The Detroit Lions defeated the Los Angeles Rams, 24-23, in Sunday’s wild-card playoff game, snapping a 32-year winless streak in the postseason to advance to the divisional round.
With Detroit’s winless streak snapped, the Chicago Bears now have the longest playoff winless streak in the NFC North, which spans 13 years.
Chicago’s last postseason win came on Jan. 16, 2011, when the Bears defeated the Seattle Seahawks, 35-24, with quarterback Jay Cutler at the helm. Lovie Smith was the head coach.
The #Bears now hold the longest playoff winless streak in thr NFC North…
Their last win was on January 16th of 2011.
— Aaron Leming (@AaronLemingNFL) January 15, 2024
For what it’s worth, the Bears have made the playoffs two times since their last postseason win — in 2018 and 2020 — and went 0-2.
Chicago suffered a heartbreaking 16-15 defeat to the Philadelphia Eagles in 2018, now infamously known as the Double Doink loss. The Bears were also the beneficiary of the additional wild-card spot in 2020, when they snuck into the playoffs after a 8-8 season. They suffered a rough 21-9 loss to the New Orleans Saints in the wild-card round.
While Chicago has the longest winless playoff streak in the division, it’s far from the longest in the NFL. The Miami Dolphins haven’t won a playoff game in 23 years, the Las Vegas Raiders haven’t won in 21 years and the Washington Commanders haven’t won in 18 years.
The NFC North has two teams heading to the divisional playoffs — the Lions and the Green Bay Packers, who upset the Dallas Cowboys, 48-32.
