National Football League

The National Football League (NFL), formed in 1920, is the largest and most popular professional American football league in the world. It consists of thirty-two teams from American cities.

At the end of each season, the winners of the playoffs meet in the Super Bowl.

Current NFL Franchises

American Football Conference
East Division:

• Buffalo Bills
• Miami Dolphins
• New England Patriots
• New York Jets

North Division:

• Baltimore Ravens
• Cincinnati Bengals
• Cleveland Browns
• Pittsburgh Steelers

South Division:

• Houston Texans
• Indianapolis Colts
• Jacksonville Jaguars
• Tennessee Titans

West Division:

• Denver Broncos
• Kansas City Chiefs
• Oakland Raiders
• San Diego Chargers

National Football Conference
East Division:

• Dallas Cowboys
• New York Giants
• Philadelphia Eagles
• Washington Redskins

North Division:

• Chicago Bears
• Detroit Lions
• Green Bay Packers
• Minnesota Vikings

South Division:

• Atlanta Falcons
• Carolina Panthers
• New Orleans Saints
• Tampa Bay Buccaneers

West Division:

• Arizona Cardinals
• Saint Louis Rams
• San Francisco 49ers
• Seattle Seahawks

Playoffs

At the end of each season, in each conference, the four division winners and the two "wild-card" teams (the teams with one of the two best records who did not also win a division) meet in elimination rounds. The two division winners with the best records receive a bye in the first round. The conference champions then play each other in the Super Bowl.

Other Leagues of American Football

• The "All-American Football Conference" competed from 1946 through 1949. After the 1949 season, three of its teams were admitted into the NFL:
  • Cleveland Browns (now Baltimore Ravens)
  • Baltimore Colts (now Indianapolis Colts)
  • San Francisco 49ers
• The "American Football League" competed from 1960 through 1969. All ten teams entered the NFL as part of a merger agreement in 1970. There were four different American Football Leagues over the years; this one, the fourth, was the only one to last more than two years.
• The "World Football League" competed in 1974 and part of 1975.
• The "United States Football League" competed from 1983 through 1985.
• The "World League of American Football" competed independently for a couple of years in the 1990s, before being transformed into NFL Europe, whose teams act as farm clubs for those in the NFL proper.
• The "XfL" competed in 2001.

Premerger Championships (1933-1969)

Prior to 1933, the NFL champion was the team with the best record during the season. This was tricky to sort out, as teams played anywhere from eight to twenty games in a season. In 1932, Chicago and Portsmouth were tied and played a grudge match of sorts, Chicago winning 9-0. The game proved so popular that the league reorganized to make it a permanent feature.

Between 1933 and 1966, the NFL decided its champion through a single postseason playoff game. During this period, the NFL was divided into two groupings, sometimes referred to as divisions and sometimes called conferences. The first place team in each of the two groupings at the end of the regular season played a title game to determine the championship. If there was a tie for first place, an extra playoff game was played in order to determine which team would play the title game. At various times during this period, the two groupings were called Eastern Division and Western Division; American Conference and National Conference; Eastern Conference and Western Conference.

After expansion in 1967, the NFL split its two conferences into two divisions each, and the playoff schedule was expanded from a single game between two teams to a four team tournament, with the four divisional champions participating. The NFL champion played the AFL champion in Super Bowls I through IV.

After 1970, the AFL and NFL fully merged and underwent a realignment. Six divisions were allocated among two conferences, and after this time the Super Bowl champion was also the NFL champion. See Super Bowl for a complete list of Super Bowl winners.

In 2002, the National Football League realigned again, this time into eight divisions of four teams each. The realignment was to accommodate a 32nd team.

Championship Games

• 1933 - Chicago Bears 23, New York Giants 21
• 1934 - New York Giants 30, Chicago Bears 13 (the "Sneaker Game")
• 1935 - Detroit Lions 26, New York Giants 7
• 1936 - Green Bay Packers 21, Boston Redskins 6
• 1937 - Washington Redskins 28, Chicago Bears 21
• 1938 - New York Giants 23, Green Bay Packers 17
• 1939 - Green Bay Packers 27, New York Giants 0
• 1940 - Chicago Bears 73, Washington Redskins 0
• 1941 - Chicago Bears 37, New York Giants 9
• 1942 - Washington Redskins 14, Chicago Bears 6
• 1943 - Chicago Bears 41, Washington Redskins 21
• 1944 - Green Bay Packers 14, New York Giants 7
• 1945 - Cleveland Rams 15, Washington Redskins 14
• 1946 - Chicago Bears 24, New York Giants 14
• 1947 - Chicago Cardinals 28, Philadelphia Eagles 21
• 1948 - Philadelphia Eagles 7, Chicago Cardinals 0
• 1949 - Philadelphia Eagles 14, Los Angeles Rams 0
• 1950 - Cleveland Browns 30, Los Angeles Rams 28
• 1951 - Los Angeles Rams 24, Cleveland Browns 17
• 1952 - Detroit Lions 17, Cleveland Browns 7
• 1953 - Detroit Lions 17, Cleveland Browns 16
• 1954 - Cleveland Browns 56, Detroit Lions 10
• 1955 - Cleveland Browns 38, Los Angeles Rams 14
• 1956 - New York Giants 47, Chicago Bears 7
• 1957 - Detroit Lions 59, Cleveland Browns 14
• 1958 - Baltimore Colts 23, New York Giants 17 (OT) (the "greatest game ever played")
• 1959 - Baltimore Colts 31, New York Giants 16
• 1960 - Philadelphia Eagles 17, Green Bay Packers 13
• 1961 - Green Bay Packers 37, New York Giants 0
• 1962 - Green Bay Packers 16, New York Giants 7
• 1963 - Chicago Bears 14, New York Giants 10
• 1964 - Cleveland Browns 27, Baltimore Colts 0
• 1965 - Green Bay Packers 23, Cleveland Browns 12
• 1966 - Green Bay Packers 34, Dallas Cowboys 27
• 1967 - Green Bay Packers 21, Dallas Cowboys 17 (the "Ice Bowl")
• 1968 - Baltimore Colts 34, Cleveland Browns 0
• 1969 - Minnesota Vikings 27, Cleveland Browns 7