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Falling short of the Super Bowl

The New England Patriots won this year's Super Bowl © AP

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Are there any current American football teams who have never played in a Super Bowl? asked David Hughes

Four of the teams currently in the American or National Football Championship have never yet reached a Super Bowl. Two of them are fairly recent additions - expansion teams Jacksonville Jaguars (established 1995) and Houston Texans (2002).

That leaves two teams which have taken part in the race for the Super Bowl since the first one in 1967 but never yet made it - Detroit Lions and Cleveland Browns (who weren't part of the NFL for three years from 1996). Both of them have won their divisional championship - but in pre-Super Bowl days. Cleveland's last title was in 1964, and Detroit's in 1957 (when they beat Cleveland in the final game).

Detroit lost in the NFC Championship game to Washington in January 1992, and Cleveland lost in the AFC Championship game to Denver in the Januarys of 1987, 1988 and 1990, so they have both got to within one game of the Super Bowl - as have Jacksonville (twice) - but Houston haven't yet.

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