Levels of a Successful Season in the NFL

I've been and NFL my whole life.  In almost 50 years of watching football I've watched my team in the Super Bowl five times and win the Super Bowl twice.  I know there is an idea that if your team didn't win the Super Bowl the team was not successful, I reject this idea.  It would be true if the teams didn't have continuity from year to year.  Teams need to build over time.  Just because you didn't win the big one that doesn't mean you didn't move forward.

I figured out seven level of success for NFL teams.  Success really depends on two things, what did you do the season before, and what you are projected to do this season.  Lets take the teams that need to win the Super Bowl to be successful.  The Chiefs and Eagles have to match past glory, the 49ers have to erase past failures, last Bills, Bengals, and Ravens need to make hay while the sun is shining.  The Bills, Bengals, and Ravens all face the issue of wasting the best years of a few high level quarterbacks. When it comes to not wasting another year of a quarterback, I would put the Cowboys and Chargers in this category, but since they have both had much less playoff success, I put them in other categories.    

1. Win the Super Bowl - Eagles, Chiefs, Bills, Bengals, Ravens, 49ers  
2. Make the Super Bowl - Lions, Texans, Rams, Commanders, Cowboys      
3. Make the NFC/AFC Title Game - Chargers, Vikings, Packers, Broncos   
4. Win a playoff game - Steelers, Buccaneers, Seahawks                
5. Make the playoffs - Bears, Patriots, Colts                          
6. Be in the chase in week 17 - Giants, Dolphins, Falcons, Jets, Panthers, Raiders. Jaguars, Cardinals  
7. Don't have a scandal - Browns, Titans, Saints        

You may disagree with my assessments here.  I think there is a chance for between 7 and 16 teams to have a successful season.  If they get past the level that also counts as a success.  For all of these teams but one, I don't really care about their level of success.  I am dispassionate about this, I am looking at this not as a fan, but an outside observer.  I don't have anything invested in where these teams finish.  These are not really predictions, more like permission for fans to be happy with the outcome of their team's season so they can have fun even if they don't go all the way.