AFC

The American Football Conference (AFC) was born from the merger between the National Football League and the American Football League (AFL) in 1970. After the AFL’s inception in 1960 and the addition of two expansion teams, the Miami Dolphins and the Cincinnati Bengals, it merged with the NFL to form the AFC and the National Football Conference (NFC).

To balance the numbers, three NFL teams – the Cleveland Browns, the Pittsburgh Steelers, and the then-Baltimore Colts joined the ten former AFL teams to constitute the AFC. The formation mainly saw intact AFL divisions with a touch of the NFL’s Century Division forming the new AFC Central. The divisional setup was primarily based on geographical lines, agreed upon for the 1970 season.

 

Expansion, Relocation, and Realignment

Since its inception, the AFC has seen dynamic shifts – the addition of five expansion teams and the departure of two. The Seattle Seahawks and Tampa Bay Buccaneers temporarily joined the AFC and NFC, respectively, in 1976.

Following a one-season arrangement, they swapped conferences, with the Seahawks returning to the NFC due to the 2002 realignment. Relocation also played a role in the AFC’s evolution. The Baltimore Colts moved to Indianapolis in 1984, while the Oakland Raiders moved to Los Angeles in 1982, back to Oakland in 1995, and finally to Las Vegas in 2020.

After 56 years in San Diego, the San Diego Chargers relocated back to Los Angeles in 2017. The Houston Oilers’ move to Tennessee in 1997 led to their renaming as the Tennessee Oilers and eventually the Tennessee Titans two years later. The AFC’s expansion continued in 2002 with the addition of the Houston Texans. With the exception of several relocations since then, the divisional setup has remained relatively stable.

 

Teams and Season Structure

The AFC comprises 16 teams organized into four divisions (East, North, South, and West). Each team plays the others in its respective division twice during the regular season, in addition to eleven other games assigned to its schedule by the NFL.

Three games are based on a team’s final divisional standing from the previous season, while the remaining eight games are split between two other NFL divisions. This pattern rotates each year and adheres to a standard cycle. For example, in the 2023 season, each team in the AFC West will compete against every team in the AFC East and NFC North.

At the end of each season, the top four division winners and three wild cards qualify for the playoffs, culminating in the AFC Championship Game. The winner receives the Lamar Hunt Trophy and competes with the NFC champion in the Super Bowl.

 

Performance Over the Years

From 1995 to 2021, only nine of the AFC’s 16 teams made it to the Super Bowl. The New England Patriots made the most appearances with 10, followed by the Pittsburgh Steelers and Denver Broncos with four each. On the contrary, the NFC sent 13 of its 16 teams during the same period.

Between 2001 and 2019, the AFC champions mainly relied on three quarterbacks: Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, and Ben Roethlisberger. The AFC started seven quarterbacks in the last 20 Super Bowls, whereas the NFC began with 16.