A new study was recently released that looked into NFL fans across the country to determine how lingering ‘heartbreak’ from their favorite team’s worst losses compares to past breakups.
The study had some interesting findings, determining which teams’ fanbase takes the longest to recover from an emotional loss, and which teams’ fans think about their team’s losses more than their own breakups.
Just how heartbroken are Lions Fans?
According to the study, 52% of Detroit Lions fans will actually think about the heartbreak they experience from the team’s worst losses more than the heartbreak they experienced in past breakups.
The Lions fanbase had the highest percentage amongst all 32 NFL teams’ fanbases!
The true hallmark of a fanbase that has experienced years of arduous struggles, which has finally turned the corner and started to truly reach success, only to fall short of the Super Bowl.
As a result of the Lions coming up short in recent years, Detroit fans are officially considered to be the fans most likely to dwell on a painful loss.
What other NFL fanbases dwell on painful losses the most?
Not all NFL fanbases take losses the same way, and this study was a fantastic reminder of that!
Here are the top-10 NFL fanbases that take losses the worst and the percentage of their fans that think about those losses more often than past breakups:
- Detroit Lions – 52%
- Baltimore Ravens – 51%
- Buffalo Bills – 50%
- Green Bay Packers – 47%
- Seattle Seahawks – 44%
- Los Angeles Rams – 43%
- Chicago Bears – 40%
- Minnesota Vikings – 40%
- Dallas Cowboys – 38%
- Arizona Cardinals – 38%
What was this study’s methodology?
The study used a survey of over 2,000 NFL fans across the United States in January of 2026, which means that some of the recent playoff losses may not have impacted the survey.
The respondents were asked to identify their favorite team, and then to identify which type of heartbreak they think of more, a major loss or a past breakup.
The breakdown of respondents was 54% male, 45% female, and 1% non-binary, with a total average age of 43.2 years.