| Conference | American Football Conference |
|---|---|
| League | National Football League |
| Sport | American football |
| Founded | 1960 (as the American Football League Western Division) |
| No. of teams | 4 |
| Country | United States |
| Most recent champion(s) | Kansas City Chiefs (17th title) |
| Most titles | Kansas City Chiefs (17 titles) |
TheAmerican Football Conference – Western Division orAFC West is one of the fourdivisions of theAmerican Football Conference (AFC) in theNational Football League (NFL). The division comprises theDenver Broncos,Kansas City Chiefs,Las Vegas Raiders, andLos Angeles Chargers.
The division has sent teams to theSuper Bowl twenty-one times beginning withSuper Bowl I when the Chiefs played theGreen Bay Packers, winning ten times, second only to theNFC East. As of the conclusion ofthe 2023 season, the Chiefs have the most Super Bowl wins of any AFC West team with four Super Bowl victories. The Broncos have appeared in the most Super Bowls in the division with eight, the Chiefs have appeared in seven, and the Raiders have appeared in five. The Chargers lost their lone Super Bowl appearance inSuper Bowl XXIX. Two members of the Division also won back-to-back Super Bowls. The Broncos in1997 and1998 and the Chiefs in2022 and2023.
The Chiefs won the most recent, ninth straight, and a record-extending 17th AFC West title in 2024.[1] Kansas City's win in 2022 made the AFC West the only division in the NFL where all 4 teams had the same amount of division titles (15 each).[2][3][4]
The division was formed in 1960 as theAmerican Football League's Western Division. In 1970, as part of the new NFL's two-conference, six-division alignment, the AFL West entered the merged league more or less intact as the AFC West.
The original AFL West had four members – the Dallas Texans (who moved to Kansas City in 1963 as theChiefs),Denver Broncos,Los Angeles Chargers (who moved to San Diego in 1961, then back to Los Angeles in 2017) andOakland Raiders (who moved to Los Angeles in 1982, back to Oakland in 1995, and Las Vegas in 2020). These four teams have remained in the AFL/AFC West since its inception, and are currently the only teams in the division. Largely because of this, and the fact they have played each other twice a year for over 60 years, the entire division is considered one very large and very heated rivalry. Given the fact that all four teams have played each other in the same division since 1960, the AFC West could be considered the oldest division (in its present form) in the NFL.
TheCincinnati Bengals played the last two AFL seasons in the AFL West despite being further east thanHouston, where theHouston Oilers played at the time and were members of theAFL Eastern Division. The Bengals (along with the Oilers) moved to the AFC Central (formerly theNFL Century Division, now theAFC North) in 1970, forming rivalries with theCleveland Browns and thePittsburgh Steelers.
In 1977, theSeattle Seahawks were added to the AFC West after spending theirexpansion season in theNFC West; they would move back to the NFC West in 2002. Thefirst-year Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 1976 played as a member of the AFC West[5] before being aligned into theNFC Central in 1977.
Each of the four AFC West teams won a division title in the first four years of the realignment –Oakland in 2002,Kansas City in 2003,San Diego in 2004 andDenver in 2005. It is the only one of the eight NFL divisions to have all of its teams win titles in the first four seasons of the North-East-West-South format.[citation needed]
In the early and mid-2000s, the division was often cited as one of the NFL's "Toughest Divisions"[6][7][8] due partially to the home-field advantages ofEmpower Field at Mile High,Arrowhead Stadium,Qualcomm Stadium and theOakland Coliseum, althoughin 2008 the division was the NFL's weakest since theAFC Centralin 1985 by sending theSan Diego Chargers to the playoffs as division winners with an 8–8 record while theNew England Patriots missed out at 11–5 after losing out on conference record tiebreakers for both theAFC East and thewild-card.[citation needed] In2010, the Raiders swept the entire division, going 6–0, but failed to qualify for the playoffs as they only won two non-divisional games.[citation needed]
The division was very weak in2011 as well, when a loss by the Raiders in the last game of the season gave the Broncos the division title with only an 8–8 record. Only theNFC West in 2010, theNFC South in 2014 and 2022, and theNFC East in 2020 have historically sent a worse division winner to the playoffs, when theSeahawks (themselves a former AFC West member) won that division with a 7–9 record, thePanthers won theNFC South division with a 7–8–1 record,[citation needed] theWashington Football Team won theNFC East division with a 7–9 record, and theBuccaneers won theNFC South with an 8–9 record. Along with the AFC (formerly AFL) East, the AFC West is the oldest NFL division in terms of creation date (1960).[citation needed]
Place cursor over year for division champ or Super Bowl team.
| AFL Western Division | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1900s | |||||||||
| 60 | 61 | 62 | 63 | 64 | 65 | 66 | 67 | 68 | 69 |
| Dallas Texans | Kansas City Chiefs[A] | ||||||||
| Denver Broncos | |||||||||
| LA Chargers | San Diego Chargers[B] | ||||||||
| Oakland Raiders | |||||||||
| Cincinnati Bengals[D] | |||||||||
| AFC West Division | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1900s | 2000s | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 70 | 71 | 72 | 73 | 74 | 75 | 76 | 77 | 78 | 79 | 80 | 81 | 82 | 83 | 84 | 85 | 86 | 87 | 88 | 89 | 90 | 91 | 92 | 93 | 94 | 95 | 96 | 97 | 98 | 99 | 00 | 01 |
| Kansas City Chiefs | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Denver Broncos | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| San Diego Chargers | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Oakland Raiders | Los Angeles Raiders[C] | Oakland Raiders | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tampa Bay Buccaneers[E] | Seattle Seahawks[F] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| AFC West Division | |||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000s | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 |
| Kansas City Chiefs | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Denver Broncos | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| San Diego Chargers | Los Angeles Chargers | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Oakland Raiders | Las Vegas Raiders[G] | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Team not in division Division Won AFL Championship Division Won AFL Championship, Lost Super Bowl Division Won AFC Championship Division Won Super Bowl | |||||||||||||||||||||||
# In 1969, The Western Division 2nd place team played the Eastern Division 1st place team in an Interdivisional game.
Updated through the2023–24 NFL playoffs
| Team | AFL/AFC West Division Championships | Playoff Berths | AFC Conference Championships* | AFL Championships† | Super Bowl Championships | Total Championships‡ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Denver Broncos | 15 | 22 | 8 | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| Dallas Texans/Kansas City Chiefs | 17 | 26 | 6 | 1 | 4 | 5 |
| Oakland/Los Angeles/Las Vegas Raiders | 15 | 23 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| San Diego/Los Angeles Chargers | 15 | 19 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Totals | 90 | 20 | 2 | 10 | 12 | |
*Combines AFC Championships and AFL Championships won between 1966 and 1969
†AFL Championships won prior to Super Bowl I (1960–1965)
‡Combined Super Bowl championships and AFL Championships won prior to Super Bowl I in 1967
The table below reflects division titles and playoff appearances from former members of the AFL/AFC West while still in the division.
| Team | Years in division | AFL/AFC West Division Championships | Playoff Berths | AFC Conference Championships | Super Bowl Championships |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seattle Seahawks | 1977–2001 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| Cincinnati Bengals | 1968–1969 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Tampa Bay Buccaneers | 1976 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| (#) | Denotes team that won theSuper Bowl |
| (#) | Denotes team that won theAFC Championship |
| (#) | Denotes team that won theAFL Championship |
| (#) | Denotes team that qualified for theNFL Playoffs orAFL Playoffs |
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| Wild card berths (5) | |
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| Conference championships (1) | |
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