I’m considering doing a documentary project on the most depressed fan base in the NFL. Would love to go to a game and see first hand the lack of hope some people feel in their team. The dejection… The pain….

Where should I go?

31 comments

  2. I wanna say Cleveland, but I grew up there and bartender downtown. Let me tell you, they partied and drank just as much after losing a game as they did winning. They aren’t depressed that they suck haha if anything they are angry.

  3. As a Jets fan, you’d be hard pressed to find a more miserable group of people. We don’t even get to play in our own stadium. We’re like the Giants fuckup brother that lives in the basement. Occasionally, it’ll look like we’re getting it together, we’re taking some community college classes and going to AA meetings, but everyone in the family knows it’s only a matter of time until we relapse and crash our ‘97 Civic into the front window of a nursing home.

    There is no joy that isn’t dashed immediately. Every ounce of hope I have felt for this team during my entire adult life has eventually crumbled into ash. In 2010, I vigorously argued with a friend that Mark Sanchez had a brighter future than Tom Brady. I’m going to have to explain that to Jesus one day.

    Our stadium, despite only being a few miles away from Penn Station, takes roughly 52 hours to get to via public transportation. This includes a transfer at Secaucus Junction, which is a place that exists. At this station, you will be crammed on a train with every GED recipient in the northeast, none of whom have custody of their children. Each car is packed with people in images reminiscent of the Holocaust. The only difference is that everyone on these trains deserves what’s about to happen to them.

    If you want a picture of the future of the franchise, imagine Mark Sanchez’s face slamming into his lineman’s ass. Forever.

    If I ever see Dee Milliner in the street I’m going to salt the earth of his bloodline.

  4. The Bills, whenever they have good teams they always fall short of winning the Super Bowl

  5. Browns, its always the Browns.

    Bunch of shitty teams but the Browns are always the saddest.

    On top of that, they lost their team….that then won a superbowl. Only to get a team, that continues to suck

  6. Jacksonville (I’m a Jags fan)

    We have such a strong love for a team that hasn’t given much to be happy about. They’ve been so close to the Super Bowl twice and it’s ended by heartbreak to the thumbtacks in ‘99 and in ‘17 when Myles Jack Wasn’t Down against New England.

    It’s such a shitty roller coaster but god fucking dammit do I love the Jaguars. DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUVAL!!!

  7. We’ve got a ray of hope currently, as Washington fans, but we’ve lived under the mad king for so long it’s hard to believe things will change.

  8. The Jets, Lions, and Chargers are teams that always seem to get screwed by Lady Luck or manage to kick themselves in the ass somehow.

  10. We’re all going to say our favorite teams so here’s my entry.

    Arizona Cardinals (I’m a Cardinals fan)

    – We are perennial underdogs. A century of mismanagement before moving to the current building lead to an absolutely dismal record and identity

    – Ever since we moved to the new building, the tide turned, however instead of becoming great, we’ve just been painfully average.

    – We reached the Super Bowl in 2008 and were the greatest Cinderella story the NFL has ever seen. We lost.

    – Our star players over the years are known to be extremely kind and down to earth, guys like Budda Baker, Fitzgerald, Calais Campbell, Carson Palmer etc so it’s extra painful to see them lose

    – In 2015, the team put together what is arguably one of the best teams to never win a championship. 13-3, then choked in the NFC championship.

    – 2014 we started 9-1. Lost our QB and didn’t even win the division.

    – 2016 we had a top 5 offense and a top 5 defense, but still missed the playoffs because our special teams was ranked 32, and lost us 5 games based on stupid errors

    – 2017 we had insane depth, but lost our QB and the team died

    – In 2021, the front office took a giant gamble, signing a lot of veterans to short term contracts in an effort so win a championship. The team was the best in the league for the first 12 weeks of the season, then the wheels fell off when everyone started getting injured

    – We gambled everything on 2021 and weren’t successful, and we’re gonna be in this hole for the next few years

  11. There was a time about 20 years ago the KC Chiefs were the absolute bottom of the barrel along with Detroit and Cleveland. Fortunately for me the football gods have finally smiled on us and now we get to be the team everybody hates. As for current most depressed I’d go with Detroit; I still have family up there and every year the seem to find a way to blow it

  12. The Minnesota Vikings. While they do not have a losing history like other teams mentioned in this thread, they continue to find ways to lose in huge moments in the playoffs. They are the best team that has never won a Super Bowl. They’ve lost four Super Bowls and haven’t appeared in one since 1977.

    Yes, the Vikings had the Minneapolis Miracle but that was followed up by a no-show in Philly in the NFC Championship game.

    In recent memory, we have Kirk Cousins failing to throw the ball 8 yards in the home playoff loss to the Giants, Blair Walsh wide left, 2009 Bountygate loss to Saints in NFC Championship game, 41-donut to Giants in 2001, Gary Anderson’s missed FG in 1998 NFC Championship game (they went 15-1 in the regular season).

    The huge losses keep piling up and make each one more painful than the last. They have a successful regular season to give us good reason for hope but never follow through.

  13. The Chargers. Hear me out on this one.

    I know you’re thinking ‘but Mulder, they play in a sunny region with tons of exciting things’.

    And you’re right. Southern California is a world-class things to do. Great weather. Diverse dining. Hundreds of museums and nature areas.

    So imagine the type of San Diegan who watched the Chargers skip town because they didn’t want to pony up a few hundred-millions of dollars (which they had, btw), after they’d failed to get the city to pay for it (which we rejected because the Chargers literally made it to one Super Bowl and got massacred). Imagine the mook who watches all that happen and says ‘well, I’ll stick with them’. That person has nothing going on in their life and is living an unsatisfied existence.

    Now imagine the type of Los Angelino who sees all that mess happening, watches them immediately become the 3rd favorite NFL team in a 2-team town, watches the Rams win a Super Bowl *in Los Angeles*, and says ‘the Chargers are the team I stan’. That person hates themselves.

    It’s a real shame because they have some good players who must have pissed off a tiki god somewhere to end up on that franchise. Someday, the Chargers might actually do the thing and win a Super Bowl. Maybe the Spanos family is summoned back to their home planet and sells it to someone likeable. Maybe there is hope.

    But for now, fuck the Chargers.

  14. I would say the Minnesota Vikings. But we’re more traumatized than depressed. The Vikings are good almost every year, seemingly, some years great. But it always ends the same way: a playoff loss.

    We’ve come to the point where we accept defeat before it happens. It would be a self-destructive cycle if we actually had an effect on the outcome.

  16. I think the Lions would be a good candidate. Even when they win, it looks like everyone there is depressed. Possibly because it’s Detroit, and that place sort of sucks these days. Since the auto manufactureres withdrew or downscaled, that city has been reduced largely to a third world hellscape. If they were to win the superbowl, they’d still have to throw a sad parade in a mostly empty city with whole districts devoid of residents, services, or even electricity.

    After writing that, it actually sounds like a pretty wild time-so I’m now for the Lions winning it all (operating on the assumption that my team will shit the bed in the POs)!

  17. When I lived near Buffalo for a few years, it seemed like the whole city was depressed. Not just about their crappy football team (although that didn’t help), but about life in general.

  19. It used to be the Lions, but now the fanbase is unreasonably hyped and chugging gallons of Kool-Aid.

    But ya, I think it’s the Jets even if they’re just Oops All Green Bay now.

  20. I’m gonna throw out the Cowboys because they’ve had the sweet taste of success only to become mostly a joke over the last two decades.

  21. I’ve lived in PA, OH, TX, and WV, I have to say as far as NFL the browns fans are the worst I’ve met. It’s hard to call it straight up depression tho. They are just downright bitter and filled with resentment for the whole league and constantly blame their teams failures on the NFL being rigged against them. I legitimately had a coworker who said the Steelers “poached” Ben Roethlisberger just because he was from and attended college in Ohio.

  22. The Washington Commanders might not have the single most depressed fan base but it’s high up there.

  23. Let me just drop this here:

    Big 4 Pro Sports since 1991

    Fanbase | Teams | Seasons | Titles | Appearances | NFL (Champ-App) | MLB (Champ-App) | NBA (Champ-App) | NHL (Champ-App)
    :– | :–: | :–: | :–: | :–: | :–: | :–: | :–: | :–:
    Minnesota | 4 | 119 | 0 | 0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0
    Sacramento | 1 | 31 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 0-0 | –
    Jacksonville | 1 | 28 | 0 | 0 | 0-0 | – | – | –
    Columbus | 1 | 23 | 0 | 0 | – | – | – | 0-0
    Cincinnati | 2 | 63 | 0 | 1 | 0-1 | 0-0 | – | –
    Portland | 1 | 31 | 0 | 1 | – | – | 0-1 | –
    Oklahoma City | 1 | 15 | 0 | 1 | – | – | 0-1 | –
    Tennessee | 3 | 72 | 0 | 2 | 0-1 | – | 0-0 | 0-1
    San Diego | 1/2 | 56 | 0 | 2 | 0-1 | 0-1 | – | –
    Orlando | 1 | 31 | 0 | 2 | – | – | 0-2 | –
    Utah | 1 | 31 | 0 | 2 | – | – | 0-2 | –
    Buffalo | 2 | 63 | 0 | 4 | 0-3 | – | – | 0-1
    New Orleans | 2 | 53 | 1 | 1 | 1-1 | – | 0-0 | –
    Las Vegas | 2 | 9 | 1 | 2 | 0-0 | – | – | 1-2
    Indiana | 2 | 63 | 1 | 3 | 1-2 | – | 0-1 | –
    Arizona | 4 | 114 | 1 | 4 | 0-1 | 1-1 | 0-2 | 0-0
    Carolinas | 3 | 84 | 1 | 4 | 0-2 | – | 0-0 | 1-2
    Seattle | 3/4 | 81 | 1 | 4 | 1-3 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 0-0
    Cleveland | 3 | 91 | 1 | 8 | 0-0 | 0-3 | 1-5 | –
    Baltimore | 2 | 58 | 2 | 2 | 2-2 | 0-0 | – | –
    Atlanta | 3/4 | 106 | 2 | 7 | 0-2 | 2-5 | 0-0 | 0-0
    Philadelphia | 4 | 125 | 2 | 10 | 1-3 | 1-4 | 0-1 | 0-2
    Washington D.C. | 4 | 111 | 3 | 4 | 1-1 | 1-1 | 0-0 | 1-2
    Wisconsin | 3 | 94 | 3 | 4 | 2-3 | 0-0 | 1-1 | –
    Kansas City | 2 | 63 | 3 | 5 | 2-3 | 1-2 | – | –
    Houston | 3 | 89 | 4 | 6 | 0-0 | 2-4 | 2-2 | –
    St. Louis | 2/3 | 82 | 4 | 7 | 1-2 | 2-4 | – | 1-1
    San Antonio | 1 | 31 | 5 | 6 | – | – | 5-6 | –
    Tampa | 3 | 87 | 5 | 8 | 2-2 | 0-2 | – | 3-4
    Detroit | 4 | 125 | 5 | 10 | 0-0 | 0-2 | 1-2 | 4-6
    Dallas | 4 | 124 | 5 | 10 | 3-3 | 0-2 | 1-2 | 1-3
    Miami | 4 | 122 | 5 | 11 | 0-0 | 2-2 | 3-7 | 0-2
    Pittsburgh | 3 | 94 | 6 | 9 | 2-4 | 0-0 | – | 4-5
    Colorado | 4 | 120 | 7 | 9 | 3-4 | 0-1 | 1-1 | 3-3
    Bay Area | 6 | 182 | 8 | 15 | 1-4 | 3-4 | 4-6 | 0-1
    New York City | 8 | 250 | 8 | 18 | 2-3 | 5-9 | 0-4 | 1-2
    Chicago | 5 | 156 | 11 | 13 | 0-1 | 2-2 | 6-6 | 3-4
    Los Angeles | 8 | 202 | 12 | 20 | 1-2 | 2-4 | 6-9 | 3-5
    Boston | 4 | 125 | 12 | 20 | 6-10 | 4-4 | 1-3 | 1-3

  24. Eagles fans are more frustrated than depressed but not handling it well regardless.

  25. Raiders. Locked in a years long civil war over the past QB, changed stadiums and lost its culture. Constant losers after a glorious past. Had a controversial game against the Patriots that kickstarted Tom Brady’s dominance of the league…now the teams staff is dominated by former Patriots. And now they’re partially owned by…Tom Brady.

  26. It’s the Detroit Lions

    The Lions have never won a Super Bowl.

    The Lions have had arguably the best RB in NFL history with Barry Sanders, and he never played in a super bowl.

    The Lions have had one of the best WR’s in modern history in Calvin Johnson, he never won a playoff game.

    The Lions star QB for many years, Matthew Stafford, left the lions and then immediately won a Super Bowl with the Rams then next year.

    The Lions have not won a playoff game since 1991.

    The Lions were the first team in modern NFL to go 0-16, a feat only surpassed by the Cleveland Browns.

    That fanbase is tortured and depressed.

  28. Detroit probably, one playoff win since 1957. Even Cleveland has seen better days

  29. What’s special about the Bills is the way they’re able to build up hope before ruining everything. Bills fans are diehard, loud, and committed. So the absolute best moment, if you want that delicious schadenfreude, is the moment when the Bills *almost* beat the Patriots in the playoffs. It’s when they *barely* didn’t make it to the Superbowl.

  31. I will fight anybody who says they have put up with more shit than us washington fans have in the last 20 years!

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