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A Guide to the NFL’s AFC Conference

Introduction to the NFL

American football is one of the most popular sports in the US. The National Football League, or NFL, has fans around the world and many of the teams are household names. The league is comprised of 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 it was too difficult for the team to develop a fanbase as the more popular Chicago Bears overshadowed them. There were other franchises with similar problems and the then 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. Today, 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 the teams in the other divisions within the conference. They also have games against one of the divisions from the NFC, with the division rotated each year so that after four years, the cycle is complete and all the NFL teams will 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 put in 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 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 and reached 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 1990s, 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.