The Bengals last playoff win before this past weekend was January 6th, 1991. I was 2 years old. I literally cannot remember being that old. There are people who will read this and have never actually existed when the Bengals tasted sweet, sweet playoff victory. The team was Quarterbacked by Boomer Esiason, the old guy on CBS’s halftime crew. The team they beat that day? The Houston Oilers.

It’s honestly kind of hard to fathom a gap that long without a single playoff win. There was a meme going around that nobody had ever texted about the Bengals winning a playoff game because text messaging was invented in 1992. That surprised me, I didn’t realize texting was that old. The Bengals last won a playoff game before the band Nirvana broke through with Smells Like Teen Spirit. The Bengals drought was older than mainstream grunge. Michael Jordan hadn’t won an NBA Championship yet. We didn’t know who Sonic the Hedgehog was. Almost my entire life has existed between these two wins. It hurts to think about how long the city has waited to see a single measly playoff victory.

Good for you, Bengals. I am so happy you gave your fans something to be proud of.

Now that the Bengals have finally broken through the wall, let’s look at some of the other active playoff depression streaks. If I could live long enough to see the Bengals finally win, then surely some of these should break within the next decade.

Longest playoff drought – The New York Jets, 2011 – The Jets have officially lasted a full decade since they last appeared in the playoffs. The next closest team is actually the Broncos, at 2016. I assume the Broncos will probably hit the playoffs sometime, but the Jets might have a long road depending on whether Baby Boy Wilson grows up into a Big Boy QB. No team has gone past 20 years without making the playoffs though, so we can safely assume we shall see every team hit the playoffs in the next decade or so.

Longest Playoff Win Drought – The Lions officially take over from the Bengals at 30 years, not since 1992. So really, it barely changed outside the team involved. This one…doesn’t feel close to changing. While anything could happen (Hell, the Bengals kind of proved it this year), the Lions do not feel close. The longest gap between playoff wins historically is 38 years (poor Cardinals). The Bengals streak was 4th, and the Lions are about to tie their own 3rd place record with 31. Jesus Christ. The Lions waited 31 years for a single playoff win, and now they’ve waited at least another 30. Good lord. Do not root for the Lions. Detroit is cursed.

The Lions are also the longest Super Bowl drought, in the sense that they’ve existed the longest without winning one (62 years). The Cardinals and Vikings are right behind them at 61. Superbowls are hard to win, so I doubt we see a change here soon. Lots of teams haven’t reached that pinnacle yet.