But the bottom fell out of the Falcons’ season. Unless he changes his mind about retirement again, the 37-year-old Gonzalez has no chance to take his name off the list below: the best players in NFL history to never win a Super Bowl.
The criteria is fairly simple: the prime of the players’ career has to be in the Super Bowl era, beginning in the 1966-67 season. Also, careers cut short by injury or tragedy are not included (which unfortunately leaves out Gale Sayers, Sterling Sharpe and Derrick Thomas, among others).
Barry Sanders, RB, 1989-98
Career: Those who argue that Sanders is the greatest running back ever point out that only his premature retirement kept him from putting the career rushing record out of reach. He still qualifies as the runner most likely to utterly humiliate a tackler.
Numbers: 15,269 yards (third all-time), 99.8 yards per game (second), 1997 MVP.
Closest Call: Detroit, 1991, lost NFC championship game to Washington.
Dan Marino, QB, 1983-99
Career: Brett Favre now holds some of his passing records and Peyton Manning will take a few more before he’s done, but Marino is still the defining quarterback of his era, as pure a passer as the game has ever seen.
Numbers: 61,361 yards (second all-time), 420 TD passes (third), 1984 MVP.
Closest Call: Miami, 1984, lost Super Bowl to San Francisco.
Tony Gonzalez, TE, 1997-present
Career: He’s outlasted and outperformed all the great tight ends of his day, and when it seemed he was hitting the wall after 12 years in Kansas City, he had a revival the last five seasons in Atlanta.
Numbers (through Nov. 25): 1,300 receptions (second all-time, first among TEs), 14,879 receiving yards (sixth), 107 TD receptions (sixth).
Closest Call: Atlanta, 2012, lost NFC championship game to San Francisco.
Dick Butkus, LB, 1965-73
Career: He’s still the representative image of the Bears’ defense, the Monsters of the Midway, four decades after his last game. He’s no myth from the NFL Films archives; he was the most feared player of his era.
Numbers: Eight Pro Bowls, made all-decade team in 1960s and 1970s.
Closest Call: Chicago, 1968, finished second in NFL Central Division, one game behind Minnesota. Butkus never played in a playoff game.
Fran Tarkenton, QB, 1961-78
Career: He scrambled before scrambling was cool, added an element rarely seen from quarterbacks of his day. He also retired as the all-time leader in passing yards and touchdowns.
Numbers: 47,0003 yards (sixth all-time), 342 TD passes (fourth), 1975 MVP.
Closest Calls: Minnesota, 1973, 1974, 1976, lost Super Bowls to Miami, Pittsburgh and Oakland.
Dan Fouts, QB, 1973-1987
Career: The chief pilot for Air Coryell, Fouts finished his career as one of just three players with 40,000 career passing yards—the other two were Fran Tarkenton and Johnny Unitas. There are 14 now, proving how far ahead of his time Fouts and the Chargers were.
Numbers: 43,040 yards (11th all-time), 254 TD passes (14th), 1982 offensive player of the year.
Closest Calls: Chargers, 1980, 1981, lost AFC championship games to Oakland and Cincinnati.
O.J. Simpson, RB, 1969-79
Career: Regardless of his post-career notoriety, he is still in the discussion of the most exciting backs ever to play. The only player to rush for 2,000 yards in a 14-game season, he twice broke the single-game record and was second to Jim Brown in career yards when he retired.
Numbers: 11,236 yards (18th all-time), 1973 MVP
Closest Call: Buffalo, 1974, lost AFC playoffs to Pittsburgh. It was his only postseason game.
Alan Page, DT, 1967-81
Career: As a Viking, he won 10 division titles and went to four Super Bowls. He was the anchor of the Purple People Eaters, becoming the first defensive player to win NFL MVP.
Numbers: Nine Pro Bowls, six first-team All-Pros, 218-game playing streak, 1971 MVP.
Closest Calls: Minnesota, 1969, 1973, 1974, 1976, lost Super Bowls to Kansas City, Miami, Pittsburgh, Oakland.
Junior Seau, LB, 1990-2009
Career: The face of the Chargers franchise in the 1990s and early 2000s and the center of a defense that changed the team’s image from the Air Coryell era. A sure Hall of Famer when he’s eligible in two years.
Numbers: 12 Pro Bowls, six first-team All-Pros, 36 career takeaways.
Closest Call: San Diego, 1994, lost Super Bowl to San Francisco.
Deacon Jones, DE, 1961-74
Career: One of the mainstays of the Fearsome Foursome with the L.A. Rams – the most fearsome one, basically – and the inventor of the term “sack.” So fast for his size, it was as if he landed in the NFL of the ‘60s from some advanced future civilization.
Numbers: 173.5 sacks (estimated, unofficial), eight Pro Bowls
Closest Calls: Los Angeles Rams, 1967, 1969, lost NFL playoffs to Green Bay and Minnesota.
LaDainian Tomlinson, RB, 2001-2011
Career: This is now a third era of just-miss San Diego Chargers teams represented on this list. As with Junior Seau, Canton will be calling his name as soon as he’s eligible.
Numbers: 13,684 yards rushing (fifth all-time), 162 total TDs (third), 31 TDs in one season (first), 2006 MVP.
Closest Calls: San Diego, 2007, lost AFC championship game to New England; N.Y. Jets, 2010, lost AFC championship game to Pittsburgh.
John Hannah, G, 1973-85
Career: Very likely the greatest guard to ever put on a uniform, but largely overlooked now (as most guards are). Hannah was the fourth pick of the draft and a first-ballot Hall of Famer, and in between his dominance on the interior of the New England Patriots’ line was unquestioned.
Numbers: Nine Pro Bowls, seven first-team All-Pros, eight games missed in 13 seasons (three because of a contract dispute).
Closest Call: New England, 1985, lost Super Bowl to Chicago. That was the final game of his career.
Earl Campbell, RB, 1978-85
Career: The beating he took shortened his career, but the beating he gave out shortened others’. His first four years with the Oilers had him on pace to break the then-career rushing record of Jim Brown.
Numbers: 9,407 yards, 74 TDs, 1979 MVP
Closest Calls: Houston Oilers, 1978, 1979, lost AFC championship games to Pittsburgh.
Jim Kelly, QB, 1986-1996
Career: His NFL tenure was special enough, but like a handful of others (Warren Moon and Herschel Walker among them) his time in the USFL pushes him up the list. He was in the legendary quarterback draft of 1983, and lived up to the hype.
Numbers: 35,467 yards (18th all-time), 237 TD passes (20th), five Pro Bowls.
Closest Calls: Buffalo, 1990-93, lost Super Bowls to N.Y. Giants, Washington and Dallas twice.
Bruce Smith, DE, 1985-2003
Career: The Bills of the ‘90s needed a quarterback like Jim Kelly, but they never would have been in position to play in four Super Bowls without an even more dominant player on defense.
Numbers: 200 sacks (first all-time), 11 Pro Bowls, two-time NFL defensive player of the year.
Closest Calls: Buffalo, 1990-93, lost Super Bowls to N.Y. Giants, Washington and Dallas twice.
Randy Moss, WR, 1998-2012
Career: Moss may have had the two greatest single seasons a receiver ever had: his rookie year in Minnesota (17 TDs, 69 catches, 1,313 yards) and the perfect regular season in New England (record 23 TDs, 98 catches). His constant, often self-generated controversies likely kept him from shattering all of Jerry Rice’s records.
Numbers: 156 TD catches (second all-time), 15,292 receiving yards (third), 982 receptions (ninth).
Closest Call: New England, 2007, lost Super Bowl to N.Y. Giants.
Eric Dickerson, RB, 1983-1993
Career: Set the single-season rushing record in his second year in 1984, and it still stands. His four-plus years with the L.A. Rams (more than 7,000 yards before a contract dispute forced a trade to the Colts) was as good a four-year stretch as any running back ever.
Numbers: 13,259 yards (seventh all-time), 2,105 yards in one season (first).
Closest Call: L.A. Rams, 1985, lost NFC championship game to Chicago.
Anthony Munoz, LT, 1980-92
Career: If he’s not the best left tackle ever, it doesn’t take long to get to his name. The Bengals drafted him third overall, stuck him on the blind side and went from perennial contender to Super Bowl threat.
Numbers: Nine first-team All-Pros, 1980s all-decade team.
Closest Calls: Cincinnati, 1981, 1988, lost Super Bowls to San Francisco.
Carl Eller, DE, 1964-1979
Career: One of the three mainstays of the Vikings defensive line during their glory days in the 1970s, along with Alan Page and Jim Marshall. Missed one game in 16 seasons.
Numbers: Six Pro Bowls, 1970s all-decade team.
Closest Calls: Minnesota, 1969, 1973, 1974, 1976, lost Super Bowls to Kansas City, Miami, Pittsburgh and Oakland.
Andre Reed, WR, 1985-2000
Career: A lot of players shared the four Bills’ Super Bowl trips, but at the core were Reed, Jim Kelly, Thurman Thomas and Bruce Smith (the latter three are in the Hall of Fame). When he retired, only Jerry Rice had more career catches.
Numbers: 951 receptions (11th all-time), 13,198 yards (12th), 87 TD catches (12th).
Closest Calls: Buffalo, 1990-93, lost Super Bowls to N.Y. Giants, Washington and Dallas twice.
Cris Carter, WR, 1987-2002
Career: Saying he had a career revival in Minnesota doesn’t do the story justice, considering he almost didn’t have a career to revive before that. Just the passes he caught as a Viking over 12 years (1,004) would be the eighth-most ever.
Numbers: 1,101 receptions (fourth all-time), 130 TD catches (fourth), eight Pro Bowls.
Closest Calls: Minnesota, 1998, 2000, lost NFC championship games to Atlanta and N.Y. Giants.
Ozzie Newsome, TE, 1978-90
Career: Full disclosure — this spot was reserved for Kellen Winslow, until a review made it clear that Newsome, a contemporary, simply had a longer, better career, with less attention and less splashy talent around him. And his postseason heartbreak is the stuff of legend.
Numbers: 662 receptions (fifth all-time for TEs), 47 TD catches, three Pro Bowls
Closest Calls: Cleveland, 1986, 1987, 1989, lost AFC championship games to Denver.
Brian Urlacher, LB, 2000-2012
Career: Urlacher and Ray Lewis were cut from almost the same cloth: they ran like safeties, hit like trucks, and all the action on the field revolved around them. They defined the middle-linebacker position in their time and created the mold for the next generation.
Numbers: Eight Pro Bowls, 37 career takeaways, 2005 defensive player of the year
Closest Call: Chicago, 2006, lost Super Bowl to Indianapolis.
Steve Largent, WR, 1976-1989
Career: He was only drafted in the fourth round, was ditched by the team that picked him and landed on an expansion team … and he ended up in the Hall of Fame. Statistically, he was the greatest receiver in NFL history when he retired.
Numbers: 100 TD catches (seventh all-time), 13,089 yards (14th), seven Pro Bowls, 1980s all-decade team
Closest Call: Seattle, 1983, lost AFC championship game to L.A. Raiders.
Terrell Owens, WR, 1996-2010
Career: T.O. has no one to blame but himself for his accomplishments being overshadowed. Then again, without those accomplishments, his antics would be ignored. When he was on, in San Francisco and Philadelphia, nobody could cover him.
Numbers: 15,934 yards (second all-time), 153 TD catches (third), 1,078 receptions (sixth).
Closest Call: Philadelphia, 2004, lost Super Bowl to New England.
