Falcons are oldest major sports franchise without a league championship after Rangers’ World Series win

It took the Texas Rangers 62 years to win a World Series, but they ended their drought with a 5-0 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Wednesday night. Now, the Atlanta Falcons are on the clock as the oldest franchise in the “Big Four” (NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL) to never win a league championship.

The Falcons played their first season in 1966, five years after the Rangers were founded, and they are still searching for their first title. For most of their history, the Falcons have never really been on the doorstep of a Super Bowl, but they have come agonizingly close a few different times.

In 1998, Atlanta won thrillers over the San Francisco 49ers and Minnesota Vikings to reach Super Bowl XXXIII, but John Elway and the Denver Broncos ended their run there. Six years later the Falcons reached the NFC Championship Game, where they fell to the Philadelphia Eagles.

Most notably, and most painfully for Atlanta sports fans, Atlanta was on the wrong end of the biggest comeback in Super Bowl history. In Super Bowl LI, the Falcons held a 28-3 lead over the New England Patriots in the third quarter. From there, Atlanta didn’t score another point as the Patriots stormed all the way back to win 34-28 in overtime/

The Falcons do have some company in the drought department. As one Reddit user pointed out, the Arizona Cardinals, Detroit Lions, Tennessee Titans, Los Angeles Chargers, Cleveland Browns, Buffalo Bills and Minnesota Vikings are all still waiting on their first Super Bowl. While all of those franchises are older than the Falcons, they all won championships prior to the AFL-NFL merger.

The good news for the Falcons is that they are tied for the NFC South lead at 4-4 right now. The bad news is that Atlanta is coming off a tough loss to the Tennessee Titans and head coach Arthur Smith has changed quarterbacks from Desmond Ridder to Taylor Heinicke.