TheNational Football League (NFL) is a professionalAmerican football league in the United States and the highestprofessional level of American football in the world.[1] It was formed in 1920 as theAmerican Professional Football Association (APFA) before adopting its current name for the 1922 season. After initially determining champions through end-of-season standings, a playoff system was implemented in 1933 that culminated with theNFL Championship Game. Following anagreement to merge the NFL with the rivalAmerican Football League (AFL) in 1966, theSuper Bowl was first held in 1967 to determine a champion between the best team from each league and has remained as the final game ever since the merger was completed in 1970. All AFL records, including the Championship Games, were added to NFL record books as part of the merger agreement, and the teams were evenly divided between the newly formedAmerican Football Conference (AFC) andNational Football Conference (NFC).[2]
Since 2002, the league has consisted of 32 teams based across the United States. Each NFL season, since 2021, has started with athree-week preseason in August, followed by an18-week regular season which runs from early September to early January, with each team playing 17 games and having onebye week. Following the conclusion of the regular season, seven teams from each conference (four division winners and threewild cards) advance to theplayoffs, asingle-elimination tournament that culminates in the Super Bowl, which is contested in February between the two conference champions.
Early championships between 1920 and 1932 were awarded to the team with the best won-lost record, initially rather haphazardly, as some teams played more games than others, or scheduled games against non-league, amateur or collegiate teams. This led to the 1920 title being determined during a league meeting after the season,[3] the 1921 title being decided on acontroversial tiebreaker,[4] adisputed 1925 title,[5] and the scheduling of an impromptu1932 indoor playoff game.[6]
^No official standings were recorded for the 1920 season and teams played games against opponents outside of the league. The championship was awarded to theAkron Pros during the league meeting on April 30, 1921.[3]
^TheChicago Bears and thePortsmouth Spartans finished with identical win–loss records, tying for first place in the 1932 season. To resolve the tie, aplayoff game was held between the two, counting towards the regular-season total. Chicago won the game and the championship while Portsmouth's loss dropped them to third place, behind theGreen Bay Packers.[6]
In 1933, the teams were divided between the Eastern and Western divisions. This became the American and National conferences in 1950 after the NFL absorbed the rivalAll-America Football Conference (AAFC), then the Eastern and Western conferences in 1953. The two division/conference regular season champions then played in theNFL Championship Game. If two teams tied for the division/conference championship at the end of the regular season, then aone-game playoff was played to determine who would advance to the NFL Championship Game.[20][21]
Season
No. of teams
Division/Conference champion
NFL Championship Game
Ref.
Eastern Division (1933–1949) American Conference (1950–1952) Eastern Conference (1953–1959)
Western Division (1933–1949) National Conference (1950–1952) Western Conference (1953–1959)
The rivalAmerican Football League (AFL) began play in 1960 with its ownEastern andWestern divisions andAFL Championship Game. Following anagreement to merge the NFL with AFL, theSuper Bowl was first held at the conclusion of the 1966 season to determine an overall champion between the champions of the two leagues. The NFL then established a four-team postseason tournament in 1967, and the AFL did the same in 1969.[49]
^Prior to1975, there were no official seeds, because the home teams in the playoffs were decided based on a yearly rotation of division winners instead of regular season records.
^abcdefghijkThis conference top seed hosted the third-seeded team in the divisional playoff round rather than the last-seededwild card team because, prior to1990, two teams from the same division could not meet during this postseason round.
^Despite having the same record as theLos Angeles Rams, theMinnesota Vikings clinched the 1975 NFC top seed by winning the point rating system tiebreaker.
^Despite having the same record as theDallas Cowboys, theLos Angeles Rams clinched the 1978 NFC top seed by virtue of winning their head-to-head regular season game.
^Despite having the same record as thePittsburgh Steelers, theSan Diego Chargers clinched the 1979 AFC top seed by virtue of winning their head-to-head regular season game.
^Despite having the same record as thePhiladelphia Eagles, theDallas Cowboys clinched the 1979 NFC top seed by virtue of having a better conference record.
^Despite having the same record as thePhiladelphia Eagles, theAtlanta Falcons clinched the 1980 NFC top seed by virtue of winning their head-to-head regular season game.
^A player's strike shortened the 1982 regular season to 9 games, the divisions were temporarily suspended, and eight teams from each conference qualified for a special 16-team playoff tournament.
^Despite having the same record as theMiami Dolphins, theLos Angeles Raiders clinched the 1983 AFC top seed by virtue of winning their head-to-head regular season game.
^Despite having the same record as theMiami Dolphins, theLos Angeles Raiders clinched the 1985 AFC top seed by virtue of having a better record against common opponents.
^Despite having the same record as theChicago Bears, theNew York Giants clinched the 1986 NFC top seed by virtue of having a better conference record.
^A player's strike shortened the 1987 regular season to 15 games.
^Despite having the same record as theBuffalo Bills, theCincinnati Bengals clinched the 1988 AFC top seed by virtue of winning their head-to-head regular season game.
^1990 was the first regular season in which each team was given abye week.
^Each team was given two bye weeks in 1993 instead of one.
^Despite having the same record as theHouston Oilers, theBuffalo Bills clinched the 1993 AFC top seed by virtue of winning their head-to-head regular season game.
^Despite having the same record as theGreen Bay Packers, theSan Francisco 49ers clinched the 1997 NFC top seed by virtue of having a better conference record.
^In the wake of theSeptember 11 attacks in 2001, a number of games were rescheduled.
^Despite having the same record as theTennessee Titans, theOakland Raiders clinched the 2002 AFC top seed by virtue of winning their head-to-head regular season game.
^Despite having the same record as theSt. Louis Rams, thePhiladelphia Eagles clinched the 2003 NFC top seed by virtue of having a better conference record.
^Despite having the same record as theGreen Bay Packers, theDallas Cowboys clinched the 2007 NFC top seed by virtue of winning their head-to-head regular season game.
^Despite having the same record as theCarolina Panthers, theNew York Giants clinched the 2008 NFC top seed by virtue of winning their head-to-head regular season game.
^Despite having the same record as theDenver Broncos, theNew England Patriots clinched the 2014 AFC top seed by virtue of winning their head-to-head regular season game.
^Despite having the same record as both theCincinnati Bengals and theNew England Patriots, theDenver Broncos clinched the 2015 AFC top seed by virtue of winning their head-to-head regular season games against both teams.
^Game was officially rendered asSuper Bowl 50 inWestern Arabic numerals instead of "Super Bowl L" in Roman numerals.
^Despite having the same record as thePittsburgh Steelers, theNew England Patriots clinched the 2017 AFC top seed by virtue of winning their head-to-head regular season game.
^Despite having the same record as theMinnesota Vikings, thePhiladelphia Eagles clinched the 2017 NFC top seed by virtue of having a better record against common opponents.
^Despite having the same record as theLos Angeles Chargers, theKansas City Chiefs clinched the 2018 AFC top seed by virtue of having a better division record.
^Despite having the same record as both theGreen Bay Packers and theNew Orleans Saints, theSan Francisco 49ers clinched the 2019 NFC top seed by virtue of winning their head-to-head regular season games against both teams.
^Despite having the same record as theKansas City Chiefs, theTennessee Titans clinched the 2021 AFC top seed by virtue of winning their head-to-head regular season game.
^Despite having the same record as theTampa Bay Buccaneers, theGreen Bay Packers clinched the 2021 NFC top seed by virtue of having a better conference record.
^Despite having the same record as theNew England Patriots, theDenver Broncos clinched the 2025 AFC top seed by virtue of having a better record against common opponents.
Listed below is the current schedule of division matchups for the next few upcoming regular seasons, based on the three-year intraconference and four-year interconference rotations in place since 2021. Each year, in addition to the home and away games against their three division rivals (6 games), all four teams in each division listed at the top will play one game against all four teams in both of the divisions to which it has been assigned — one from the AFC (4 games) and the other from the NFC (4 games). Each team will also play an intraconference game against each of the divisions to which it has not been assigned (2 games), based on the prior season's standings. Finally, each team will also play an additional interconference "17th game" from another division based on the prior season's standings, with the AFC team hosting it in odd years and the NFC team hosting it in even years. This table also lists the sites of the correspondingSuper Bowls. For the sites of the regular season games that are planned to be held outside the United States, please refer to theNFL International Series.
Carroll, Bob; Gershman, Michael; Neft, David; Thorn, John (August 4, 1999).Total Football II: The Official Encyclopedia of the National Football League.William Morrow.ISBN978-0062701749.
Specific
^Jozsa, Frank P. (2004).Sports Capitalism: The Foreign Business of American Professional Leagues.Ashgate Publishing. p. 270.ISBN978-0-7546-4185-8.Since 1922, [the NFL] has been the top professional sports league in the world with respect to American football
