NFL in Florida, a sad state

The state of the NFL in the state of Florida has seen better days.

The Bucs, Jaguars and Dolphins are all 1-3. Miami just fired coach Joe Philbin, Jacksonville's Gus Bradley may be next, and it's telling Lovie Smith is in the best position of the three coaches in the state.

It's hardly just this season, of course. None of the state's three NFL teams has been to the playoffs since 2008 — the Jaguars actually have the most recent playoff win after the 2007 season, with the Bucs winless in the postseason since their 2002 team won the Super Bowl. The Dolphins don't have a playoff win since 2000.

Sustained playoff runs? The Bucs have won more than one playoff game in the same season just once — in their Super Bowl run — and the Jaguars did so just once, in 1996, the franchise's second season. Miami hasn't won multiple playoff games in the same season since Dan Marino's sophomore season in 1984.

Stability? The Bucs and Jaguars have had three coaches each since the start of 2011, and the Dolphins are now on their third in the same span.

The Bucs-Jaguars loser will be seen as the front-runner for the No. 1 overall pick in the 2016 draft — this after the Bucs picked No. 1 in 2015 and Jaguars picked No. 3 the past two years.

It's not just the teams in Florida that are struggling — the state hasn't hosted a Super Bowl since 2010 and won't in the next three years.

At no point in 48 years of Super Bowls has the NFL gone more than five years without a Super Bowl in Florida. Three of the first five were in Miami, and the state hosted four Super Bowls in a span of six years from 2005-10.

Tampa and Miami are among four finalists for the 2019 and 2020 Super Bowls, but if they land those, it'll be the best NFL news in Florida in quite some time.