The reason Bills fans were so excited when their team dramatically clinched a playoff berth on Sunday is because it was the first time this century that it had happened. 

After 17 seasons of waiting, the Bills ended the longest playoff drought in professional American sports when Andy Dalton connected with Tyler Boyd for a 49-yard touchdown to beat the Ravens in Week 17, which clinched the AFC's final playoff spot for Buffalo. 

If you're wondering what 17 years of pent up playoff frustration looks like, this is it. 

Bills fans were so elated to see their team finally get in the postseason that they thanked Dalton by donating more than $170,000 to his charity. 

Of course, the Bills weren't the only team to end a long playoff drought this year. The fact that the Bills got into the postseason slightly overshadowed the fact three other teams -- the Rams, Jaguars and Titans -- also ended long droughts by surprisingly making the postseason. 

With the Bills' drought now over, the honor of longest playoff drought in the NFL now goes to -- drumroll please -- the Cleveland Browns. Just when you thought things couldn't get worse for the winless Browns and their fans, they now have to deal with having this distinction. 

Besides the Browns, the Buccaneers are the only other team in the NFL that has a drought of more than 10 seasons, which means the parity-driven NFL has almost reached peak parity. Since 2010, 30 of the league's 32 teams have gone to the playoffs at least once. 

So can the Browns end their drought in 2018? You can decide for yourself by clicking here and checking out the list of opponents they'll play next year. 

Anyway, here's the list of the five longest current playoff droughts in the NFL. 

Longest NFL playoff droughts

(Team, last postseason appearance)

1. Browns (2002)
2. Buccaneers (2007)
T-3. Jets (2010)
T-3. Bears (2010)
T-5. Chargers (2013)
T-5. 49ers (2013)

To give you an idea of how crazy the playoff field is this year, here's a look at what the drought list looked like before the 2017 season. 

1.Bills (1999) 
2. Browns (2002)
3. Rams (2004)
T-4. Jaguars (2007)
T-4. Buccaneers (2007)
6. Titans (2008)

Three of the six longest droughts in the NFL ended this year, which should give everyone, including Browns fans, some hope heading into 2018. As for the Bills, now that their drought is over, the Mariners currently hold the title of longest drought in America professional sports. If you want to check out that entire list, make sure to click here.