| Conference | National Football Conference (NFC) |
|---|---|
| League | National Football League (NFL) |
| Sport | American football |
| Founded | 1967 |
| No. of teams | 4 |
| Most recent champion(s) | Philadelphia Eagles (13th title) |
| Most titles | Dallas Cowboys (25 titles) |
TheNational Football Conference – Eastern Division orNFC East is one of the fourdivisions of theNational Football Conference (NFC) in theNational Football League (NFL). It has four members: theDallas Cowboys,New York Giants,Philadelphia Eagles, andWashington Commanders.
The division was formed in 1967 as theNational Football League Capitol Division and acquired its current name in 1970 following theAFL-NFL merger. The NFC East is currently the only division in the league in which all four current teams have won not only at least oneSuper Bowl, but also at least two.[1][2] With 14 Super Bowl titles, the NFC East is currently the most successful division in the NFL during the Super Bowl era, with theAFC West second with ten titles. TheDallas Cowboys have the most Super Bowl titles in the division, winning five. TheNew York Giants have won four, theWashington Commanders have three, and thePhiladelphia Eagles have two Super Bowl victories, including the most recent,Super Bowl LIX.
The NFC East currently has the longest streak without a consecutive division champion, with no team having repeated since the Philadelphia Eagles won four consecutive titles from2001 to2004.[3][4][5][6][7][8]
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The division's original name, NFL Capitol Division, derived from being centered on the capital of the United States,Washington, D.C., and the country's birthplace,Philadelphia. In 1967 and 1969, the teams in the division were Dallas, Philadelphia, Washington and theexpansion teamNew Orleans Saints, with the New York Giants swapping divisions with the Saints for the 1968 season. This arrangement had been agreed in advance as a means to ensure all of the NFL's teams would be able to visit New York once in those three years. With the merger in 1970, following contentious negotiations culminating in a random draw, it was agreed that New York (along with theSt. Louis Cardinals) would permanently return to the re-branded NFC East.
The NFC East has a long history of being geographically inaccurate. While the New York Giants, Philadelphia, and Washington are based on the East Coast, Dallas andSt. Louis (later Phoenix, then Arizona) remained part of the East from the 1970 merger until 2002 despite being geographically west of most teams in the conference and closer to thePacific Ocean.
To begin with, the Cowboys were located east of only two NFC teams that were outside of the East division (Los Angeles Rams andSan Francisco 49ers from the West division), while the Cardinals were east of one additional such team (Minnesota Vikings from the Central division). TheTampa Bay Buccaneers, east of Dallas and St. Louis, joined the Central as an expansion team in 1976. The Cardinals relocated to Phoenix to start the1988 season and stayed in the East through2001; that made them located west of every team in the NFC except for the Rams and 49ers. The Rams relocated from Los Angeles to St. Louis to start the1995 season and stayed in the West, while theCarolina Panthers joined the West as an expansion team that same season; this made the Cardinals and Cowboys west of every team in the conference, except for the 49ers, from 1995 to 2001.
While the divisions in general have been much more geographically accurate since the NFL's realignment of 2002, even following the Rams' return to Los Angeles, the Cowboys are further west than every team in the league except for seven of the eight West teams in both conferences, in addition to theKansas City Chiefs of theAFC West.
The NFC East teams have combined to be the most successful division in the Super Bowl era with 22NFC championships and 14Super Bowl victories, the highest marks of any division in the NFL. The division features a number of prominent rivalries such as theCowboys–Eagles rivalry,Cowboys–Washington rivalry andEagles–Giants rivalry, among others. Because the division's teams are in some of the United States'largest media markets (New York No. 1, Philadelphia No. 4, Dallas-Fort Worth No. 5, and Washington No. 9), the NFC East receives a high amount of coverage from national sports media outlets.[9] In the early 1990s the division claimed four consecutive Super Bowl champions, all against theBuffalo Bills, with the Giants and Washington respectively winning back-to-back in Super BowlsXXV andXXVI; and the Cowboys winning twice after in Super BowlsXXVII andXXVIII. Those same three teams won seven out of ten Super Bowls, from 1986–87 to 1995–96 (the 49ers won the other three during that span). Meanwhile, the Eagles are the most recent team in the division to win multiple Super Bowls, beating the Patriots 41–33 inSuper Bowl LII and the Chiefs 40-22 inSuper Bowl LIX.
The NFC East was the first division since the 2002 realignment to send 3 teams to the playoffs when the2006-07 NFL playoffs had Philadelphia winning the division and Dallas and New York taking both Wild Card spots. On the other hand, the NFC East became one of three divisions to be won by a team with a losing record (the previous two being theNFC South andNFC West) when the then-Washington Football Team won the2020 division crown with a 7–9 record.
ThePhiladelphia Eagles are the only NFC East team to actually play in the city of the team's naming.[10] The other three teams play in suburbs of the major cities they are named after. TheDallas Cowboys play inArlington, Texas, and are the only team in this division not based in theEastern Time Zone (the Cowboys are based in theCentral Time Zone).[11] TheWashington Commanders play inLandover, Maryland,[12] and theNew York Giants play inEast Rutherford, New Jersey,[13] where they sharea stadium with theNew York Jets. Analogously, three of the fourAFC East teams do not actually play within the city of their naming. (ThePatriots geographical identifier is New England, being named for the region the team plays in.)
As of 2024, all four teams in the division were in the top ten of most valuable NFL franchises (Cowboys #1; Giants #2; Commanders #7; Eagles #9).[14]
Place cursor overyear for division champion.
| NFL Eastern Conference Capitol Division | NFC East Division[B] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1900s | 2000s | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 67[A] | 68 | 69 | 70 | 71 | 72 | 73 | 74 | 75[C] | 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 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Dallas Cowboys | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Philadelphia Eagles | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Washington Redskins | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| N.O. Saints | NY Giants | N.O. Saints | New York Giants | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| St. Louis Cardinals[C] | Phoenix Cardinals | Arizona Cardinals[D] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| NFC East Division[E] | |||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000s | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07[F] | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 |
| Dallas Cowboys | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Philadelphia Eagles | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Washington Redskins | Washington Football Team | Washington Commanders | |||||||||||||||||||||
| New York Giants | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Team not in division Division Won Super Bowl Division Won NFC Championship | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Including the pre-Super Bowl era, the Giants have eight league championships, while Eagles, Cowboys, and Washington have five each.
There have been three division sweeps of the NFC East Division, the 1998 Dallas Cowboys (8–0), the 2004 Philadelphia Eagles (6–0), and the 2021 Dallas Cowboys (6–0).[16]
| Team | Division Championships | Playoff Berths | Super Bowl Appearances | Super Bowl Championships |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dallas Cowboys | 25 | 34 | 8 | 5 |
| Philadelphia Eagles | 13 | 24 | 5 | 2 |
| Washington Commanders | 9 | 19 | 5 | 3 |
| New York Giants | 8 | 16 | 5 | 4 |
| Arizona Cardinals1 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
To sort table above, click button to right of heading.
| NFC East | Division Championships | Playoff Berths | NFC Championships | Super Bowl Championships |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Totals (1967–2024) | 55 | 96 | 23 | 14 |
| (#) | Denotes team that won theSuper Bowl |
| (#) | Denotes team that won theNFC Championship |
| (#) | Denotes team that qualified for theNFL Playoffs |
| Year | Opponents | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Interconf. | Intraconf. | 17th Opponent | |
| 2025 | AFC West | NFC North | AFC East (away) |
| 2026 | AFC South | NFC West | AFC North (home) |
| 2027 | AFC East | NFC South | AFC West (away) |
| 2028 | AFC North | NFC North | AFC South (home) |
| 2029 | AFC West | NFC West | AFC East (away) |
| 2030 | AFC South | NFC South | AFC North (home) |
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