Never Reached a Super Bowl? No Problem. Neither Did These Greats

By John Turney

Stop if you heard this before: Buffalo quarterback Josh Allen will be home for the Super Bowl.

Sound familiar? It should. It's been that way the entirety of Allen's seven-year NFL career, with the Kansas City Chiefs dismissing him and the Bills from the playoffs four of the past five seasons. The latest setback occurred last weekend, with the Chiefs prevailing 32-29, keeping Allen's streak of missing Super Bowls intact.

It was the fourth time Allen lost to Patrick Mahomes in the playoffs, and the first time one quarterback beat the other that many times in a five-year span. So that makes Allen unique. But missing the Super Bowl? That doesn't.

Two-time MVP Lamar Jackson hasn't played in one. Nor, for that matter, have some of the NFL's all-time greats. Some, like Hall-of-Famers Dick Butkus and Gale Sayers, were stuck on underwhelming Chicago Bears' teams that couldn't reach the playoffs, let alone the Super Bowl. The same goes for Browns' tackle Joe Thomas. Then there were others whose teams made the playoffs but didn't go far.

However, my interest is with none of them. 

I'm here to choose the 10 greatest players who didn't play in Super Bowls, but who, like Allen and Jackson, came close by playing in one or more conference championship games. Call it a misery index ... as in: The greater the heartbreak, the more you move up the list ... and let's call it now. 

Here are my picks:

1. Dan Fouts—The leader of "Air Coryell" had the San Diego Chargers close. Losing the AFC championship game three times -- in 1980-82. That was his window, and it slammed shut after that. He still put up numbers and picked up his Gold Jacket but never played in the Big Game ... and, in terms of legacy, that means more for quarterbacks than other positions.

2. Merlin Olsen—Like Fouts, Olsen came close to playing in a Super Bowl. The Rams played in NFC championship games in 1974-76, losing all three -- twice to the Vikings and once to the Cowboys. The 14-time Pro Bowler would be on most people's "Mt. Rushmore" of defensive tackles.

3. LaDainian Tomlinson—The Patriots stopped Tomlinson's Chargers twice. Then, in 2010, the Pittsburgh Steelers shut the door on his Jets. So Tomlinson never held the Lamar Hunt Trophy after an AFC title game. One of the best all-around running backs, Tomlinson could run, catch, block, run short and run long. But he couldn't run his teams to the Super Bowl in two title tries.

4. Earl Campbell—Twice he led the Houston Oilers to an AFC championship game ... and by "led," I mean that without him they don't get there. In fact, without him, they wouldn't make the playoffs, period. He was the Oilers' offense, but that wasn't enough. The Steelers were a better, more complete team and twice the "Tyler Rose" fell one game short of playing in a Super Bowl.

5. Barry Sanders—One of the top-five running backs in league history, Sanders played in only one NFC championship game. That happened in his third season (1991), and it never happened again despite the Lions reaching the playoffs five of his 10 NFL seasons. Sanders was an elite player, but he wasn't enough to push Detroit over the hump. 

6. Randall McDaniel—Offensive linemen are people, too, and this Hall-of-Fame guard fits perfectly on this list. He played 14 seasons, including 11 in the playoffs, and never advanced to the Big Game. The closest he came was 1998 when his Vikings lost in the NFC championship game after a missed Gary Anderson field goal (his first of the season) ended that dream. Nine times his team advanced to the playoffs but never won a conference championship. Ouch. 

7. John Randle—Another Vikings' star, Randle is one of the best pass-rushing defensive tackles in the history of the NFL. He was a seven-time Pro Bowler, six-time All-Pro, all-decade choice and member of the league's 100th anniversary team who produced 137-1/2 sacks. Like McDaniel, he got close to making the Super Bowl in 1998, and the rest you know. Just read the paragraph above.  

8. Eric Dickerson—Like Barry Sanders, Dickerson is one of the top running backs the game has seen. But his Rams' team only made one championship game, only to be shut out by the Bears (1985). He played for four teams, and all were one-dimensional ...with Dickerson the one dimension. But it was never enough. 

9. Steve Largent—The Seattle wide receiver played in an AFC championship game in 1983 in a Cinderella playoff run. The Seahawks snuck into the playoffs with a 9-7 record, proceeded to beat John Elway and the Broncos and then upset the 12-4 Miami Dolphins. However, they couldn't handle the Raiders. It was the first and last time Largent played in a conference title game, though he'd make three more playoff appearances.

10. Tony Gonzalez—The 14-time Pro Bowler was on six playoff teams, but it wasn't until his second-to-last year in the NFL that he got his closest shot at a Super Bowl. That was the 2012 season when the Falcons hosted the NFC championship gamer, only to be beaten by San Francisco, 28-24.