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If you’re a sports fan, you’ve inevitably had to deal with the pain and suffering that comes with an opponent having your team’s number to the point where it seems like there’s no way you’ll ever be able to walk away with a win after coming up short time and time again.
The first week of the 2023 NFL season highlighted that reality for a couple of franchises who’ve spent years trying (and failing) to get out of that kind of rut; the Browns improved their record against the Bengals since 2018 to 9-2 with the upset on Sunday, while the Bears fell to the Packers for the ninth consecutive time courtesy of Chicago’s 38-20 loss to Green Bay.
In cases like those, it can feel like a cold streak becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy; with each loss, the trend gets harder to ignore and becomes an increasingly notable storyline ahead of the subsequent matchup.
Of course, those losing streaks eventually come to an end at some point in time, and while there are plenty of Bears fans who might think the team is down bad against their longtime NFC North rivals, those woes have nothing on some even more impressive (or, depending on which side you root for, depressing) stretch we’ve seen over the years.
The Bills hold the NFL record for the longest losing streak against a single team thanks to the Dolphins
As of this writing, the Jets and the Broncos currently hold the dubious honor of being tied for the longest active losing streak against the same team; after respectively losing to the Patriots and Chiefs in 2022, both of those franchises extended a winless drought that currently sits at 14 consecutive games.
However, they have some work to do if they want to end up matching the Buffalo Bills, who spent the first decade of their time in the NFL calling the Dolphins their daddy.
Miami currently boasts a 62–56–1 record in that all-time series thanks in no small part to the stat padding they were able to do in the 1970s.
The Bills had been playing in the NFL for less than two months when they fell to the Dolphins by a score of 33-14 on October 18, 1970, and the guys in teal and orange racked up 20 wins in a row before the Bills brought their losing streak to a merciful end with a 17-7 victory in their season opener in 1980.
Over that span (which also saw Miami rack up a couple of Super Bowls), the Dolphins shut out the Bills on three occasions and had an average margin of victory of 13 points.
I wish the Jets and Broncos the best of luck in their quest to avoid being immortalized in the record books for all of the wrong reasons.