What are the NFL divisions?

The National football league has experienced an evolution of sort throughout different periods of its 124-year existence. Prior to the current renowned system, there were two different leagues in the United States that offered the American football as a sport. One of them was the National Football League (NFL) and the other was the American Football League. The two leagues merged in 1970, giving rise to a broader NFL consisting of 26 teams. 

Preceding the merger, the NFL had 16 teams and the AFL had ten teams. In order to have an equal distribution, three teams from the NFL were clustered together with the ten AFL teams to form the American Football Conference (AFC) whereas the remaining 13 teams formed the National Football Conference (NFC). Over the next decades, more franchises joined the league and at present the total number of teams in the NFL are 32 with each conference consisting 16 teams.

NFL Divisions Based on Four Cardinal Directions

The two NFL conferences, are further split into divisions using four cardinal directions i.e.: North, South, East, and West. Each division consists of four teams. The NFL assembled these divisions in order to make it easier to schedule the games as well as to seed the teams for playoffs. 

All the teams in one division play the other teams twice in a season, with one home and one away game. As a result of this, divisional games are of vital importance to each franchise, with some of the game’s greatest rivalries birthed from these fierce duels. For example, the Green Bay Packers and the Chicago Bears probably have the most intense rivalry in the game as they both belong to the NFC North division.

What Are the 8 NFL Divisions and Teams?

The most recent NFL divisional realignment occurred in 2002, with the last newly added franchise the Houston Texans joining the league. Texans would join the Carolina Panthers, Baltimore Ravens and Jacksonville Jaguars, all of which had entered the NFL the previous 90’s decade as the latest expanded franchises. The NFL restructured into eight divisions of four teams each. The Patriots and Steelers both have more Super Bowls (six) between themselves than three NFL divisions as a whole.

1. AFC North

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The AFC North features the Baltimore Ravens, Cincinnati Bengals, Cleveland Browns, and Pittsburgh Steelers.

This is the only division in the NFL in which no member team has hosted a Super Bowl in their stadiums. The division, however, has won eight Super Bowl titles: six for the Steelers and two for the Ravens.

2. AFC East

Along the East Coast is the AFC East, which features the Buffalo Bills, Miami Dolphins, New England Patriots, and New York Jets.

This division contains the only teams to have ever completed a perfect regular season in the NFL since the adoption of a 14-game schedule in the inaugural AFL season and by the NFL in 1961. The Dolphins, completed the only perfect season in professional football at 17-0, and the 2007 Patriots finished 18-1 after losing Super Bowl XLII to the New York Giants.

The division boasts nine Super Bowl titles: six for the Patriots, two for the Dolphins, and one for the Jets.

3. AFC West

The four teams in the AFC West are the Denver Broncos, Kansas City Chiefs, Las Vegas Raiders, and Los Angeles Chargers. 

The division possesses ten Super Bowl titles: four for the Chiefs, and three a piece, for the Broncos and Raiders.

4. AFC South

The AFC South features the Houston Texans, Indianapolis Colts, Jacksonville Jaguars, and Tennessee Titans, and it has the fewest Super Bowl victories of all NFL divisions with two. This is due to the fact that the division contains two of the four most recent expansion franchises: Texans (2002) and Jaguars (1995).

5. NFC North

Nicknamed the "Black and Blue Division", due to its intense rivalries and physical style of play, this is one of the most historic divisions in the NFL. It holds the Chicago Bears, Detroit Lions, Green Bay Packers, and Minnesota Vikings.

The division owns five Super Bowl titles: four for the Packers and one for the Bears.

6. NFC East

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The NFC East is comprised of the Dallas Cowboys, New York Giants, Philadelphia Eagles, and Washington Commanders.

This division is the most successful in the NFL with 13 Super Bowl titles, while also being the only division in the league in which all four teams have won at least one Super Bowl.

The Cowboys lead the way with five Super Bowl titles followed by the Giants with four, the Commanders with three and the Eagles with one.

7. NFC West

The NFC West features teams that are on the West Coast. The four teams in the division are the Arizona Cardinals, Los Angeles Rams, San Francisco 49ers, and Seattle Seahawks.

The division has eight Super Bowl titles: five for the 49ers, two for the Rams and one for the Seahawks.

8. NFC South

The NFC South has four member clubs: The Atlanta Falcons, Carolina Panthers, New Orleans Saints, and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

This division is the only NFC division not to have any of the twelve "old-line" franchises that predate the 1960 launch of the American Football League, the NFL's former rival league.

The division has three Super Bowl titles: two for the Buccaneers and one to the Saints.

Below is the table that demonstrates the NFL’s eight divisions.

1. AFC Divisions

2. NFC Divisions