The Buffalo Bills this year.
I’ve been here before. That is the situation the Bills face in 2025 having never won a Super Bowl and having a team seemingly good enough to do it but somehow each year falling short.
For me, it was as a member of the front office with the Oakland Raiders in the 1970s. Before I joined the team in 1973, the Raiders had played in one Super Bowl, losing to Vince Lombardi and his Green Bay Packers in Super Bowl II while coached by John Rauch. Rauch also led the Raiders to the American Football League Championship Game in 1968, losing to the New York Jets before Joe Namath and company downed the Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III.
John Madden was the head coach of the Silver and Black when they looked to gain their third victory of the season over Hank Stram and his Kansas City Chiefs in 1969. The Chiefs upset the Raiders and went on to beat the Minnesota Vikings in the final year before the American and National football leagues merged.
In Madden’s second season, the Raiders again advanced to the playoffs and lost to eventual Super Bowl Champion Baltimore. In 1972, the Raiders lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers in a game forever remembered for the Immaculate Reception. A year later, the Raiders advanced to the AFC Championship Game after beating the Steelers in the playoffs but lost on the road to the eventual Super Bowl Champion Miami Dolphins.
Madden lost two more AFC Championship Games to the Steelers in 1974 and 1975, years in which Pittsburgh went on to win their first two Super Bowls. Finally, in 1976, the Raiders beat the Steelers in the AFC Championship Game two weeks before Madden won his only Super Bowl as head coach of the Raiders. Oakland downed the Vikings in Super Bowl XI, 32-14.