The National Football Conference (NFC) is one of the two conferences of the National Football League (NFL), the highest level of professional American football in the United States. The NFC and its counterpart, the American Football Conference (AFC), each have 16 teams organized into four divisions.
Both conferences were created as part of the 1970 NFL merger with the rival American Football League (AFL). All ten of the former AFL teams and three NFL teams formed the AFC while the remaining thirteen NFL clubs formed the NFC. A series of league expansions and division realignments have occurred since the merger, thus making a total of 16 clubs in each conference.
This chart of the 2023 season standings displays an application of the NFL scheduling formula. The 49ers in 2023 (highlighted in green) finished in first place in the NFC West. Thus, in 2024, the 49ers will play two games against each of its division rivals (highlighted in light blue), one game against each team in the NFC North and AFC East (highlighted in yellow), and one game each against the first-place finishers in the NFC East, NFC South (highlighted in orange) and AFC West (highlighted in pink).
The fourteen opponents each team faces over the 17-game regular season schedule are set using a predetermined formula:
Each NFC team plays the other teams in their respective division twice (home and away) during the regular season, in addition to eleven other games assigned to their schedule by the NFL: three games are assigned on the basis of a particular team's final divisional standing from the previous season, and the remaining eight games are split between the roster of two other NFL divisions. This assignment shifts each year and will follow a standard cycle. Using the 2023 regular season schedule as an example, each team in the NFC East plays against every team in the NFC West and AFC East. In this way, non-divisional competition will be mostly among common opponents – the exception being the three games assigned based on the team's prior-season divisional standing.
At the end of each season, the four division winners and three wild cards (non-division winners with best regular season record) in the NFC qualify for the playoffs. The NFC playoffs culminate in the NFC Championship Game with the winner receiving the George S. Halas Trophy. The NFC champion then plays the AFC champion in the Super Bowl.
History
Both the AFC and NFC were created after the NFL merged with the American Football League (AFL) in 1970.[1] When the AFL began play in 1960 with eight teams, the NFL consisted of 13 clubs. By 1969, the AFL had expanded to ten teams and the NFL to 16 clubs. In order to balance the merged league, all ten of the former AFL teams along with the NFL's Cleveland Browns, Pittsburgh Steelers, and Baltimore Colts formed the AFC, while the remaining 13 NFL teams formed the NFC.
While the newly formed AFC had already agreed upon and set up their divisional alignment plan along almost purely geographic lines, team owners could not agree to a plan on how to align the clubs in the NFC. The alignment proposals were narrowed down to five finalists (each one sealed in an envelope), and then the plan that was eventually selected was picked out of a glass bowl by then-NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle's secretary, Thelma Elkjer,[2] on January 16, 1970.[3]
The five alignment plans for the NFC in 1970 were as follows, with Plan 3 eventually selected:
Eastern – Minnesota, New York Giants, Philadelphia, Washington
Central – Atlanta, Dallas, New Orleans, St. Louis
Western – Chicago, Detroit, Green Bay, Los Angeles, San Francisco
Plan 3
Eastern – Dallas, New York Giants, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Washington
Central – Chicago, Detroit, Green Bay, Minnesota
Western – Atlanta, Los Angeles, New Orleans, San Francisco
Plan 4
Eastern – Minnesota, New York Giants, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Washington
Central – Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, Green Bay
Western – Dallas, New Orleans, Los Angeles, San Francisco
Plan 5
Eastern – Detroit, Minnesota, New York Giants, Philadelphia, Washington
Central – Chicago, Dallas, Green Bay, St. Louis
Western – Atlanta, Los Angeles, New Orleans, San Francisco
Three expansion teams have joined the NFC since the merger, thus making the total 16. When the Seattle Seahawks and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers joined the league in 1976, they were temporarily placed in the NFC and AFC, respectively, for one season before they switched conferences. The Seahawks returned to the NFC as a result of the 2002 realignment. The Carolina Panthers joined the NFC in 1995.[4]
As of 2021, the only pre-merger team that does not play in its 1969 market is the St. Louis Cardinals, who moved in 1988 to Phoenix suburb of Tempe (they moved to Glendale in 2006). The Los Angeles Ramsmoved to St. Louis in 1995, but moved back to Los Angeles in 2016. None of the expansion teams added after 1970 have relocated.
With the exception of the aforementioned relocations since that time, the divisional setup established in 2002 has remained static ever since.
Logo
Original National Football Conference logo (1970–2009)
The original NFC logo, in use from 1970 to 2009, depicted a blue 'N' with three stars across it. The new logo was similar to that of the AFC (which itself was similar to the AFL logo) in that unlike the NFL logo it consisted of a single letter instead of a full abbreviation. The three stars represented the three divisions that were used from 1970 to 2001 (Eastern, Central and Western).[5] The 2010 NFL season brought an updated NFC logo. Largely similar to the old logo, the new logo has a fourth star, representing the four divisions that have composed the NFC since 2002,[6] with the AFC logo being simultaneously updated in a similar manner.
Television
CBS aired the NFC's Sunday afternoon and playoffs games from 1970 through the 1993 season. From 1994 to 2013, Fox was the primary rightsholder to the NFC's games. In those years, all interconference games in which the NFC team was the visiting team were broadcast on either CBS or Fox. Since 2014, the cross-flex policy allows select NFC games (that involve them playing an AFC team at home or intraconference games) to be moved from Fox to CBS. Since 1990, select NFC playoff games have been seen on ABC or ESPN.
