe our fan base suffering should only be ranked 3rd, or even 4th, rather than 2nd?

I know I feel better now. 

[HessStation]

2 minutes ago, Sperm Edwards said:

So the big problem with this article is maybe our fan base suffering should only be ranked 3rd, or even 4th, rather than 2nd?

I know I feel better now. 

Having that Super Bowl win when I was minus 6 might make it so, looking at the numbers.

[peebag]

It's the Jets.  Hands down.

You can excuse Cleveland because...c'mon it's Cleveland.  But the Jets?  Major Market team with no shortage of fan support or team money which has never even sniffed a Super Bowl in 50 years - that's gloom baby.

[flgreen]

Suffering?  Really?  IDK, for me I suffer for about a half hour after each game, then the alcohol takes over.

Next day win or lose it's back to work

[slats]

Last week of the season, the 15-0 Patriots meet the 0-15 Jets. A series of inexplicable things happen that results in the Jets winning, while still securing the number one pick in the draft. Two weeks is not enough time for the Pats to recover from losing their perfect season to the lowly New York Jets and they go on to lose again in the divisional round. Thus, Patriot fans suffer more than anyone else in the league, and Jet fans are more content than they've been in a long time. 

[thadude]

The Browns just had a great draft so I think this time next year the jet fanbase will be #1

[thadude]

20 minutes ago, slats said:

Last week of the season, the 15-0 Patriots meet the 0-15 Jets. A series of inexplicable things happen that results in the Jets winning, while still securing the number one pick in the draft. Two weeks is not enough time for the Pats to recover from losing their perfect season to the lowly New York Jets and they go on to lose again in the divisional round. Thus, Patriot fans suffer more than anyone else in the league, and Jet fans are more content than they've been in a long time. 

If Belichick knows he can screw up our chances at Darnold or Allen and the Pats already have the 1 seed clinched he will start Patrick Chung at qb against us week 17

[#27TheDominator]

51 minutes ago, Sperm Edwards said:

So the big problem with this article is maybe our fan base suffering should only be ranked 3rd, or even 4th, rather than 2nd?

I know I feel better now. 

We can't even win at this!

[nyjunc]

we aren't close to the top of these rankings, many franchises have never won a SB so that automatically puts us down no matter how long ago our SB win was.  we have also been in 3 title games since 1998(along w/ 7 PO apps and 7 PO wins).  in that span:

Buf has 2 PO apps, 0 PO wins

Cle has 1 app, 0 wins

Mia has 6 PO apps, 3 PO wins

Cin hasn't won a PO game since 1990

Hou has never made a title game

Jax has 1 title game app

KC hasn't made a title game since 1993

SD- we beat them twice in postseason and they have 1 title game app

Phi- has never won a SB

Det- last won a PO game in 1991

Min- zero SB wins

Atl- zero SB wins

car- zero SB wins

Ari- zero SB wins

 

 

[nyjunc]

2 hours ago, AFJF said:

Not even close IMO.

I mean, they've been huge under achievers, but never a laughing stock like the Jets and Browns have been.

If Phillip Rivers goes on to win a couple SBs after leaving town and San Diego gets a new team that sucks, as was the case with Cleveland, then they enter the conversation.

SD has been a laughing stock before, it's just been a while.  what they have done is squander some of the most talented teams in the league w/o even reaching a SB AND along the way lost at home as favorites to the Jets in the playoffs twice.  they are well beneath us.

[BurnleyJet]

1 hour ago, slats said:

Last week of the season, the 15-0 Patriots meet the 0-15 Jets. A series of inexplicable things happen that results in the Jets winning, while still securing the number one pick in the draft. Two weeks is not enough time for the Pats to recover from losing their perfect season to the lowly New York Jets and they go on to lose again in the divisional round. Thus, Patriot fans suffer more than anyone else in the league, and Jet fans are more content than they've been in a long time. 

SOLD!

[Jet Nut]

3 hours ago, AFJF said:

The Jets and Browns haven't just been bad, but they've had to deal with stuff no other team has.

How many NFL teams don't have their own stadium and have to share it with a team with multiple SBs since the last time they got one?

The Jets had BB under contract and found a way to screw that up and he goes on to be the best HC in NFL history, the miserable bastard he is.

Who cares that they shared a stadium with the Giants?  How did that hurt the fanbase?  Neither team owned the stadium.  This is a non factor.  

The jets didn't screw up with BB.  He was stolen, illegally by Kraft and the Pats.  Funny part of it all is no one, Jets fans or Pats fans wanted BB as their HC.  Pats fans made fun of us, telling us we better hope Parcells stays on otherwise you're stuck with BB.  

Now how many teams went through a season winless?  How many teams have had as few winning seasons as Detroit?  As few playoff births and win?  No SBs.  I'll take the Jets history over Detroits any time. 

[Mike135]

3 hours ago, AFJF said:

How many NFL teams don't have their own stadium and have to share it with a team with multiple SBs since the last time they got one?

The Jets had BB under contract and found a way to screw that up and he goes on to be the best HC in NFL history, the miserable bastard he is.

I'm all for bashing this team recently because of how stupidly it's been managed lately (Fitz), but...

1.  There's nothing wrong at all with sharing an NFL stadium.  In fact, it's a plus.  We have twice the amount of NFL home games as anyone else for tailgating and fun Sundays.  (That is if you can stomach going to a Giant game.)

2.  Belichick is a f-in cheating POS.  Granted the SBs are cool.  But they and him will always be tainted with cheating.  I'm actually happy he left.  Woulda been nice if he went to the NFC or at least out of the division, but it is what it is.

[nyjunc]

5 minutes ago, Jet Nut said:

Who cares that they shared a stadium with the Giants?  How did that hurt the fanbase?  Neither team owned the stadium.  This is a non factor.  

The jets didn't screw up with BB.  He was stolen, illegally by Kraft and the Pats.  Funny part of it all is no one, Jets fans or Pats fans wanted BB as their HC.  Pats fans made fun of us, telling us we better hope Parcells stays on otherwise you're stuck with BB.  

Now how many teams went through a season winless?  How many teams have had as few winning seasons as Detroit?  As few playoff births and win?  No SBs.  I'll take the Jets history over Detroits any time. 

we have been better sharing a stadium w/ the other team than we were in Shea.

it's amazing how great a defensive coach BB was w/ LT and how great a HC he has been w/ Brady.  w/o those guys? not very good.

 

we have a better history in the SB era than:

Detroit

Cleveland

Cincy

Buffalo

Minnesota

Kansas City(how come they never get brought up?  they have a total of 4 playoff wins since 1970- we won 4 w/ Sanchez)

San Diego

Houston

Tennessee(including when they were Houston)

Jax

Atlanta

TB

NO

Arizona

Rams

 

[Jet Nut]

1 minute ago, nyjunc said:

we have been better sharing a stadium w/ the other team than we were in Shea.

it's amazing how great a defensive coach BB was w/ LT and how great a HC he has been w/ Brady.  w/o those guys? not very good.

 

we have a better history in the SB era than:

Detroit

Cleveland

Cincy

Buffalo

Minnesota

Kansas City(how come they never get brought up?  they have a total of 4 playoff wins since 1970- we won 4 w/ Sanchez)

San Diego

Houston

Tennessee(including when they were Houston)

Jax

Atlanta

TB

NO

Arizona

Rams

 

Yeah, may be true but how ma y of those teams listed share a staidium with another team?  How many of those FA bases suffer from penis envy on a daily basis as we're told we should regarding the Giants.  

Funny, I'm bothered more by a team in my division with a twice as many SB wins as the Giants.  

[nyjunc]

22 minutes ago, Jet Nut said:

Yeah, may be true but how ma y of those teams listed share a staidium with another team?  How many of those FA bases suffer from penis envy on a daily basis as we're told we should regarding the Giants.  

Funny, I'm bothered more by a team in my division with a twice as many SB wins as the Giants.  

I hate the giants more than the other teams.  I used to hate the Pats much more but I think I am just numb to all their winning, I am just looking forward to the post Brady years

[Sperm Edwards]

1 minute ago, Jet Nut said:

Yeah, may be true but how ma y of those teams listed share a staidium with another team?  How many of those FA bases suffer from penis envy on a daily basis as we're told we should regarding the Giants.  

Funny, I'm bothered more by a team in my division with a twice as many SB wins as the Giants.  

I think this hits the nail on the head. It isn't about whose all-time history - or even SB-era history - is richer. It was gauging fan suffering right now. So using our historical - but ancient - SB win isn't much to hang one's hat on if one didn't experience the win or live through it as a fan. It's nice and cool to take some pride in, don't get me wrong, but I was hardly a die-hard Jets fan during that game. I was just a little Sperm (and that's nearly the literal truth). 

The stadium thing bothers me less because it's so easy and comfortable to watch the games from home (or someplace nearby). So while we do share it with a more successful team, I kind of shrug my shoulder at it. Maybe it'd be more convenient to go a lot more often if the WSS worked out, but it's doubtful I'd go back to having season tickets again. Then again, there are tens of thousands of PSL holders who have to pay for every game even though the FO is clearly tanking the season as a big combination reset button, tryout, and future draft slot strategy.

The "new" Jets era began with the ouster of Kotite and bringing in Parcells. And the reality is within 4 years of that, the Pats won their first SB on their way to having the best long term success in the SB era, not to mention sustained success that theoretically shouldn't be possible in the era of free agency. It only adds to it that their HC was supposed to be our HC (technically he was, until that worm handed in his napkin), if that same Kotite-erasing HC wasn't so wishywashy about his future plans with the Jets as the '99 season closed. 

Yeah, we've made 4 championship games, and half of them came in the last 7-8 seasons, but we lost all 4 of them so we didn't even get the excitement of 2 weeks of euphoria before a letdown of an eventual SB loss. Even the 2 more recent ones are getting further in the rear-view mirror - the more recent one was 7 seasons ago - though they maybe don't seem like that long ago for some. That was also the team's last playoff appearance, and barring something unexpected it doesn't look like that's going to change this year (and probably not next year either with a rookie QB). 

[MDL_JET]

I think Jets fan suffer in regards to humiliation, not wins. They're easy to pick on and it started with being the "little brother" to the Giants and always sharing a stadium.  Jets are always have up and down seasons in regards to success (thanks Woody) but the amount of blunders they have and the amount of attention it gets, really makes it hard for a fan to deal with. (Manning, Bellicheck, Tebow, Butt Fumble, Geno, the Draft..etc etc)

 

[MDL_JET]

Then again... Maybe that list was on to something...

 

 

[Warfish]

What a total BS article.

No, we're not #2, and our 'suffering' is vastly overstated compared to a number of less successful franchises.

Our failures are often funny/tragic, sure, and we get attention because of NY, but god this Jets Worst Ever Franchise Pain Meme needs to die off.....

[Jet Nut]

3 hours ago, Sperm Edwards said:

I think this hits the nail on the head. It isn't about whose all-time history - or even SB-era history - is richer. It was gauging fan suffering right now. So using our historical - but ancient - SB win isn't much to hang one's hat on if one didn't experience the win or live through it as a fan. It's nice and cool to take some pride in, don't get me wrong, but I was hardly a die-hard Jets fan during that game. I was just a little Sperm (and that's nearly the literal truth). 

The stadium thing bothers me less because it's so easy and comfortable to watch the games from home (or someplace nearby). So while we do share it with a more successful team, I kind of shrug my shoulder at it. Maybe it'd be more convenient to go a lot more often if the WSS worked out, but it's doubtful I'd go back to having season tickets again. Then again, there are tens of thousands of PSL holders who have to pay for every game even though the FO is clearly tanking the season as a big combination reset button, tryout, and future draft slot strategy.

The "new" Jets era began with the ouster of Kotite and bringing in Parcells. And the reality is within 4 years of that, the Pats won their first SB on their way to having the best long term success in the SB era, not to mention sustained success that theoretically shouldn't be possible in the era of free agency. It only adds to it that their HC was supposed to be our HC (technically he was, until that worm handed in his napkin), if that same Kotite-erasing HC wasn't so wishywashy about his future plans with the Jets as the '99 season closed. 

Yeah, we've made 4 championship games, and half of them came in the last 7-8 seasons, but we lost all 4 of them so we didn't even get the excitement of 2 weeks of euphoria before a letdown of an eventual SB loss. Even the 2 more recent ones are getting further in the rear-view mirror - the more recent one was 7 seasons ago - though they maybe don't seem like that long ago for some. That was also the team's last playoff appearance, and barring something unexpected it doesn't look like that's going to change this year (and probably not next year either with a rookie QB). 

And all of this is something no one in Detroits fan base can say.  

[nyjunc]

Just now, Jet Nut said:

And all of this is something no one in Detroits fan base can say.  

since 1958 the Lions have ONE playoff win but somehow our pain has been greater

[tfine]

We are the Red Sox prior to 2004


Sent from my iPhone using JetNation.com mobile app

[Jet Nut]

2 minutes ago, nyjunc said:

since 1958 the Lions have ONE playoff win but somehow our pain has been greater

It's ridiculous to even try and make a case that our pain, our playoff history etc puts us behind some of the other teams.  Shlt, Herm on his own did more than Detroit