The Most Disappointing NFL Teams Since 2004, Ranked

Winning a Super Bowl is arguably the hardest team task in sports. You don't have the luxury of playing a seven-game series where you can lose a few times and still recover. One bad game and your season is over. Over the years, we've witnessed some of the most talented NFL teams fall short of their goal of hoisting the Lombardi Trophy. 

While it is difficult to be the last team standing (just ask the Buffalo Bills), the cream will usually rise to the top. We've seen more recently with the dominance of Pat Mahomes that is it certainly possible achieve consistent success and live up to expectations year to year. But in the past 20 years, there have been many teams that have failed to live up to the hype.

Whether it's stacking your roster in the offseason to build up the hype like the 2011 Dream Team Eagles or dominating opponents up until the final game like the 2007 Patriots, disappointment can come in many forms. With that being said, we ranked the most disappointing teams of the past two decades. For the Dallas Cowboys, you can easily say the past 25 years have been a disappointment following their success in the '90s but for the sake of the list, we split their failures up. 

The Broncos were in need of a savior. Patrick Mahomes had the division wrapped around his fingers and someone needed to do something about it. The front office in Denver decided Russell Wilson was the right guy to change that and it didn’t matter how much it would cost. 

After signing Wilson to one of the biggest guaranteed contracts in recent history and bringing in Packers OC Nathaniel Hackett, the Broncos AFC West dreams were alive and there were even whispers of a potential MVP season for Wilson., Broncos country was ready to ride. What was supposed to be a firework show with young talented wide receivers Jerry Juedy and Courtland Sutton turned to clock management blunders and underwhelming production from almost every position group on the team. The Broncos made it to Christmas before Hackett was let go and the team was ready to find a new leader.

A new narrative during the 2023 offseason was that Russell Wilson was out of touch and a polarizing teammate. Mr. Unlimited became a project rather than a commodity in just one year. Therefore the team would need a proven coach who didn’t put up with nonsense. Insert Sean Peyton. A 1-5 start was highlighted by giving up a historic 70 points to the Dolphins in week 3. And while playoffs hopes loomed for a majority of the season, a meltdown in Detroit and front office blackmail ultimately concluded the Broncos season. Broncos country, let’s hide.

If you believed in any version of the Cleveland Browns you only have yourself to blame. After years of quarterback failures and firing coaches, there was finally hope in Cleveland. Baker Mayfield, the 2018 No. 1 overall draft pick, was the perfect guy to pull Cleveland out of its misery. Baker was an undersized, gritty QB with a chip on his shoulder who overachieved in college. In his first regular season appearance he brought the Browns back to beat the Jets to end their 19-game losing streak. At that point there was no looking back. 

That offseason the Browns traded for Odell Beckham Jr. Odell alongside his best friend Jarvis Landry were bound to be unstoppable but that just wasn't the case. The Browns went 6-10 with the sixth worst point differential in the league. It was their 12th consecutive season with a losing record. A melting pot over the top personalities caught fire quickly. Multiple broadcasts throughout the season caught Mayfield and Beckham Jr having heated conversations with their head coach. A team that began with super bowl aspirations was booed off the field on their final game.

The 2007 season appeared as if we were on a collision course for the undefeated Patriots to take on America’s Team in the Super Bowl, but the Cowboys didn’t hold up their end of the bargain. Loaded with 11 Pro Bowlers, including future Hall of Famers Terrell Owens and Demarcus Ware, and Jason Witten, the Cowboys had everything needed to make it out of the NFC, including the top overall seed in the playoffs. Instead, they lost their first game of the postseason to the Eli Manning-led Giants. It was so bad that Owens was brought to tears at the postgame press conference in defense of Romo. Another year, another heartbreak in Dallas.

Before Andy Reid was beloved by the world for winning and his love of hamburgers, he was constantly scrutinized especially after the underperformance of the 2011 Eagles. The Eagles, who went 10-6 in the previous season, stacked the roster in the offseason, adding Jason Babin, Nnamdi Asomugha, Cullen Jenkins, Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, and the former Giant Steve Smith. Jason Babin tweeted before the season that the Eagles were the "Miami Heat of the NFL" but would actually win their championship. Well, that take aged poorly and not only did the Eagles NOT win a Super Bowl, they didn't even make it out of the Wild Card Round. A roster that was deemed the "Dream Team" didn't come to close to making noise in the postseason. 

The Bills' four-straight years of Super Bowl losses in the early '90s may be the only stretch of heartbreak that exceeds the Saints' pain from 2017-2020. There was the Minneapolis Miracle in 2017, the famous no-call in the 2018 NFC Championship that would've sent the Saints to the Super Bowl, the Vikings late-game fumble in 2019, and running into Tom Brady in 2020. Saints fans have been in the Spain without the S but the past decade and their yearly results have wreaked of heartbreak and disappointment. 

The San Diego Chargers were always one of the most electrifying teams in the NFL featuring former League MVP LaDainian Tomlinson, one of the greatest tight ends to ever play the game in Antonio Gates, and another Hall of Famer in Phillip Rivers. Even with that talent, they never sniffed a Super Bowl and their only AFC championship appearance was stained by narratives that L.T. quit on the team when he didn't play through his injury. Yes, they played in the era of Peyton Manning and Tom Brady but they eliminated Manning twice. Winning a Super Bowl is not the disappointment here, it's not even reaching the big game once. 

In the words of Chris Paul, "sh*t went bad real quick." A year ago, the Eagles looked destined for their second title since 2018. Even after suffering defeat to Pat Mahomes and the Chiefs in the Super Bowl, in which they blew a 24-14 lead in the Super Bowl, it felt like the Eagles were ready to dominate the league for the next coming years. In the offseason, Howie Roseman sent a clear message that Philly was going to be here to stay after signing back players like Jason Kelce, Brandon Graham, Darius Slay and James Bradberry in addition to making moves like adding D'Andre Swift and Jalen Carter in the draft. We were all just waiting to see who Philly was going to play in the Super Bowl this year, right? Wrong. 

Despite a 10-1 start, the Eagles never regained the dominance they flashed last season. Even in their victories, they showed vulnerability and it finally caught up to them at the end of the season when adversity started to hit. Whether it was injuries or chemistry whispers, the Eagles were the accident waiting to happen and in the first round against the 9-8 Buccaneers, the accident happened. 

For three consecutive seasons the Packers won 13 games, with Aaron Rodgers winning league MVP twice in this span and Davantae Adams being named First Team All-Pro twice. And yet despite winning 39 games over three years with two Hall of Famers leading their offense, the Packers never made it out of the NFC, losing twice in the NFC Championship to the 49ers in 2019 and the Buccaneers in 2020, and then embarrassingly losing a home divisional round game against the Jimmy Garoppolo 49ers in 2021. Three consecutive seasons of hope and winning from September through December, all ending with disappointment when it mattered the most.

Since the Cowboys drafted Dak Prescott in 2016, they have won 82 regular season games, three divisional titles, and for each of the past three seasons have won at least 12 games. Yet none of that regular season dominance has translated into a trip past the second round for the franchise. In fact, they have only won two playoff games in the span. All-Pro running backs and offensive linemen? Check. All-Pro defensive players? Check. All-Pro wide receiver talent? Check. Each year the Dak era Cowboys have elite talent, and each year they have flamed out in spectacular fashion. And for some reason, Cowboys fans know how the movie is going to end but continue to watch anyway.

The Patriots were on the doorstep knocking to become the greatest team in the NFL history before the scrappy, underdog New York Football Giants destroyed their hopes and dreams. Sure, you can make the argument that a perfect season in the NFL is one of the hardest tasks to accomplish in sports but they only had the final game to win and they fell short of their goal. That in itself is a disappointment that still haunted players like Tom Brady a decade later. They were dominant all season, breaking the NFL season record for most points and point differential by a team behind the record-breaking 50 passing touchdowns from Brady and 23 receiving touchdowns from Hall of Famer Randy Moss. With all those accolades, they have nothing to show for the historic season but sour memories and an AFC title. That is a disappointment.