Long-suffering Detroit and Buffalo super motivated as they head into divisional playoffs
Twelve teams have never won a Super Bowl and three - Lions, Bills and Houston Texans - play in this weekend's divisional round where a win takes them into the conference finals and a step closer to Las Vegas, the site of the championship game.
Detroit and Houston have hosted America's biggest sporting party but never played in a Super Bowl, while the Bills made four consecutive appearances in the showpiece match from 1991 losing all four, some in truly agonizing fashion.
Visit Buffalo and mention 'Wide Right' and death stares will follow triggering memories of one of the most painful losses in the region's sporting history, Scott Norwood's missed 47-yard field goal attempt in the dying seconds of Super Bowl XXV that allowed the New York Giants to escape with a 20-19 win.
While Buffalo's pain comes from near misses, Detroit's heartache is spread over decades with the Lions' victory over the Los Angeles Rams in last weekend's Wild Card game just their second playoff win in 65 years.
The low point in the franchise's nearly 100-year history came in 2008 when, with the United States gripped by recession and the auto industry meltdown, the Lions added to the bleakness by stumbling through a winless 0-16 campaign.
In comparison to the Bills and Lions, the Texans, the NFL's youngest franchise after entering the league in 2002, are still very low on the fan 'feel-our-pain' index but frustration is building.
At the other end of the spectrum, all five of the other teams in the divisional round have multiple Super Bowl championships on their resumes.
The San Francisco 49ers have five Lombardi trophies and the Green Bay Packers four, including the very first in 1967 when they beat the Chiefs, who have won three, including last year.
The Baltimore Ravens and Tampa Bay Buccaneers have each twice been crowned Super Bowl champions.
The Bills will host the Chiefs on Sunday with the winner moving on to face the Ravens or Texans, who play on Saturday, in the AFC Championship.
In the NFC the Lions will welcome the Buccaneers to the Motor City on Sunday after the Packers travel to San Francisco to take on the 49ers on Saturday.
QUARTERBACK RIVALRY
Snow hammered Buffalo, where fans were paid to shovel out Highmark Stadium for the Wild Card game and could be called upon to do the same again, will give the Bills a wintry home-field advantage.
But the quarterback rivalry between Chiefs' Patrick Mahomes and Bills' Josh Allen is developing into one of the NFL's hottest.
The last five meetings between the two teams have all been in Kansas City, with the Bills winning three regular season contests but the Chiefs coming out on top when it mattered in two playoff games.
Kansas City will bring plenty of star power with reigning NFL most valuable player Mahomes and their number one fan Taylor Swift, who is expected to brave the Arctic-like conditions to watch her boyfriend - Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.
"They (Chiefs) have been at the top of the mountain," said Allen. "They know what it takes to get there. We've yet to do that.
"I know guys on this team have been waiting for this moment for a long time."
Intriguing quarterback match-ups feature in all four games.
In Detroit, the spotlight is on the clash of two former number-one picks - Lions' Jared Goff and Buccaneers' Baker Mayfield - who were traded away after not living up to expectations and are looking for redemption.
The Ravens' Lamar Jackson is the overwhelming favourite to take MVP honours for his work this season and will go against Houston's young gun CJ Stroud, the leading candidate for the Rookie of the Year award.
Looking to follow in the footsteps of Packer greats Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers, Jordan Love will lead Green Bay into San Francisco, who are led by Brock Purdy, the very last player selected in the 2022 draft.
