AFC and NFC Divisions – The NFL

American football is one of the most popular sports in the US and has a global fanbase who will be familiar with some of the iconic teams playing in the National Football League, or NFL. The league comprises two conferences, the National Football Conference, or NFC, and the American Football Conference, or AFC.

This was not always the case as the original NFL was founded in 1920 and all the teams used to play together in the same league. In 1950, the owners of the Chicago Cardinals complained that the franchise had too much difficulty creating a fanbase because they were overshadowed by the more popular Chicago Bears. There were other franchises with similar problems and then the NFL commissioner Bert Bell was approached with a proposal for having expansion teams, which was rejected. The disgruntled franchises decided to create a new league, and in 1960, the AFL was launched.

Both leagues became hugely popular and 10 years later, in 1970, it was decided that the rival leagues should be merged, to create a single league that fans from all the franchises could follow. The two conferences were formed, and 16 of the teams from the original NFL joined the NFC, whilst the remaining 3 joined the AFC alongside the 13 AFL franchises. Nowadays, there is practically no difference between the two conferences: both have the same rules for drafts, salary caps, structure, and so on.

The 16 teams in the AFC play in four different divisions, the North, East, South, and West Divisions. The teams in each division play against the other teams in their division and also against teams in the other divisions within the conference each season. They also have games against one of the divisions from the NFC, with the division rotated each year so that a cycle is reached every 4 years when all NFL teams have played against each other.

At the end of the season, the winners of the divisions and the wild cards, which are teams that did not win but had strong performances during the season, will qualify for the postseason. Here, the teams play against the other teams that qualified in their conference in elimination rounds. The remaining team from the AFC wins the AFC Championship, and then proceeds to play against the winner of the NFC Championship for the Super Bowl.

AFC and NFC Divisions: An Introduction

The NFL is an American football league where 32 teams across the US compete in two conferences, the National Football Conference, or NFC and the American Football Conference, or AFC. Some of the most iconic American football franchises play in the two different conferences, but the NFL did not always use this structure.

It was formed in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, but in 1960 a new league was formed, called the American Football League, or AFL. In 1970, the rival leagues merged, to create the NFL, with 16 teams in the original NFL forming the NFC, and 3 teams from the original NFL and the 13 teams from the AFL formed the American Football Conference, or AFC.

Nowadays, there is no difference between the football, the salary caps, the drafting, or any structure or rules between the two conferences. They both comprise teams from across the US, only the teams from one conference will play against the other teams in their conference more frequently than teams in the other. There are regular season interconference games, but these are played between the teams of two divisions within either conference, rotating each year. This means that teams in either conference will only play against all the other teams in the other conference after every four years.

The teams in each conference are split into four divisions, comprising four teams each. At the end of the regular season, the teams that make top place in their divisions are declared division winners. Then, the top placing teams in either conference can advance to the postseason, where the teams for either conference only play against the other teams from their conference who qualified for the playoffs. The teams from the NFC are paired, depending on whether they are divisional winners or qualified for the postseason through the wild cards, and then the last team remaining from the NFC wins the NFC Championship. The winner then plays against the winner of the AFC Championship in the Super Bowl, and the winner of that game is declared the NFL Champion.

AFC Divisions

North

The Baltimore Ravens, Cincinnati Bengals, Cleveland Browns, and Pittsburgh Steelers all play in the AFC North Division. The Steelers are the most successful franchise in this division and are tied with the New England Patriots for having the most Super Bowl wins with 6 each. The Steelers have also won the most divisional titles and have 8 AFC Championships. The Bengals are also a highly successful franchise, they have won three AFC Championships, appearing in the Super Bowls three times but have never won it.

The Browns, along with the Steelers and Bengals, are inaugural members of the division, though the last time they won the division was in 1989. The original Browns rebranded themselves as the Ravens in 1996, though in 1999 the franchise was recreated and the Ravens became an independent franchise. The Ravens have won the division multiple times in recent years, though their biggest success came in 2012 when the franchise won the AFC Championship and then won the Super Bowl.

East

The AFC East Division consists of the Buffalo Bills, Miami Dolphins, New England Patriots, and New York Jets. The New England Patriots, as mentioned before, have won a total of 6 Super Bowls and a total of 11 AFC Championships.

The franchise was originally called the Boston Patriots, and alongside the Jets and Bills, they are inaugural franchises in the division. The Jets, originally called the New York Titans, won the AFC Championship and Super Bowl once, in 1968. The Bills won the original AFL bowl twice, in 1964 and 1965, but since then they have not been so fortunate. The franchise won four consecutive AFC Championships in the early 90s, but lost all four Super Bowl finals. The Dolphins joined the division in 1968, and they have won two Super Bowls and five AFC Championships.

South

In the AFC South Division, Houston Texas, Indianapolis Colts, Jacksonville Jaguars, and the Tennessee Titans play. This division was first established in 2002, with the realignment of the NFL to support the additional expansion teams. The Jaguars and Titans joined from the AFC Central, which is now the AFC North, the Colts joined from the AFC East, and the Texans joined as an expansion team. The Colts are the most successful franchise in this division, winning one Super Bowl and two AFC Championships. The Titans and Texans have both won the division in recent years, providing competition for the Colts, and the Jaguars have only won the division once.

West

The AFC West Division consists of the Denver Broncos, Kansas City Chiefs, Las Vegas Raiders, and the Los Angeles Chargers. All four of the teams in this division have deep rivalries as they are all inaugural members. The Raiders and Broncos have both won three Super Bowls, the Broncos have won 7 AFC Championships and the Raiders have won 4. The Chiefs have won 2 Super Bowls and three AFC Championships. The Chargers only won the AFC Championship once, and that was when they were rebranded as the San Diego Chargers, before they relocated and changed their name back to the Los Angeles Chargers.

NFC Divisions

North

The Chicago Bears, Detroit Lions, Green Bay Packers and Minnesota Vikings play in the NFC North Division. Nicknamed the black and blue division, the division has a total of five Super Bowl wins.

The Packers are the most successful side with four Super Bowls, and five NFC Championships. The only other team in the division who have won the Super Bowl are the Bears, who also have two NFC Championship. The Vikings have lost three Super Bowls, though nowadays they, alongside the Bears, are the Packers’ biggest threat in the division. The Lions have only won the division three times and their best performance in the postseason was when they reached the NFC Championships in 1991.

East

The Dallas Cowboys, New York Giants, Philadelphia Eagles and Washington Commanders play in the NFC East Division. It has the most successful teams in the NFL, and is the only division in which all four members have won at least one Super Bowl and appeared in multiple Super Bowls.

The division currently has 13 Super Bowl victories and 21 NFC Championships. The Cowboys are the most successful team in the division with 5 Super Bowls, but they are followed closely by the Giants with 4, and the Commanders with 3. The Eagles also won the Super Bowl once, and have won the division multiple times in recent years. The division is famous for its deeply rooted rivalries and also for being unpredictable: currently there has not been a repeat division champion since 2004, the longest streak in NFL history.

South

The Atlanta Falcons, Carolina Panthers, New Orleans Saints and Tampa Bay Buccaneers play in the NFC South Division. This division was created in 2002, with the realigning of the divisions in the NFL. The teams in the division previously played in different divisions. The most successful teams since 2002 are the Buccaneers, who have won the Super Bowl twice, and the Saints who have won it once. The Panthers and Falcons are also formidable teams, with the Panthers winning the NFC Championship and reaching the Super Bowl twice, and the Falcons winning the NFC Championship and reaching the Super Bowl once.

West

The Arizona Cardinals, Los Angeles Rams, San Francisco 49ers and Seattle Seahawks all play in the NFC West Division. From the current teams in the West Division, the 49ers are the most successful team, as they have won the Super Bowl a total of 5 times. The Seahawks had a brief stint in the division in 1976-77, and then rejoined the division in 2002. They went on to win two NFC Championships and one Super Bowl. The Arizona Cardinals also joined the division in 2002, and they have won the division multiple times, also clinching an NFC Championship.

The Rams have a similarly hectic relationship with the division as the Seahawks. They were amongst the inaugural members in the division in 1967, and won an NFC Championship before they rebranded to become the St Louis Rams in 1995. They won two more NFC Championships and a Super Bowl before the franchise left the division in 2002. Finally, after a lot of public appeal, the franchise returned in 2016, rebranding their name back to the Los Angeles Rams, and they won two more NFC Championships and one more Super Bowl.

The Bottom Line

If you are curious to try and bet on the AFC and NFC Divisions, you can find a complete list of online sportbook sites in the US. On that page, there are plenty of betting sites to find a diverse range of betting markets for the NFL season.

Click here to try the best odds at 22bet Sportsbook