The National Football League is the major American professional football organization, founded in 1920 in Canton, Ohio, as the American Professional Football Association. Its first president was Jim Thorpe, an outstanding American athlete who was also a player in the league. The present name was adopted in 1922.
The league began play in 1920 and comprised five teams from Ohio (Akron Pros, Canton Bulldogs, Cleveland Tigers, Columbus Panhandlers, and Dayton Triangles), four teams from Illinois (Chicago Tigers, Decatur Staleys, Racine Cardinals [the Cardinals were based in Chicago but took the name of a local street], and Rock Island Independents), two from Indiana (Hammond Pros and Muncie Flyers), two from New York (Buffalo All-Americans and Rochester Jeffersons), and the Detroit Heralds from Michigan. Of these original franchises, only two remain. The Cardinals left Chicago for St. Louis after the 1959 season and relocated to Arizona in 1988. The Decatur Staleys moved to Chicago in 1921 and a year later changed their name to the Bears.
The NFL survived many years of instability and competition from rival organizations to became the strongest American professional football league. The most serious challenge to its leading role came from the American Football League (AFL) in the 1960s. The NFL and AFL completed a merger in 1970, creating a 26-team circuit under the name of the older NFL.
Since then the league has expanded four times, adding six new franchises. The league’s 32 teams are aligned as follows:
National Football Conference (NFC)
• Eastern Division: Dallas Cowboys, New York Giants, Philadelphia Eagles, Washington Redskins
• Northern Division: Chicago Bears, Detroit Lions, Green Bay Packers, Minnesota Vikings
• Southern Division: Atlanta Falcons, Carolina Panthers, New Orleans Saints, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
• Western Division: Arizona Cardinals, St. Louis Rams, San Francisco 49ers, Seattle Seahawks
American Football Conference (AFC)
• Eastern Division: Buffalo Bills, Miami Dolphins, New England Patriots, New York Jets
• Northern Division: Baltimore Ravens, Cincinnati Bengals, Cleveland Browns, Pittsburgh Steelers
• Southern Division: Houston Texans, Indianapolis Colts, Jacksonville Jaguars, Tennessee Titans
• Western Division: Denver Broncos, Kansas City Chiefs, Oakland Raiders, San Diego Chargers
The league season culminates with an annual 12-team play-off tournament leading to the Super Bowl championship game. The NFL has headquarters in New York City and, since 1963, has maintained the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.
Based in Dallas, the Cowboys are one of the NFL’s most successful and popular franchises, having won five Super Bowls and eight conference championships.
The Cowboys joined the NFL as an expansion team in 1960 under head coach Tom Landry. After posting a losing record in each of their first five seasons, the Cowboys quickly became one of the NFL’s better teams, qualifying for the play-offs in 17 of the 18 seasons between 1966 and 1983. The Cowboys joined the Detroit Lions in hosting an annual home game on Thanksgiving Day in 1966, a move that greatly increased the team’s national exposure. In 1967 Dallas reached the NFL championship game but lost to the Green Bay Packers in a contest that featured the lowest recorded on-field temperature in NFL history (–13 °F [–25 °C]) and became known as the “Ice Bowl.”
Future Hall of Fame quarterback Roger Staubach arrived in 1969 and went on to establish the Cowboys as a perennial title contender. With Staubach the Cowboys won five NFC championships and two Super Bowls (1972, 1978), and the popular franchise, which also boasted scantily clad cheerleaders who were both sex symbols and the targets of feminist scorn, became known by the nickname “America’s team.” Other notable players of the Landry era included defensive tackles Bob Lilly and Randy White, wide receiver and former Olympic sprint champion Bob Hayes, cornerback Mel Renfro, and running back Tony Dorsett.
Members of the Dallas Cowboys dig in to a sideline Thanksgiving feast in 2009. The Cowboys have become a Thanksgiving Day staple, playing on the holiday since 1966. Greg Nelson/Sports Illustrated/Getty Images
Businessman Jerry Jones purchased the franchise in 1989 and fired Landry soon thereafter, earning the ire of the many loyal Cowboys fans who had grown attached to the coach in his 28 years with the team. The situation was ameliorated by the fact that the Cowboys had a string of excellent drafts at this time, acquiring future Hall of Famers Michael Irvin, Troy Aikman, and Emmitt Smith in successive drafts from 1988 to 1990. The team went on to dominate the NFL for the better part of the decade. The Cowboys of the 1990s won Super Bowls in 1993, 1994, and 1996.
The early part of the next decade saw the franchise decline as its stars retired or left for other teams. Though the Cowboys occasionally qualified for the postseason, they did not win a play-off game from 1996 until 2010, when quarterback Tony Romo—after guiding the Cowboys to a division title during the 2009 regular season—led the team to an opening-round play-off victory over the Philadelphia Eagles.
Based in East Rutherford, N.J., the Giants have won four NFL championships (1927, 1934, 1938, 1956) and three Super Bowls (1987, 1991, 2008). The Giants are noted for their early successes and their dominant play in the 1980s and ’90s under head coach Bill Parcells.
The Giants were established in 1925 in New York and played their first three decades at the Polo Grounds in upper Manhattan. The franchise was purchased for $500 by Tim Mara, whose family retained an ownership interest in the team into the 21st century. In 1930 Mara split ownership between his two sons, Jack and Wellington.
Although the Giants lost their first contest 14–0 to the Frankford Yellow Jackets, they quickly distinguished themselves as one of the great teams of early professional football, winning NFL championships in 1927, 1934, and 1938. The 1934 championship was won 30–13 over the Washington Redskins in the famous “Sneakers Game,” wherein the Giants trailed at halftime but switched to basketball shoes to gain better traction on the icy field. During the next decade the Giants continued to enjoy success, advancing to (though losing) four NFL championship games (1939, 1941, 1944, 1946). In the late 1940s the team endured hardship on the field, posting consecutive losing seasons in 1947, 1948, and 1949 before enjoying success again in the 1950s.
In 1956 the Giants moved from the Polo Grounds to Yankee Stadium and, behind the legs of legendary running back Frank Gifford and the grit of linebacker Sam Huff, captured their fourth (and last) NFL championship. During this period the team included defensive back Emlen Tunnell, who played 11 seasons (1948–58) with the team and became the first African American player to be enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The 1950s team was also notable for its coaching staff, with Vince Lombardi in charge of the offense and Tom Landry the defense. Both coaches went on to be legends of the Green Bay Packers and Dallas Cowboys, respectively.
The 1958 NFL championship pitted the Giants against the Baltimore Colts in what is viewed by many as one of football’s greatest games. With a national television audience watching, the Colts beat the Giants 23–17 in a dramatic contest that ended in sudden-death overtime. The game marked the beginning of the NFL’s tremendous popularity in the United States.
The Giants, led by quarterback Y.A. Tittle, advanced to the NFL championship game in 1961, 1962, and 1963 but then struggled for many seasons, posting only two winning records between 1964 and 1980 (1970, 1972). In that period the team also moved from New York to New Jersey, beginning play at Giants Stadium in the Meadowlands in 1976. (The team also played seasons in the Yale Bowl in Connecticut and Shea Stadium in Queens, N.Y.) During this stretch the Giants suffered one of their most stinging defeats in what was called the “Miracle at the Meadowlands” or “The Fumble.” On Nov. 19, 1978, against the Philadelphia Eagles, the Giants led 17–12 and needed only to run out the clock to secure victory, but an errant handoff from quarterback Joe Pisarcik to fullback Larry Csonka allowed the Eagles’ Herman Edwards to recover a fumble and run 26 yards into the end zone to win the game.
Bill Parcells became the Giants’ head coach starting in the 1983 season. Parcells assembled teams that included linebackers Lawrence Taylor and Harry Carson, quarterback Phil Simms, and tight end Mark Bavaro. The Giants won Super Bowls following the 1986 and 1990 seasons, maintaining success through the majority of Parcells’s tenure. After capturing the second Super Bowl, Parcells left the team. Afterward the Giants had a mixed record, with four winning seasons between 1991 and 2000. In 2000 they advanced to the Super Bowl, losing 34–7 to the Baltimore Ravens.
In 2004 Tom Coughlin joined the franchise as its head coach. Though he encountered occasional criticism for his no-nonsense coaching style, the Giants performed well under Coughlin’s leadership. In 2008’s Super Bowl XLII, led by quarterback Eli Manning and defensive lineman Michael Strahan, the Giants managed one of the greatest upsets in NFL history, defeating the previously undefeated and heavily favoured New England Patriots.
Based in Philadelphia, the Eagles have won three NFL championships (1948, 1949, 1960) and have appeared in two Super Bowls (1981, 2005).
The Eagles were founded in 1933 when the remains of the defunct Frankford Yellow Jackets franchise was sold to a syndicate of Philadelphia-based businessmen. The team was not an early success, as it posted either one or two victories in seven of its first 10 seasons, but the hiring of head coach Earle “Greasy” Neale in 1941 marked the beginning of a turnaround in Philadelphia. Neale guided teams featuring star running back Steve Van Buren to an NFL championship game appearance in 1947 and NFL titles in 1948 and 1949. The Eagles slowly regressed in the wake of their consecutive championships, and by the mid-1950s they routinely finished in the bottom half of the league. In 1960 the Eagles, led by quarterback Norm Van Brocklin and diminutive flanker Tommy McDonald on offense and linebacker Chuck Bednarik on defense, rebounded to win the franchise’s third NFL championship, a 17–13 victory over the Green Bay Packers.
The Eagles’ renaissance proved to be short-lived, as the team entered into an 18-year play-off drought immediately after their championship season. Head coach Dick Vermeil was hired in 1976, and his emotional coaching style energized the Eagles (as well as their fans), resulting in four straight play-off berths from 1978 to 1981, with teams that featured the passing duo of quarterback Ron Jaworski and the towering (6 feet 8 inches [2.03 metres] tall) wide receiver Harold Carmichael. This span was highlighted by Philadelphia’s first Super Bowl berth in 1981, though they lost to the Oakland Raiders, 27–10.
Before the 1985 season, the Eagles made two significant additions: Randall Cunningham, a fleet-footed quarterback who would set the career record for rushing yards from his position, and Reggie White, a dominant defensive end who would retire as the NFL’s all-time sack leader. However, their stellar individual play never translated to team postseason success, as the Eagles won only one of the five play-off games in which the pair played between 1988 and 1992.
In 1999 the team hired head coach Andy Reid, who with his first draft choice selected quarterback Donovan McNabb. Reid and McNabb guided the Eagles to eight play-off berths in 10 years from their second season in Philadelphia, which included five trips to the NFC championship game and a Super Bowl appearance in 2005, but no titles. The pair had a tumultuous relationship on and off the field, and in 2010 McNabb was traded away.
Based in Washington, D.C., the Redskins have won two NFL championships (1937, 1942) and three Super Bowls (1983, 1988, 1992).
Founded in 1932 as the Boston Braves, the team changed its name the following year and played three seasons as the Boston Redskins before relocating to Washington in 1937. The Redskins acquired one of their most famous players the same year, when they drafted groundbreaking quarterback Sammy Baugh with the sixth selection of the NFL draft. Baugh led the Redskins to a championship in his rookie season and set numerous NFL passing records over the course of his 16-year career. His second NFL championship with the Redskins came in 1942, as Washington defeated the Chicago Bears for the title two years after being humiliated in the championship game by the Bears 73–0.
(b. March 17, 1914, Temple, Texas, U.S.—d. Dec. 17, 2008, Rotan, Texas)
Sammy Baugh was the first outstanding quarterback in the history of American professional football. He played a major role in the emergence of the forward pass as a primary offensive tactic in the 1930s and ’40s. “Slingin’ Sammy” led the NFL in passing in 6 of his 16 seasons (1937–52) with the Washington Redskins. He also excelled as a punter and as a defensive back. In 1943 he led the NFL in passing, punting, and interceptions (as a defensive back).
Sammy Baugh, 1937. Harris & Ewing Collection/Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (Digital File Number: LC-DIG-hec-29054)
At Texas Christian University, in Fort Worth, Samuel Adrian Baugh became the top passer in the Southwest Conference, a league noted for its wide-open offenses at a time when most football teams used the forward pass only sparingly. He led his team to a victory in the 1936 Sugar Bowl, helping to bring national attention to the conference and to football in the Southwest for the first time. Baugh was named a consensus All-American in his senior season.
After graduation in 1937, Baugh joined both the Redskins and the St. Louis Cardinals baseball organization, for which he played shortstop in the minor leagues for a few years. Baugh led the NFL in completions and passing yards per game in his first season and helped Washington to an 8–3 record and a spot in the championship game, where he threw three touchdown passes in a 28–21 upset of the Chicago Bears. Behind Baugh, the Redskins played in four more championship games, capturing a second title in 1942. He led the NFL in passing yards per game again in 1938, 1940, 1945, 1947, and 1948 and in average yards per punt in 1940–43. As a defensive back, he led the NFL in 1943 by intercepting 11 passes, which remains one of the highest single-season totals in league history. He had career aggregates of 1,693 pass completions in 2,995 attempts (56.5 percent) for 21,886 yards and 187 touchdowns, all of which were NFL records at the time of his retirement.
Baugh was head coach of two AFL teams, the New York Titans in 1960–61 and the Houston Oilers in 1964. He was a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s inaugural class in 1963.
One of the wealthiest NFL franchises, the Redskins, under the guidance of their owner, Hall of Famer George Preston Marshall, used their significant means to pioneer the use of sports broadcast media. In 1944 they assembled a radio network to broadcast games throughout the southern United States, and by 1950 the entire Redskins season was televised. The Redskins also have some of the most passionate fans in professional football; since 1967 the team has sold out every season, the longest string of sold-out games in the NFL.
The rise of the Redskins as a media power somewhat surprisingly coincided with the least successful period in team history. The Redskins posted just four winning records between 1946 and 1970, failing to advance to the play-offs in each season. Two notable players of this era were quarterback Sonny Jurgensen and wide receiver Bobby Mitchell, who starred for the Redskins in the 1960s and were inducted together into the Hall of Fame in 1983. In 1971 Washington hired head coach George Allen, who promptly led the team to a postseason appearance in his first year at the helm. The team’s greatest success under Allen came in 1972. With a squad featuring wide receiver Charley Taylor on offense and linebacker Chris Hanburger on defense, the Redskins won their first NFC championship, only to lose the Super Bowl to the undefeated Miami Dolphins the following January.
In 1981 the team hired head coach Joe Gibbs, winner of more games than any other coach in Redskins history. Gibbs’s record includes eight play-off appearances and four NFC championships along with three Super Bowl victories (1983, 1988, 1992). A testament to Gibbs’s coaching ability—and to the overall quality of his teams—is the fact that each of the Redskins Super Bowl–winning teams was led by a different quarterback: Joe Theismann, Doug Williams, and Mark Rypien. Running back John Riggins, wide receiver Art Monk, and cornerback Darrell Green—all future Hall of Famers—starred for the Redskins during their Super Bowl–winning run, which was also famous for featuring rugged offensive lines known by the nickname “The Hogs.” Gibbs retired in 1993, and the team promptly posted three consecutive losing seasons.
In 1999 the Redskins, owned outright since 1985 by the flamboyant Jack Kent Cooke, were purchased by billionaire Daniel Snyder, whose ownership has been marked by splashy free agent acquisitions, as well as a four-year return to the sidelines by Gibbs beginning in 2004, but few winning seasons.
Based in Chicago, the Bears are one of football’s most successful franchises, having won eight NFL championships and one Super Bowl. The Bears have more former players in the Pro Football Hall of Fame (26) than any other team.
The franchise that became the Bears was founded by businessman A.E. Staley in 1920 and was first known as the Decatur (Ill.) Staleys. George Halas became player-coach of the new team, which he relocated to Chicago in 1921 after Staley handed the young franchise over to him. (Halas, affectionately known as “Papa Bear,” prowled the sidelines as head coach until 1968.) The team won the American Professional Football Association (APFA) championship in its first season in Chicago, and it was renamed the Bears in 1922, the same year the APFA became the NFL.
The early Chicago teams established a rivalry with the Green Bay Packers, which became one of the sport’s most storied feuds. Led by a dominant rushing attack that featured future Hall of Fame backs Red Grange and Bronko Nagurski, the Bears captured NFL championships in 1932 and 1933, the former of which was won in the first play-off game in league history, a 9–0 victory over the Portsmouth (Ohio) Spartans. In the 1940s the Bears won four more championships (1940, 1941, 1943, 1946), largely because of the efforts of quarterback Sid Luckman, a future member of the Hall of Fame. The innovative T-formation offense that Luckman ran, which utilized two running backs and set men in motion before the play, was an immediate sensation and became the dominant offense in the NFL.
The Bears won another title in 1963 and drafted two all-time greats in 1965: linebacker Dick Butkus and running back Gale Sayers. While Butkus and Sayers went on to dominate the game on an individual level, the Bears did not advance to the play-offs during either of their careers. The dry spell ended when the Bears drafted running back Walter Payton in 1975, starting a decade of dominance. Payton went on to break Jim Brown’s record for all-time rushing yards (which was in turn broken by Emmitt Smith in 2002) and was elected into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1993. Behind Payton the Bears won four division titles and their only Super Bowl (1985).
Led by head coach Mike Ditka, a larger-than-life personality who had starred as a tight end for the Bears of the 1960s, and inconoclastic quarterback Jim McMahon (the “punky QB”), the 1985 Bears team was especially noteworthy for its overpowering defense that—after serving as the catalyst for a 15–1 regular-season record—allowed only 10 total points in the team’s three postseason games. The team became a national sensation with the release of “The Super Bowl Shuffle,” a rap song (and accompanying music video) that featured members of the team boasting of going to the Super Bowl, which was confidently released before the end of the regular season. The Bears experienced limited success after the early 1990s, but they did advance to the Super Bowl in 2006, where they lost to the Indianapolis Colts. Following the 2010 regular season, the Bears made it all the way to the NFC championship game, only to be felled by the Green Bay Packers, 21–14.
Members of the Chicago Bears filming their 1985 music video, “The Super Bowl Shuffle.” The video made the Bears national celebrities even before the team won the title the following January. Paul Natkin/NFL/Getty Images
Based in Detroit, the Lions have won four NFL championships (1935, 1952, 1953, 1957).
The franchise, founded in 1930, was originally based in Portsmouth, Ohio. Known as the Spartans, the team was one of two (with the Green Bay Packers) small-town members of the early NFL. The Spartans were moderately successful and played in the first play-off game in league history—a 9–0 loss to the Chicago Bears at the end of the 1932 season. In 1934 the franchise was sold and relocated to Detroit, where it took on the name Lions to complement baseball’s Detroit Tigers. In the Lions’ first season in Detroit, team ownership instituted a long-standing tradition when they scheduled a game on Thanksgiving Day, which has featured a Lions’ home game every year since (except during World War II).
In 1935 the Lions won their first NFL championship, behind the play of single-wing tailback Earl “Dutch” Clark. The team struggled throughout most of the 1940s, with only two winning seasons in the decade. The team’s most notable player of this period was running back (and future U.S. Supreme Court justice) Byron R. “Whizzer” White, who played in Detroit from 1940 to 1941. Before the 1950 season, Detroit added quarterback Bobby Layne and running back Doak Walker—two future Hall of Famers—and the Lions became one of the better teams in the league by the following year. Detroit beat the Cleveland Browns in the NFL championship game in both 1952 and 1953, and the two teams faced off again in the 1953 championship, in which the Browns defeated the Lions. The Lions played the Browns for the NFL title a fourth time, in 1957, with Detroit handily beating Cleveland by 45 points to win its third championship in a six-year span.
The 1960s brought less success, as the team finished second in their division to the Green Bay Packers from 1960 to 1962 and missed the play-offs throughout the decade, despite a ferocious defense that featured defensive back Dick “Night Train” Lane, tackle Alex Karras, and linebackers Joe Schmidt and Wayne Walker. The Lions from this period are perhaps best remembered for writer George Plimpton’s short tenure with the team as the “last-string” quarterback during the 1963 preseason, an experience recounted in his book Paper Lion (1966), which later was made into a movie of the same name.
Detroit qualified for only one play-off appearance in the 24 years from 1958 through 1981, though the team was often far from terrible, usually finishing their seasons with winning percentages around .500 during this prolonged period of mediocrity. In the early 1980s the Lions advanced to the postseason on two occasions, including a first-round loss to the Washington Redskins after posting only a 4–5 record in the strike-shortened 1982 season. Their 1983 play-off berth also ended with a loss in their first game, and the Lions dropped to the bottom of the divisional standings by the mid-1980s.
In 1989 the Lions drafted running back Barry Sanders, who would go on to earn Pro Bowl honours in each of his 10 seasons in the league, reinvigorating the franchise. The Lions lost to the Redskins in the 1991 NFC championship game, and they made it to the play-offs four additional times between 1992 and 1997. However, the Lions never advanced past their first postseason game in those seasons. In 2001 the team hired former NFL linebacker Matt Millen to serve as general manager, despite the fact that he had no previous front-office experience. Millen oversaw one of the most disastrous stretches for an NFL franchise of all time, as the Lions had a cumulative record of 31–84 during his tenure. He was met with a number of fan protests over his continued employment, and was fired early in the 2008 season, which saw the Lions post the first 0–16 season in league history.
Based in Green Bay, Wis., the Packers have won the most championships, 12 in total, of any NFL team.
In 1919 Curly Lambeau and George Calhoun organized a group of men into a football team that soon managed a winning record against other amateur teams from Wisconsin, Michigan, and Minnesota. Lambeau, a shipping clerk for the Indian Packing Company, convinced his employer to donate money for the uniforms and, in the process, lent the nickname “Packers” to the team. In 1921, with Lambeau serving as head coach and playing halfback, the Packers entered the recently formed American Professional Football Association, which a year later would become the NFL. However, the team struggled with financial problems to the point of having to forfeit an entire season. In 1923 the team became a publicly owned nonprofit corporation supported by the people of Wisconsin and has remained so ever since.
Despite their rough financial start, the Packers won three consecutive championships from 1929 to 1931, with lineups that were laden with future Hall of Famers, including tackle Cal Hubbard, guard Mike Michalske, and halfback John “Blood” McNally. In 1935 the team added Don Hutson, who proceeded to redefine the wide receiver position and helped the Packers win championships in 1936, 1939, and 1944. Lambeau, who had stopped playing for the team in 1929, stepped away from head coaching duties in 1949, and the team struggled for wins throughout the next decade. The Packers posted a losing record seven times between 1950 and 1958.
The team’s most successful period was in the 1960s under the legendary coach Vince Lombardi, who had been hired in 1959. Lombardi’s Packer teams of the ’60s were stocked with talent, boasting future Hall of Fame players on offense and defense: quarterback Bart Starr, fullback Jim Taylor, halfback Paul Hornung, tackle Forrest Gregg, linebacker Ray Nitschke, end Willie Davis, tackle Henry Jordan, cornerback Herb Adderley, and safety Willie Wood. They won championships in 1961 and 1962, and followed those titles with three straight championships starting in the 1965–66 season. On Jan. 15, 1967, in the inaugural Super Bowl, the Packers defeated the Kansas City Chiefs, 35–10. They successfully defended their Super Bowl title the following year against the Oakland Raiders, 33–14.
Lombardi left the Packers after their second Super Bowl championship, and Green Bay entered into a long period of relative futility, with just two play-off appearances in the 25 seasons from 1968 through 1992. Some of the team’s scarce highlights during that period included the play of Hall of Fame wide receiver James Lofton, who starred for Green Bay from 1978 to 1986, and (ultimately unsuccessful) coaching stints by past Packers greats Starr and Gregg.
In 1992 the Packers brought in head coach Mike Holmgren and quarterback Brett Favre, who were the key pieces in the team’s renaissance in the 1990s. Beginning in 1993, Green Bay qualified for the postseason in six straight years, including two NFC championships and subsequent trips to the Super Bowl. The team’s third Super Bowl appearance, in 1997, was a success. They defeated the New England Patriots 35–21.
However, they did not repeat their win the following year against the Denver Broncos. After that loss Holmgren left the Packers for a job with the Seattle Seahawks. Favre acrimoniously left the Packers in 2008, and the Packers’ offense was given over to young star quarterback Aaron Rodgers. In 2011 Rodgers guided the sixth-seeded Packers to three postseason road victories, including a win over their longtime rival the Chicago Bears in the NFC championship game, to earn a berth in Super Bowl XLV against the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Packers proceeded to defeat the Steelers 31–26 to capture the franchise’s fourth Super Bowl title.
From 1933 to 1994 the Packers elected to play some of their home games each year in Milwaukee to benefit from the larger market. Beginning in 1995, all home games were played at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, notwithstanding that city’s small size (it did not exceed 100,000 residents until 2000) compared with virtually all other cities that have NFL franchises.
Based in Minneapolis, Minn., the Vikings have appeared in four Super Bowls (1970, 1974, 1975, 1977), losing each time.
Founded in 1961, the Vikings have a long and storied past, despite having won only one NFL championship, in 1969, the year before the AFL-NFL merger. The Vikings’ most prominent period of success dates from the hiring of head coach Bud Grant in 1967. Grant, a future member of the Hall of Fame, guided the Vikings to all four of their Super Bowl appearances over the course of his career. His Vikings teams of the 1970s featured a tenacious defense line known as the “Purple People Eaters,” which produced two Hall of Fame members (Alan Page and Carl Eller) and an efficient passing attack led by another future Hall of Fame member, quarterback Fran Tarkenton. Tarkenton paved the way for scrambling quarterbacks by being one of the first signal-callers to use his legs to make plays. The Vikings qualified for the play-offs in 10 of the 11 seasons between 1968 and 1978, but their 0–4 Super Bowl record is matched only by that of the Buffalo Bills teams of the 1990s.
The Vikings fell back into the NFL pack in the 1980s, a decade capped by a disastrous 1989 trade with the Dallas Cowboys that netted Minnesota underachieving running back Herschel Walker and gave Dallas draft choices that were used to select future NFL superstars Emmitt Smith and Darren Woodson, among others. The Vikings teams of the late 1990s and early 2000s featured an explosive offense, which starred running back Robert Smith and wide receivers Cris Carter and Randy Moss. The 1998 Vikings squad scored a then-NFL-record 556 points during the regular season on its way to a 15–1 record but was upset by the Atlanta Falcons in the NFC championship game.
In 2007 first-year running back Adrian Peterson, on his way to a Pro Bowl selection, set the record for most rushing yards in a single game, which provided a ray of hope for Minnesota’s fans. The Vikings qualified for the play-offs in 2008 and, after adding quarterback Brett Favre in the offseason, did so again in 2009. Favre led the Vikings to the NFC championship game the following January, where the team lost a close contest to the New Orleans Saints.
Based in Atlanta, the Falcons have played in one Super Bowl (1999), which they lost to the Denver Broncos.
The Falcons began play in 1966 as an expansion team, and they lost at least 11 of their 14 games in each of their first three seasons. The team slowly improved through the late 1960s and early ’70s to post a 9–5 record in 1973 behind a defense led by linebacker Tommy Nobis and defensive end Claude Humphrey, narrowly missing out on a play-off spot in the process. Atlanta returned to the bottom of its division in 1974, and the team used the first pick of the 1975 NFL draft to select quarterback Steve Bartkowski, who would go on to set franchise records in virtually every major passing category. Bartkowski led the Falcons to their first postseason berth in 1978, and in 1980 he teamed with running back William Andrews to form a high-powered offense that propelled Atlanta to its first division title. However, the Falcons lost in the first round of each of these postseasons, as well as during a third play-off appearance in the strike-shortened 1982 season. The franchise’s play soon fell off; the team finished with double-digit losses in six of the seven seasons between 1984 and 1990.
A Falcons team featuring flashy personalities such as cornerback Deion Sanders, wide receiver Andre Rison, and flamboyant head coach Jerry Glanville won 10 games in 1991 but was again met with disappointment in the postseason. In 1998 the Falcons posted a club-best 14–2 record with a balanced team starring quarterback Chris Chandler and running back Jamal Anderson on offense and linebacker Jessie Tuggle on defense. The Falcons upset a 15–1 Minnesota Vikings team in the NFC championship game to earn their first Super Bowl berth against Denver.
The season after their Super Bowl loss to the Broncos, the Falcons plummeted to a 5–11 record. Atlanta had a few successful seasons in the mid-2000s with quarterback Michael Vick at the helm, which included the Falcons’ handing the storied Green Bay Packers their first home play-off loss (in 2003) and the team’s advancing to a second NFC championship game in 2005 (a loss to the Philadelphia Eagles). In 2008, led by first-year head coach Mike Smith, rookie quarterback Matt Ryan, and newly acquired running back Michael Turner, the Falcons qualified for the play-offs by adding seven wins to the previous year’s total to compile an 11–5 record.
Based in Charlotte, N.C., the Panthers represented the NFC in Super Bowl XXXVIII in 2004.
The Panthers played their first game in 1995, when they joined the Jacksonville Jaguars as the NFL’s first expansion teams since 1976. Carolina became the most successful expansion franchise in league history when it won 7 of its 16 games in its inaugural season. The team further exceeded expectations the following year by winning 12 games, qualifying for the postseason, and advancing to the NFC championship game, in which it lost to the year’s eventual Super Bowl champion, the Green Bay Packers. The Panthers were not able to capitalize on their startling early run, however, and they posted losing records in five of the next six years, including a disastrous one-win season in 2001 that led to the hiring of new team management and head coach John Fox.
Carolina’s new leadership made a series of player acquisitions that quickly rebuilt the team into a contender. The Panthers drafted wide receiver Steve Smith and defensive tackle Kris Jenkins in 2001, and in 2002 they chose defensive end Julius Peppers with the draft’s second overall selection. In addition, the Panthers signed quarterback Jake Delhomme before the 2003 season, and the team’s revamped core led Carolina to an 11–5 record and a divisional championship the following season. In the play-offs, the Panthers beat the Dallas Cowboys, the St. Louis Rams, and the Philadelphia Eagles (the latter two on the road) to qualify for the Super Bowl in their second postseason appearance. In the Super Bowl, the Panthers lost a tight contest to the New England Patriots that was decided by a Patriots’ field goal in the closing seconds of the game. Carolina remained one of the more consistently successful teams in the NFL over the remainder of the decade, with play-off appearances in 2005 and 2007.
Based in New Orleans, the Saints have won one Super Bowl championship (2010).
The Saints began play in 1967 as an expansion franchise. Like most expansion teams, the Saints struggled in their first year in the NFL, losing 11 of their 14 games. However, the futility of the team’s efforts was particularly pronounced, as it took 20 years for them to post their first winning season. Over those first decades the team garnered the somewhat affectionate nickname “The ’Aints” from their fans—some of whom attended home games at the Louisiana Superdome with bags over their heads in reaction to the franchise’s prolonged ineffectiveness.
There were two notable figures to play for the Saints during that time. Archie Manning, the father of future NFL quarterbacks Peyton Manning and Eli Manning, was one of the most popular players in franchise history as quarterback of the team from 1971 to midway through the 1982 season. Tom Dempsey kicked an NFL-record (tied in 1998) 63-yard game-winning field goal in 1970, making him a fan favorite as well.
In 1983 the team’s fans adopted a long-standing chant used at local high school and collegiate football games. The chant (“Who dat? Who dat? Who dat say dey gonna beat dem Saints?”) is rooted in both Southern black folk culture and in the minstrel “adaptation” of it. The term “who dat” became a byname for the franchise among members of its fan base, who, in turn, began referring to themselves as the Who Dat Nation in the 21st century.
The Saints’ first winning season came in 1987, as a high-scoring offense led by quarterback Bobby Hebert and a stout defense starring linebackers Rickey Jackson and Sam Mills combined to propel the Saints to a 12–3 record and a play-off berth. However, the Saints badly lost their first postseason contest to the Minnesota Vikings. New Orleans had winning records again in 1988 and 1989 but failed to appear in either postseason. In 1990 the team began a streak of three consecutive years of play-off berths and first-round postseason losses. An unexpected star of those play-offs was placekicker Morten Andersen, who was named to six Pro Bowls in his 13 seasons with the team (1982–94) and would later go on to set the NFL record for most career points scored.
Archie Manning warming up before playing a game with the New Orleans Saints. Focus On Sport/Getty Images
New Orleans soon returned to mediocrity, losing at least 10 games in each season between 1996 and 1999. The Saints had a surprising turnaround in 2000, however, winning 10 games to qualify for the postseason and defeating the reigning Super Bowl champion St. Louis Rams for the franchise’s first play-off victory. Then the postseason eluded the Saints for the following five years.
The team’s return to the play-offs in 2006 was especially notable. Having been forced to play all their 2005 “home” games outside New Orleans because of the damage caused by Hurricane Katrina, the Saints came back to the Superdome in 2006 and posted a 10–6 record under first-year head coach Sean Payton. Featuring a potent offense led by quarterback Drew Brees, the Saints became national media darlings as they rebounded from the previous season’s adversity and defeated the Philadelphia Eagles in the postseason en route to their first NFC championship game, which they lost to the Chicago Bears.
In 2009 the Saints won their first 13 games of the season and qualified for the play-offs as the NFC’s highest-seeded team. In the postseason they defeated the Arizona Cardinals and the Minnesota Vikings en route to the Saints’ first Super Bowl appearance, a victory over the Indianapolis Colts in Super Bowl XLIV.
Based in Tampa, Fla., the Buccaneers won a Super Bowl title in 2003.
The Buccaneers (often shortened to “Bucs”) were established in 1976, and they posted an ignoble 0–14 record in their initial season in the NFL. After playing their first season in the AFC, the Bucs moved to their current conference in 1977. The team’s losing ways continued in the NFC, as Tampa Bay did not record the first win in franchise history until December 1977; their 26-game losing streak remains an NFL record. These early Buccaneer teams were notable for the presence of future Hall of Fame defensive end Lee Roy Selmon and for their charismatic head coach John McKay, whose many quips about the team’s failures endeared him to football fans nationwide.
In 1979, led by quarterback Doug Williams, the Bucs—to the surprise of many observers—won 10 games and qualified for the postseason. They advanced to the conference championship game but lost to the Los Angeles Rams. Tampa Bay went on to play-off berths in 1981 and 1982 before falling back to the bottom of the conference standings with a 2–14 record in 1983.
The 1983 campaign began a dubious streak of 12 consecutive seasons that saw the Buccaneers post double-digit loss totals. Over that period, the team also had an unfortunate penchant for acquiring many high-profile players—including running back Bo Jackson and quarterbacks Steve Young and Vinny Testaverde—who would play poorly (or not at all) in Tampa Bay, only to go on to have great success with other teams.
The franchise’s fortunes began to turn around in the late 1990s as head coach Tony Dungy built one of the best defenses in the NFL, featuring tackle Warren Sapp, linebacker Derrick Brooks, and defensive backs John Lynch and Ronde Barber. The Bucs made four postseason appearances in the five seasons from 1997 through 2001, but the offensively limited team scored fewer than 10 points in each of their four play-off losses in that span. Dungy was fired in early 2002 despite his regular-season success.
The Buccaneers hired head coach Jon Gruden to improve the team’s offense, but it was the top-ranked defense in the league that helped the team post a 12–4 record in 2002 (which was tied for the best mark in the NFL) and upset the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC championship game the following January. At Super Bowl XXXVII, the Bucs soundly defeated the Oakland Raiders 48–21 to capture their first championship. The Bucs missed out on the postseason the following two years but returned to the play-offs after the 2005 and 2007 seasons, both of which ended in opening-round losses at home. A late-season collapse by the team in 2008—the Bucs lost four consecutive games to close out the season after starting the year 9–3—led to the firing of Gruden and a massive coaching, management, and roster turnover in an attempt to rebuild the franchise from the ground up.
Based in Phoenix, the Cardinals are the oldest team in the NFL, but they are also one of the least successful franchises in league history, having won just two NFL championships (1925, 1947) since the team’s founding in 1898.
The Cardinals started out as the Morgan Athletic Club, a neighbourhood team based in the South Side of Chicago. The team acquired its nickname in 1901 when its founder, Chris O’Brien, received a shipment of faded jerseys from the University of Chicago Maroons football team that were cardinal red in colour. Known as the Racine Cardinals, after the name of the Chicago street on which the team’s playing field was located, the team played in a loosely organized “league” composed of Chicago-area amateur clubs.
The Cardinals’ continued success and popularity gave the team the opportunity to join the American Professional Football League (the forerunner of the NFL) when it was founded in 1920. The team was renamed the Chicago Cardinals in 1922 when a franchise from Racine, Wis., joined the NFL. Three years later the Cardinals were credited with their first NFL championship after compiling a record of 11 wins, two losses, and one tie over the course of the 1925 season.
After 1925 the team entered into a long stretch of noncompetitive and sometimes dismal years, which included consecutive 0–10 seasons in 1943 and 1944. Having already coached the team from 1940 to 1942, Jimmy Conzelman was rehired in 1946. Conzelman oversaw a Cardinals victory in the 1947 NFL championship game behind the play of the team’s famed “Million-Dollar Backfield.” This feat was followed by a franchise-best 11–1 record and another trip to the title game in 1948, where the Cardinals fell to the Philadelphia Eagles, 7–0.
Conzelman left the team the next year, and the Cardinals embarked on another extended period of poor play. This led to a decline in revenue, and in 1960 the franchise relocated to St. Louis, Mo., where the team was invariably referred to as the St. Louis “football” Cardinals, in deference to the city’s beloved Major League Baseball team of the same name.
The Cardinals began posting winning records more frequently in St. Louis, but the postseason evaded them until 1974, when a team featuring quarterback Jim Hart, running back Terry Metcalf, and a pair of future Hall of Famers, offensive lineman Dan Dierdorf and tight end Jackie Smith, won 10 games and made the first of two consecutive trips to the play-offs, where they lost each time. The Cardinals returned to the play-offs again during the strike-shortened 1982 season, but a general lack of fan support—combined with the ownership’s desire for a profitable home stadium—induced the team to move to Phoenix in 1988.
The Cardinals’ mediocre play continued until 1998, when quarterback Jake Plummer led the team to a nine-win season and its first play-off victory in 51 years. The team’s momentum did not continue on into the next year, and yet another long play-off drought ensued. In 2008 the Cardinals had their most successful season since their relocation to Arizona, as veteran quarterback Kurt Warner, heading a powerful offense highlighted by Pro Bowl wide receivers Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin, guided the team to a division title and the franchise’s first Super Bowl appearance the following February, where they lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Based in St. Louis, Mo., the Rams have won two NFL championships (1945, 1951) and one Super Bowl (2000).
The Rams began play in 1936 as a member of the short-lived AFL (they joined the NFL the following year) and were originally located in Cleveland. The new team lost all but one game in its first season in the NFL and failed to post a winning season in any of the following five seasons. The Rams had to suspend operations in 1943 due to a player shortage caused by World War II. In 1945 rookie quarterback Bob Waterfield led the Rams to their first winning season (9–1) and a victory over the Washington Redskins in the NFL championship game. The 1945 championship game would prove to be the Rams’ final game in Cleveland, as team owner Dan Reeves moved the franchise to Los Angeles in 1946 rather than compete with the new Cleveland Browns franchise of the All-America Football Conference. In 1948 the Rams became the first professional football team to add an insignia (a pair of golden ram’s horns) to their helmets, an innovation that would pay great dividends for the sport as it entered into the television era, when iconic helmets helped teams create salient identities among football fans.
In the early 1950s the Rams featured high-powered offense starring quarterback Norm Van Brocklin and ends Elroy Hirsch and Tom Fears, all future Hall of Famers. The team posted no losing seasons between 1950 and 1955, defeating the Browns to win the 1951 NFL championship. The Rams’ success helped the team set attendance records through the end of the 1950s and into the next decade.
In the 1960s the team was defined by a standout defensive line nicknamed “The Fearsome Foursome”: tackles Merlin Olsen and Roosevelt “Rosie” Grier and ends Deacon Jones and Lamar Lundy. The Rams also featured pro football’s first “big” quarterback, 6 feet 5 inches (1.9-metre) Roman Gabriel. As dominant as the Foursome was, however, the Rams never advanced any further than the divisional play-off round over the course of the ’60s.
The team made a club-record eight consecutive playoff berths from 1973 to 1980, led by a formidable defensive unit that starred defensive end Jack Youngblood. During this streak, the Rams recorded at least 10 wins in a season on seven occasions, and they reached the NFC championship game five times, winning just once. That victory came following the 1979 regular season, during which the Rams went just 9–7 before embarking on a play-off run that saw the team win two consecutive road games before ultimately losing to the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XIV. In the 1980s the team was notable for featuring a rushing attack that was led by offensive lineman Jackie Slater and running back Eric Dickerson. The Rams were largely successful during the decade—failing to qualify for the play-offs just three times in those 10 years—but they failed to return to the Super Bowl.
In the early 1990s the team’s lack of on-field success (the Rams won no more than six games in each season between 1990 and 1994) and the resultant decline in attendance, in addition to owner Georgia Frontiere’s desire to play in a more profitable stadium, led Frontiere to begin casting about for new homes for the Rams. In 1995 the team received approval from the NFL to move to St. Louis, and, in a reversal of a decades-long trend in sports franchise relocations, the Rams became the first professional football team to leave the West Coast.
The Rams’ initial seasons in St. Louis were inauspicious, as their victory total declined in each of their first four years in their new home, culminating in a dismal 1998 campaign that saw the team go 4–12. In 1999 the Rams embarked on one of the most remarkable turnarounds in league history. Behind unheralded former backup quarterback Kurt Warner, who led a potent offense that was later nicknamed “The Greatest Show on Turf,” featuring running back Marshall Faulk as well as wide receivers Isaac Bruce and Torry Holt, the Rams went 13–3 in the 1999 regular season and advanced to the second Super Bowl in franchise history. There the team won a thrilling victory over the Tennessee Titans, 23–16, to capture its first Super Bowl title. The Rams continued to be one of the highest-scoring teams in the league through the first years of the 21st century and returned once more to the Super Bowl in 2002 but lost to the New England Patriots. As the members of the Greatest Show on Turf departed, the team’s play declined, and the Rams closed out the first decade of the 2000s as one of the worst teams in the NFL.
Based in San Francisco, the 49ers have won five Super Bowl titles and five NFC championships (1982, 1985, 1989, 1990, and 1995).
The San Francisco 49ers were established in the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) in 1946. The team had a winning record in each of its first four years, but it could not displace the dominant Cleveland Browns, who won every championship in the four seasons of the AAFC. After the AAFC merged with the NFL in 1950, the 49ers struggled through their first losing season. Despite the presence of five future Hall of Famers—quarterback Y.A. Tittle, running backs Hugh McElhenny and Joe Perry, tackle Bob St. Clair, and defensive lineman Leo Nomellini—the 49ers were mostly unsuccessful during the 1950s, advancing to the postseason only once, in 1957. San Francisco began a string of 12 consecutive seasons without a play-off berth in 1958. One of the most noteworthy players on the team during the 1960s was running back Dave Kopay, who in 1977 became the first athlete from a major American team sport to publicly acknowledge that he was a homosexual. A resurgent 49ers squad under the guidance of head coach Dick Nolan and led by quarterback John Brodie advanced to the NFC championship game in both 1971 and 1972 but lost to the Dallas Cowboys on both occasions.
The 49ers ascendancy began in 1979, when quarterback Joe Montana was drafted by new head coach Bill Walsh. Upon his arrival in San Francisco, Walsh installed his innovative “West Coast offense,” which relied on a series of quick, accurate passes and was a perfect fit for Montana’s skills. San Francisco rebounded from a 2–14 record in Walsh’s first year to the franchise’s first Super Bowl win in his third. The 49ers’ title run was highlighted by a last-second victory over the Cowboys in the NFC championship game off a brilliant touchdown pass from Montana to wide receiver Dwight Clark, which was immortalized as “The Catch.”
The 49ers lost to the Washington Redskins in the 1984 NFC championship game, but they lost only one game the following year and returned to the Super Bowl, where they easily defeated the Miami Dolphins. In the 1985 NFL draft, the team selected wide receiver Jerry Rice, who would team with Montana to create one of the most prolific passing duos in NFL history on his way to breaking every major career receiving record. After guiding the 49ers to a third Super Bowl win in 1989, Walsh retired and handed head-coaching duties to his defensive coordinator George Seifert.
While the 49ers teams of the 1980s were best known for their offensive prowess, their defense featured a number of star players, including future Hall of Fame safety Ronnie Lott. San Francisco’s dominance on both sides of the ball was evidenced in 1990, when the 49ers defeated the Denver Broncos 55–10 in the most lopsided Super Bowl victory of all time. An injury to Montana in 1991 gave Steve Young an opportunity to step in as the 49ers’ starting quarterback. Young excelled in his new role, which allowed the 49ers to trade Montana in 1993, and the team won a fifth Super Bowl in 1995. Young’s retirement in 1999 marked a symbolic end to the 49ers long reign atop the NFL—the team had qualified for the postseason in 15 of the 16 seasons between 1983 and 1998—and San Francisco has struggled to field a consistently competitive team in recent seasons.
Based in Seattle, the Seahawks are the only NFL team to have played in both the AFC and NFC championship games.
Along with fellow expansion team the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Seahawks began play in 1976. After an initial season in the NFC followed by a move to the AFC in 1977, the Seahawks recorded their first winning season in 1978, earning head coach Jack Patera NFL Coach of the Year honours. The early Seahawks teams were led by quarterback Jim Zorn, running back Curt Warner, and wide receiver Steve Largent, who retired as the NFL’s all-time leading receiver and in 1995 was the first Seahawk inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. In 1983 head coach Chuck Knox led the Seahawks to the AFC championship game in his first season with the team, and over the next nine years he posted a record of 83 wins and 67 losses. The Seahawks had their worst season in franchise history after Knox left in 1991, winning only two games that season. The following years saw many seasons of on-field struggle as well as off-field controversy, as team majority owner Ken Behring announced plans to move the team to Los Angeles in 1996, citing as the reason the condition of the team’s home stadium, the Kingdome.
In 1997 billionaire Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen purchased the Seahawks and helped push through public funding for a new football stadium, which kept the team in Seattle. Allen hired Mike Holmgren as head coach and general manager in 1999. In 2000 the team drafted running back Shaun Alexander and the following year traded for quarterback Matt Hasselbeck, who, along with All-Pro offensive lineman Walter Jones, formed the core of the most successful team in Seahawks history. After 25 seasons playing in the AFC, the Seahawks moved to the NFC in 2002 as part of an NFL realignment. The Seahawks made the play-offs in five of their first six seasons in the NFC. In 2006 the franchise made its first trip to the Super Bowl, which the team lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Seattle’s play fell off after 2007, and—after Holmgren left the Seahawks following the 2008 season—the team made a series of front-office, coaching, and player personnel changes in an effort to rebuild.
In 2011 the Seahawks became the first team in NFL history with a losing record—after going 7–9 in the 2010 regular season—to qualify for the play-offs. After upsetting the defending champion New Orleans Saints, Seattle was eliminated in the second round of postseason play by the Chicago Bears.
Based in Buffalo, the Bills won two AFL championships (1964, 1965), and they appeared in a record four consecutive Super Bowls (1991–94), losing on each occasion.
The Bills were one of the eight founding members of the AFL (1960). They were one of the worst teams in the league in their first two seasons, but the addition of quarterback Jack Kemp and punishing running back Cookie Gilchrist during the 1962 season helped turn around the franchise’s fortunes. That year Gilchrist was named the AFL’s Most Valuable Player, and the next he set a league record by rushing for 243 yards in a game. In 1963, his first full season with the team, Kemp guided the Bills to a play-off appearance. The following year the Bills won 12 of their 14 games and finished with the AFL’s highest-ranked offense and defense. To cap off the season, Buffalo defeated the San Diego Chargers to win its first championship in only its fifth year of existence. The Bills repeated their title-game victory over the Chargers in 1965, and in 1966 they again returned to the AFL championship game, only to lose to the Kansas City Chiefs and be denied entry into the inaugural AFL-NFL World Championship Game (now called the Super Bowl).
Buffalo then entered into a prolonged period of losing seasons, including a league-worst 1–12–1 record in 1968 that gave the team the first selection in the 1969 NFL draft (the two leagues held a joint draft for three years before their merger in 1970), which it used to select running back O.J. Simpson. Running behind a powerful offensive line known as “The Electric Company”—because they “turned on the Juice,” an allusion to Simpson’s nickname—Simpson set a number of NFL rushing records in his nine years with the Bills, including having the league’s first 2,000-yard rushing season in 1973. Yet the team advanced to the play-offs only once over that span. The Bills continued to struggle for a few seasons after Simpson was traded to the San Francisco 49ers in 1978, but in 1980 they made their first of two consecutive postseason berths.
The Bills drafted quarterback Jim Kelly in the first round of the 1983 NFL draft. Kelly instead signed to play in the upstart United States Football League (USFL), and Buffalo posted league-worst 2–14 records in both 1984 and 1985. After the USFL folded in 1986, Kelly joined the Bills, who had retained his NFL rights. Head coach Marv Levy soon took advantage of his quarterback’s skill set and instituted a no-huddle “K-Gun” offense (named after Kelly), which was based on a series of fast-paced passes and runs out of the shotgun formation. The Buffalo offense, which also featured future Hall of Fame running back Thurman Thomas and perennial Pro Bowl receiver Andre Reed, was one of the most prolific in the league at this time; the team’s defense was anchored by all-time great defensive end Bruce Smith and star linebacker Cornelius Bennett. Between 1988 and 1993, the Bills made six straight play-off appearances, winning five division titles.
The team had a number of notable postseason exploits over those years. The Bills advanced to their first Super Bowl in 1991, which they lost to the New York Giants after a last-second field goal attempt by Buffalo’s Scott Norwood missed wide right. The next year Buffalo returned to the Super Bowl, where it was defeated by the Washington Redskins. In the 1992 postseason’s Wild Card round, the Bills—playing without an injured Kelly—trailed the Houston Oilers by a score of 35–3 early in the third quarter. Backup quarterback Frank Reich rallied the Bills to five unanswered touchdowns, and Buffalo prevailed over the Oilers 41–38 in overtime. The Bills’ feat was the greatest point-differential comeback in NFL history, including both regular-season and postseason games.
The team’s momentum continued throughout the AFC play-offs, and the Bills easily won two road games to advance to a third Super Bowl. There, however, they were soundly defeated by the Dallas Cowboys 52–17. Buffalo made it to a record fourth consecutive Super Bowl in 1994, but its rematch against the Cowboys ended in another disappointing loss in the big game. The Bills made two more postseason appearances in the mid-1990s but failed to advance past the second round of the play-offs each time. The key members of the team’s 1990s dynasty all soon retired.
Quarterback Doug Flutie led the Bills to brief postseason berths after both the 1998 and 1999 seasons, but the franchise fell back to the middle of the AFC standings in the 2000s. The financially struggling team was dogged by rumours of an impending move to Toronto, which only increased when the Bills agreed to play eight games (including both preseason and regular-season contests) in the Canadian city between 2008 and 2012.
Based in Miami, the Dolphins have had a rich history that has included two Super Bowl championships (1973–74) and five conference titles. The Dolphins are the only team in NFL history to finish an entire season undefeated; their 1972 season ended without a loss and culminated in a victory in Super Bowl VII.
The Dolphins joined the AFL in 1966. Failures during the team’s infancy brought about the hiring of head coach Don Shula from the Baltimore Colts in 1970, shortly after the merger of the AFL and the NFL. Shula immediately turned the Dolphins around and led them to play-off appearances in each of his first five seasons with the team, including the Dolphins’ first trip to the Super Bowl in January 1972, which they lost to the Dallas Cowboys. Featuring the “no-name” defense, captained by middle linebacker Nick Buoniconti, and a potent offense led by five players destined for the Hall of Fame—quarterback Bob Griese (who was injured mid-season and replaced by Earl Morrall), wide receiver Paul Warfield, running back Larry Csonka, and linemen Larry Little and Jim Langer—the 1972 Dolphins team dominated the NFL en route to posting the only undefeated season in league history. Returning to the Super Bowl the following season and thus becoming the first franchise to make three consecutive Super Bowl appearances, Miami beat the Minnesota Vikings 24–7. The Dolphins often fielded competitive teams throughout the remainder of the 1970s, but they did not appear in another Super Bowl during the decade.
In 1983 the Dolphins drafted quarterback Dan Marino, who would go on to set major career NFL passing records and be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Teamed with the “Marks Brothers”—wide receivers Mark Clayton and Mark Duper—and working behind a line anchored by centre Dwight Stephenson, Marino ran an offense that often ranked at the top of the league. Despite experiencing a great deal of regular-season success, Marino and the Dolphins advanced to the Super Bowl only once in his 17-year career, a 38–16 loss to the San Francisco 49ers in 1985.
Subsequent history was not kind to the Dolphins. Defensive-minded squads led by defensive end Jason Taylor, linebacker Zach Thomas, and cornerback Sam Madison experienced moderate success beginning in the late 1990s, but in 2002 the team entered into the longest postseason drought in franchise history. A disastrous one-win season in 2007 prompted the hiring of Super Bowl–winning coach Bill Parcells as head of football operations, bringing hope for a return to form. Miami posted 11 wins and 5 losses in 2008 (which tied the NFL record for the greatest win improvement from the previous season) and won a division championship.
Based in Foxborough, Mass., the Patriots have won three Super Bowl titles (2002, 2004, 2005) and six AFC championships.
The franchise joined the AFL in 1960 as the Boston Patriots and quickly fielded a competitive team that featured quarterback Vito “Babe” Parilli, linebacker Nick Buoniconti, and wide receiver Gino Cappelletti. The Patriots posted a winning record in their second season and advanced to the AFL championship game in their fourth. However, after a second place divisional finish in 1966, the team recorded seven consecutive losing seasons. The Patriots also struggled to find a permanent home stadium, playing at four different Boston-area locations in 10 years. In 1971 the team—a member of the NFL following the 1970 AFL-NFL merger—relocated to Foxborough and was renamed the New England Patriots.
Led by John Hannah, considered one of the greatest offensive linemen in NFL history, future Hall of Fame cornerback Mike Haynes, and quarterback Steve Grogan, the Patriots experienced sporadic success in the 1970s and ’80s. They advanced to their first Super Bowl in 1986 but lost to a dominant Chicago Bears team, 46–10. Eleven years would pass before the Patriots would return to the Super Bowl, this time under the direction of coach Bill Parcells and led by quarterback Drew Bledsoe. New England lost Super Bowl XXXI to the Green Bay Packers, but their postseason appearance marked the beginning of three straight years of play-off football for the team, then a franchise record.
The Patriots made one of the most signifcant moves in franchise history with the hiring of Bill Belichick as head coach in 2000. A noted defensive assistant coach through most of his career (he also had a stint as the head coach of the Cleveland Browns, 1991–95), Belichick quickly built a powerful team around unheralded veteran free agents (such as linebacker Mike Vrabel and running back Corey Dillon) and savvy draft picks (including linebacker Tedy Bruschi and cornerback Ty Law). In 2001 a serious injury to Bledsoe paved the way for Tom Brady, a relatively unknown sixth-round draft choice, to take over the Patriots’ offense and lead the team to a surprising Super Bowl win the following February. Brady would become an elite passer and guide the Patriots to two more Super Bowl victories in 2004 and 2005.
New England traded for All-Pro wide receiver Randy Moss before the 2007 season and went on to shatter numerous offensive records and post the only 16–0 regular-season record in NFL history, only to lose to the underdog New York Giants in Super Bowl XLII. The Patriots posted the best record in the NFL during the 2010 regular season, but lost to the New York Jets in their opening play-off game the following January.
Based in Florham Park, N.J., the Jets, behind the play of future Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Namath, won a historic upset in the 1969 Super Bowl over the Baltimore Colts. The Jets share a home stadium with the New York Giants in East Rutherford, N.J.
Established as one of the founding teams of the upstart AFL in 1960, the franchise—known as the Titans until 1963—was marred by financial struggles and athletic mediocrity as the team competed with the older Giants franchise in the New York market. One of the lone bright spots in the team’s early years was wide receiver Don Maynard, who joined the team in its inaugural season and would set most major receiving records during the course of his Hall of Fame career. In 1963 the newly renamed Jets hired head coach Weeb Ewbank (who had guided the Colts to championships in the late 1950s) and in 1965 acquired Joe Namath, which marked the beginning of the team’s move to respectability. Known as “Broadway Joe,” the famed quarterback’s good looks and late-night partying won him both adoring fans and commercial endorsements.
Namath’s swagger was most memorably on display when, in the week before the 1969 Super Bowl, he guaranteed a victory over the heavily favoured Colts of the NFL, which was widely considered to be the superior professional football league and had easily taken the first two Super Bowls. Namath made good on his promise as the Jets defeated the Colts, 16–7. The Jets’ victory showed that the two leagues were on an equal footing, helping to ease owners’ concerns prior to the 1970 AFL-NFL merger.
Namath was waived in 1977 after a long play-off drought that began in 1970. Led by a fierce defensive line nicknamed the “New York Sack Exchange,” the Jets returned to the postseason in 1981 and advanced to the AFC championship game the following year. The Jets were intermittently successful throughout the remainder of the 1980s and the early 1990s, but the team experienced its greatest extended period of success beginning in 1998. That season ended with the Jets, led by coach Bill Parcells (who had earlier led the New York Giants to two Super Bowl victories) and featuring running back Curtis Martin and wide receiver Keyshawn Johnson, losing to the Denver Broncos in the 1999 AFC championship game. The Jets qualified for the play-offs in four of the following eight seasons, but they never truly contended in the highly competitive AFC.
In the summer of 2008 the Jets traded for former Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre in hopes of improving the club’s fortunes, but after a 9–7 season, which was not good enough to qualify the team for the postseason, Favre left the Jets and a new coaching regime was brought in. In 2009, under new head coach Rex Ryan, the Jets repeated their 9–7 record from the previous season but this time advanced to the play-offs, where they won two road contests before ultimately falling to the Indianapolis Colts in the AFC championship game.
The following season the Jets again posted two road wins in the first rounds of the play-offs, against the Indianapolis Colts and the New England Patriots, but lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers in the AFC championship game.
Based in Baltimore, Md., the Ravens are a relatively young franchise, having played their first game in 1996. The Ravens nevertheless won a Super Bowl title in 2001.
The Ravens originated when Cleveland Browns owner Art Modell decided to relocate his historic franchise, and he reached a deal with the city of Baltimore to move his team in 1996. As part of the agreement, Cleveland kept the Browns’ name, history, and colours for a future replacement team, so the newly renamed Ravens—the moniker stems from the famous poem by Baltimorean Edgar Allan Poe—were technically an expansion team. The franchise’s first draft selection was linebacker Ray Lewis, who quickly became one of the most dominant players in the NFL and helped forge the Ravens’ reputation as a team known for its ferocious defense.
After four years without a winning record, the Ravens broke through in 2000. Led by the league’s top-ranked defense, the team won 12 games during the regular season and swept through the AFC play-offs, allowing an average of fewer than 6 points per game in the postseason. The Ravens easily defeated the New York Giants in Super Bowl XXXV the following January, and Lewis was named Most Valuable Player of the game. In addition to Lewis, the Super Bowl–winning Ravens squad featured standouts such as offensive lineman Jonathan Ogden, tight end Shannon Sharpe, and cornerback Rod Woodson. Over the remainder of the decade, the Ravens remained competitive, qualifying for the play-offs in five of the nine seasons after 2000 and featuring a defense ranked in the top five for total yardage allowed in six of those years.
Based in Cincinnati, Ohio, the Bengals have appeared in two Super Bowls (1982, 1989).
The Bengals joined the AFL as an expansion team in 1968. Paul Brown, who had become one of the most respected coaches in the game at the helm of the Cleveland Browns, was one of the franchise’s founders and its first head coach. Cincinnati was a member of the AFL for just two seasons before the league merged with the NFL in 1970.
The Bengals’ maiden year in the NFL saw the team post its first winning record and earn a play-off spot as the AFC Central champion. That same year, the team began to play in Riverfront Stadium, a multipurpose venue they would share with baseball’s Cincinnati Reds for the following 30 years. In 1972 the Bengals turned their offense over to second-year quarterback Ken Anderson (from tiny Augustana College in Rock Island, Ill.), who would go on to lead the team for over a decade and set numerous franchise passing records. The Bengals made two more play-off appearances in the 1970s, but they failed to win their first contest on each occasion.
Brown resigned as head coach after the 1975 season, but he stayed on as team president until his death in 1991. One of Brown’s most important personnel moves came in 1980, when he drafted tackle Anthony Muñoz, who is considered one of the greatest offensive linemen in football history; Muñoz anchored the Bengals’ line for 13 seasons. In 1981 the Bengals won a conference-best 12 regular-season games and had their first two postseason wins to advance to Super Bowl XVI the following January, where they lost to the San Francisco 49ers. Cincinnati returned to the play-offs after the strike-shortened 1982 season but lost in their opening-round postseason game.
In 1984 Sam Wyche became the Bengals’ head coach, and a year later Anderson ceded Cincinnati’s starting quarterback role to Boomer Esiason. In 1988 an Esiasonled Bengals team tied the Buffalo Bills for the best record in the AFC by going 12–4. After defeating the Bills in the AFC championship game, the Bengals squared off against the 49ers in the Super Bowl for a second time and were again denied a championship; San Francisco quarterback Joe Montana led his team to a last-minute 20–16 victory.
Throughout the 1990s the Bengals were widely regarded as one of the worst franchises in the four major North American professional sports leagues. They lost more games than any other NFL team during that decade and were plagued by a series of poor draft choices. The team did not have a winning record for 14 consecutive seasons beginning in 1991 (Wyche’s last year as coach). A high point of this period was the play of Pro Bowl running back Corey Dillon, but his presence was not enough to prevent the Bengals from losing at least 10 games in each season between 1998 and 2002. In 2000 the Bengals moved into a football-only venue, Paul Brown Stadium.
Cincinnati broke out of its 14-year postseason drought in 2005, as a team featuring quarterback Carson Palmer and wide receiver Chad Johnson (known as Chad Ochocinco from 2008) won a divisional title before losing to the eventual champion Pittsburgh Steelers in the play-offs. The Bengals captured another division championship in 2009 but again lost their first game of the postseason—extending the NFL’s longest active streak without a play-off victory, which began in 1991.
Based in Cleveland, the Browns have won four NFL championships (1950, 1954–55, 1964) and four All-America Football Conference (AAFC) championships (1946–49).
The Browns were founded in 1946 and, as the result of a fan contest to choose their moniker, were named after their first head coach, Paul Brown, who was already a popular figure in Ohio, having coached Ohio State University to a national collegiate football championship. The Browns were originally members of the AAFC and won the league title in each of the four years of the AAFC’s existence. The most notable of these title-winning teams was the 1948 squad, which went 15–0 to become the first undefeated team in organized professional football history. The Browns were integrated into the NFL along with two other former AAFC teams in 1950, and—despite the prevailing expectations—they continued to have success in the new league. The Browns’ first game in the NFL was a symbolic 35–10 victory over the defending champion Philadelphia Eagles. The early years of Browns football were defined by the stellar play of quarterback Otto Graham and the innovative coaching of Brown, both members of the Hall of Fame, who guided the team to 10 divisional titles in its first 10 years and seven championships between the two leagues. These early Browns teams also featured Lou “The Toe” Groza, a kicker and offensive lineman, and Marion Motley, a bruising running back who was one of the first African Americans to play professional football.
In 1957 Cleveland drafted Syracuse University running back Jim Brown, who would set every major NFL rushing record during his nine-year career and gain the status of possibly the greatest football player of all time. Cleveland’s plans to pair Brown in the backfield with another remarkable running back from Syracuse, Ernie Davis, winner of the 1961 Heisman Trophy, came to naught when Davis contracted leukemia and never played a game for the Browns. Nevertheless, Brown helped the team reach four league championship games, one of which they won (1964). Cleveland advanced to the NFL conference championship game twice in the five seasons after he retired in 1966, but the Browns entered into their first prolonged period of mediocrity in the 1970s, from which they emerged briefly in the 1980 season due to the frequent last-minute heroics of a team dubbed the Kardiac Kids.
Quarterback and Ohio native Bernie Kosar was drafted in 1985 and led the Browns to five appearances in the playoffs in his first five years in the league. The Browns lost two memorable AFC championship games to John Elway and the Denver Broncos during this span, each of which is remembered by Browns fans by an epithet describing the last-minute events responsible for Cleveland’s downfall: “The Drive” (1987) and “The Fumble” (1988). The mid-1980s also saw the advent of the Dawg Pound, a section of the end-zone bleachers of the team’s home stadium where a rowdy group of often-costumed fans sat, solidifying the image of Browns supporters as some of the most vocal and devoted fans in the NFL.
Cleveland’s Dawg Pound is a section of the stadium reserved for some of the most vocal and ardent Browns fans. Tom Hauck/Getty Images
The 1990s brought much darker times for the Browns. Owner Art Modell—who had been losing money for years because of an unfavourable stadium lease with the city—orchestrated a move that sent the team to Baltimore in 1996, breaking the hearts of Cleveland’s many loyal fans and shocking many football observers nationwide. The NFL arranged to keep the Browns’ name, logo, colours, and history in Cleveland, and the league promised the city a new team in the near future. Cleveland was without a franchise until 1999, when local businessman Al Lerner purchased an expansion team that assumed the Browns’ name, uniforms, and history. While the expansion Browns earned a play-off appearance in 2002, the team has yet to match the success of its previous incarnation.
Based in Pittsburgh, the Steelers have won six Super Bowl titles and seven AFC championships. One of the NFL’s most successful and storied franchises, the Steelers have more Super Bowl victories than any other team.
Originally called the Pittsburgh Pirates, the team was founded in 1933 by Pittsburgh resident Art Rooney, who allegedly used winnings from a wager on a horse race to establish the franchise. (Ownership of the team remains within the Rooney family to this day.) The team was not an early success; it qualified for the play-offs just once in its first 37 years. In 1940 the team changed its nickname to “Steelers” in tribute to Pittsburgh’s main industry. The Steelers tied for the NFL Eastern Division title in 1947, but they were shut out 21–0 by the Philadelphia Eagles in a play-off match to qualify for the NFL championship game. Rooney watched the Steelers struggle through the 1950s and ’60s until their fortunes turned around with the arrival of head coach Chuck Noll in 1969.
From 1969 to 1972 Noll showcased his amazing skill at recognizing talent as he drafted five future Hall of Famers: defensive tackle “Mean” Joe Greene, quarterback Terry Bradshaw, defensive back Mel Blount, linebacker Jack Ham, and running back Franco Harris (remembered for his “Immaculate Reception,” a game-winning catch in the play-offs against the Oakland Raiders in 1972, one of the most remarkable and controversial plays in professional football history). In 1974 Noll selected four more players who would eventually be inducted into the Hall of Fame: centre Mike Webster, receivers Lynn Swann and John Stallworth, and linebacker Jack Lambert. These players went on to form a dynasty of unmatched success, winning four Super Bowls (1975, 1976, 1979, and 1980) in six seasons behind a dominant defense known as the “Steel Curtain” and an efficient offense led by Bradshaw. The Steelers teams of the 1970s were also characterized by a fervent fan base, notable for the bright yellow “Terrible Towels”—which were created by the team’s popular and idiosyncratic radio broadcaster for 35 years, Myron Cope—that fans would wave during home games. Pittsburgh faded slightly in the 1980s, with four post season berths in the decade, and Noll retired in 1991.
Noll was replaced by Bill Cowher, who led the Steelers to the play-offs in 10 of his 15 seasons with the team. One of Cowher’s most signifcant personnel moves was his promotion of secondary coach Dick LeBeau to the position of defensive coordinator in 1995: in his two stints (1995–97, 2004–) as the Steelers’ coordinator, LeBeau put together formidable defenses that defined the Pittsburgh teams of those eras. The Steelers’ defense of the mid-1990s was highlighted by stars such as future Hall of Fame cornerback Rod Woodson and linebackers Greg Lloyd and Kevin Greene. Pittsburgh advanced to the Super Bowl in 1996 but lost to the Dallas Cowboys. The Steelers continued their success into the new century, and in 2006—with a team featuring quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, wide receiver Hines Ward, and safety Troy Polamalu—they defeated the Seattle Seahawks to gain a fifth Super Bowl title. In 2009 the Steelers, under the leadership of second-year head coach Mike Tomlin, beat the Arizona Cardinals in dramatic fashion to capture their record sixth Super Bowl championship.
After missing the play-offs following the 2009 regular season, Pittsburgh captured its third AFC championship in a six-year span in 2011 to earn a berth in Super Bowl XLV against the Green Bay Packers. There, the Steelers lost a Super Bowl for just the second time in team history, as Green Bay prevailed 31–26.
Based in Houston, the Texans are the youngest franchise in the NFL.
Houston-area businessmen began their efforts to create the franchise that would become the Texans in 1997, when the NFL’s Houston Oilers relocated to Tennessee. The NFL awarded an expansion franchise to Houston in 1999. The team’s first game came in 2002, with a victory over the established cross-state power (and presumed rival) Dallas Cowboys. That win was one of just four in the team’s inaugural season, and the Texans finished their first year in the league at the bottom of the divisional standings. The 2002 campaign was the beginning of a trend, as the team placed last (or tied for last) in the AFC South in five of its first six seasons of existence and became arguably best known for possessing a porous offensive line that in 2002 allowed a record number of sacks of quarterback David Carr—who repeated as the league’s most-sacked quarterback in 2004 and 2005.
In 2009, behind a powerful offensive line led by dominant wide receiver Andre Johnson and standout quarterback Matt Schaub, the Texans posted the first winning record (9–7) in franchise history.
Currently based in Indianapolis, but originally located in Baltimore, Md., the Colts have won three NFL championships (1958, 1959, 1968) and two Super Bowls (1971, 2007).
The Colts originated from the dissolved Dallas Texans NFL team in 1953. There had been two professional football teams with the name Baltimore Colts before 1953, and continued fan support in the Baltimore area led the NFL to approve the purchase and relocation of the defunct Texans by the Baltimore-based owners. The rechristened Colts hired future Hall of Fame head coach Weeb Ewbank in 1954 and signed Johnny Unitas, who became one of football’s all-time greatest quarterbacks, in 1956.
In the late 1950s Unitas headed a formidable offense that featured, in addition to Unitas, three other future Hall of Famers: tackle Jim Parker, end Raymond Berry, and halfback Lenny Moore. In 1958 the Colts defeated the New York Giants 23–17 in a nationally televised NFL championship game, which the Colts won when their running back Alan Ameche scored a one-yard touchdown run in a sudden-death overtime period. The 1958 championship game took on the nickname “The Greatest Game Ever Played” and was likely the single most important moment in the popularization of professional football in the latter half of the 20th century. The Colts reemerged as NFL champions the following season, beating the Giants again in the championship game.
The team appeared in another memorable title game in 1969, when the heavily favoured NFL champion Colts met the upstart AFL champion New York Jets in Super Bowl III. The Jets were led by young quarterback Joe Namath, who said, before the game, that he guaranteed a Super Bowl victory and then guided his 18-point underdog team to the biggest upset in Super Bowl history. In 1971 the Colts won their first Super Bowl, a 16–13 victory over the Dallas Cowboys.
The years after Unitas’s 1973 departure from the team were filled with many mediocre seasons and no play-off victories for the remainder of the team’s tenure in Baltimore. In 1984 team owner Robert Irsay—after failing to get local government funding for a new stadium—relocated the team to Indianapolis in a move that took place in the middle of the night, before most Colt fans knew that any move had been planned. Even after the franchise had departed, the Colts Marching Band kept the spirit of the team alive in Baltimore by continuing to perform in parades and at civic events until 1996, when the Cleveland Browns moved to the city as the Ravens.
The relocated Colts initially struggled, qualifying for postseason play only once in their first 11 seasons in Indianapolis. In 1998 the Colts drafted quarterback Peyton Manning, who teamed with wide receiver Marvin Harrison and running back Edgerrin James to give the Colts one of the league’s best offenses in the early 2000s. Manning put up record passing numbers and led the team to numerous winning seasons, but he was often blamed for his team’s failures to advance in the play-offs.
The team broke through in 2007, beating the Chicago Bears in the Super Bowl and putting a stop to criticism that Manning could not win the big game. In 2009 the Colts won their first 14 games of the season en route to earning the AFC’s top seed in the play-offs. Indianapolis then easily advanced to the Super Bowl, where they were upset by the New Orleans Saints. The Colts were in the play-off hunt again after the 2010 regular season, but lost in the first round due to a last-second field goal by the New York Jets, 17–16.
(b. May 7, 1933, Pittsburgh, Pa., U.S.—d. Sept. 11, 2002, Timonium, Md.)
Johnny Unitas is considered to be one of the greatest all-time NFL quarterbacks.
John Constantine Unitas excelled in football at St. Justin’s High School in Pittsburgh, but his slight stature (he weighed only 145 pounds [66 kg]) prevented him from earning an athletic scholarship to the University of Notre Dame. He instead played for the University of Louisville (Ky.), where he grew to 6 feet 1 inch (1.85 metres) and 190 pounds (86 kg). Unitas became Louisville’s starting quarterback during his freshman season, but he played on mediocre teams throughout his collegiate career and was not considered a great pro prospect upon his graduation. He was selected by the NFL’s Pittsburgh Steelers in the ninth round of the 1955 draft but was released before the regular season began. He worked at construction jobs and played for a semiprofessional team in the Pittsburgh area for $6 a game until he was signed by the Baltimore Colts in 1956.
Johnny Unitas. Walter Iooss Jr./Sports Illustrated/Getty Images
Unitas was thrust into the starting role after the Colt’s quarterback broke his leg during the fourth game of Unitas’s rookie season. In his second year he led the NFL in passing yards and touchdowns and was selected for the first of 10 career Pro Bowls. Unitas’s rise to stardom from such lowly beginnings made him the quintessential rags-to-riches hero as professional football emerged as the top spectator sport in the United States in the 1960s. His legendary status was cemented by his performance in the 1958 championship game, in which he led the Colts to a 23–17 overtime victory over the New York Giants. The dramatic game, viewed by a national television audience, is regarded as a key step in the NFL’s rise in popularity. Unitas and the Colts also took part in what is arguably the other most significant game in the ascent of the NFL: an upset loss to the AFL’s New York Jets in the 1969 Super Bowl.
Unitas, whose black high-top shoes and distinctive backpedal became his signature, led the Colts to three NFL championships (1958, 1959, 1968) and one Super Bowl victory (1971). He led the league four times each in passing yards and in touchdown passes and retired with career NFL records for passing yards, touchdowns, and completions (all of which have since been broken). Unitas was traded to the San Diego Chargers in 1973, his last season. “Johnny U” was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1979.
Based in Jacksonville, Fla., the Jaguars appeared in the AFC championship game in just their second year of existence.
The Jaguars began play in 1995 as an expansion team alongside the Carolina Panthers of the NFC. The Jaguars’ first college draft pick was future All-Pro tackle Tony Boselli, who would serve as the anchor of a productive offense that helped the Jaguars quickly become a winning franchise. After posting a 4–12 record in their inaugural season, the Jaguars went 9–7 and earned a spot in the AFC play-offs the following season behind the standout play of quarterback Mark Brunell and wide receiver Jimmy Smith. The team then proceeded to win two postseason games on the road before losing to the New England Patriots in the AFC championship game. After again qualifying for the play-offs in 1997, the Jaguars added running back Fred Taylor to their dynamic offense in 1998 and won their first division title that season. The following year the team’s 14–2 record was the best in the NFL, but Jacksonville was upset by their division rival Tennessee Titans in the AFC championship game.
The phenomenal start of the Jaguars franchise slowed in the early 2000s, as the team won no more than seven games in any season between 2000 and 2003. In 2005 and 2007 the Jaguars returned to the postseason but were eliminated by the Patriots on each occasion.
Based in Nashville, the Titans have appeared in one Super Bowl (2000). The franchise was located in Houston and was known as the Oilers from 1960 to 1996, during which time it won two AFL championships (1960, 1961).
The Oilers were one of the eight original AFL teams when the upstart league was founded in 1960. Led by quarterback George Blanda, they won the inaugural AFL title and repeated as champions the following year. The team returned to a third consecutive AFL title game in 1962, but they lost a close contest in double overtime to the Dallas Texans. The Oilers then posted four consecutive losing seasons, and Blanda was released in 1967 after the team won only 3 of their 14 games in 1966. Houston rebounded to make play-off appearances in 1967 and 1969.
The 1970s brought an AFL-NFL merger and a downturn in the Oilers’ fortunes, as the team won just one game in 1972 and again in 1973. Houston slowly improved over the course of the decade, and, after colourful head coach Bum Phillips was hired in 1975 to reinvigorate the team, they returned to the postseason in 1978. Behind an offense featuring bruising running back Earl Campbell and flashy wide receiver and kick returner Billy “White Shoes” Johnson and a defense led by linebacker Robert Brazile and end Elvin Bethea, the Oilers teams of the late 1970s enraptured the Houston fan base. These “Luv Ya Blue” Oilers (nicknamed for the fans’ adoration of the blue-clad team) advanced to conference championship games after the 1978 and 1979 seasons but were defeated on each occasion by the Pittsburgh Steelers. A less-successful play-off berth came in 1980, and the Oilers quickly fell back toward the bottom of the AFC standings during the early to mid-1980s.
The Oilers signed quarterback Warren Moon out of the Canadian Football League in 1984, and the team soon boasted one of the most high-powered offenses in the league, also anchored by Hall of Fame lineman Bruce Matthews. Moon led the Oilers to seven straight postseason berths from 1987 to 1993, but they did not manage to advance to a single conference championship in that span. The frustrated Oilers ownership then traded away many of the team’s best players, including Moon, and the team posted a 2–14 win-loss record during the 1994 season. During that year the Oilers promoted to head coach defensive coordinator Jeff Fisher, who would go on to have the longest coaching tenure in team history and oversee the franchise’s most successful period.
Fisher’s first seasons in charge were overshadowed by the team ownership’s desire to have the city of Houston build a new football-only stadium and the Oilers’ subsequent relocation to Nashville in 1997. The Oilers played one season in Memphis and one in Nashville at Vanderbilt University’s football stadium before their home stadium was completed prior to the 1999 season. The team was then rechristened the Tennessee Titans, a name derived from Nashville’s sobriquet of “the Athens of the South.”
The Titans won 13 games in 1999 behind the standout play of quarterback Steve McNair and running back Eddie George, and the team’s first play-off game in Nashville ended in memorable fashion. Trailing the Buffalo Bills by a point with 16 seconds remaining, the Titans fielded a short kickoff, and tight end Frank Wycheck threw a lateral across the field to receiver Kevin Dyson, who easily scored a game-winning 75-yard touchdown in a play that became known as the “Music City Miracle.” The Titans then won two additional road play-off games to earn the franchise’s first Super Bowl berth. In the Super Bowl the Titans again found themselves trailing their opponent (the St. Louis Rams) with seconds remaining, and the game ended with Dyson being dramatically tackled at the 1-yard line as he attempted to score the tying touchdown. The Titans returned to the postseason in three of the next four seasons and advanced to the AFC championship game in 2002 (a loss to the Oakland Raiders).
After a few losing seasons, in 2007 the Titans again established themselves as one of the AFC’s best teams. In 2008 they won 13 games to post the best record in the NFL but were upset at home by the Baltimore Ravens in the first round of the play-offs.
Based in Denver, the Broncos have won six AFC championships and two Super Bowls (1998, 1999).
The Broncos were founded in 1960 as one of the original members of the AFL. During the league’s 10 years of existence, the Broncos never posted a winning record, and they finished last in their division on six occasions. The team did have a few standout players at this time, however, including wide receiver Lionel Taylor, who led the AFL in receptions five times, and running back Floyd Little. After the 1970 AFL-NFL merger, the Broncos continued to dwell in the divisional cellar before having their first winning season in 1973.
The Broncos finally broke through to gain a play-off berth in 1977. Led by linebackers Randy Gradishar and Tom Jackson, as well as the rest of the so-called “Orange Crush” defense—whose name derived from the team’s bright orange home jerseys at the time—the Broncos went 12–2 and claimed the best record in the conference. They won their first two postseason games to advance to the Super Bowl, which they lost to the Dallas Cowboys. Denver returned to the play-offs the following two seasons but lost their first game on both occasions. The team’s sudden ascent to the upper echelon of the AFC led to heightened expectations, and, after the Broncos finished 8–8 in 1980 after their three-game postseason streak, head coach Red Miller was fired and replaced by Dan Reeves. In 1983 Reeves oversaw the trade for disgruntled Baltimore Colts draftee John Elway, who would go on to star as the Broncos’ quarterback for 16 seasons and become the most iconic player in franchise history.
With Elway leading the offense and Pro Bowl linebacker Karl Mecklenburg anchoring the defense, the Broncos became one of the most successful NFL teams of the 1980s. Denver advanced to three Super Bowls in the decade, and their consecutive AFC championship games against the Cleveland Browns in 1987 and 1988 were two of the most memorable contests of the time. The former game featured Elway leading the Broncos 98 yards in the fourth quarter to tie the score and eventually win in overtime (which became known as “The Drive”), and the latter was decided when Browns running back Earnest Byner lost the ball on Denver’s 3-yard line with just over a minute remaining as he attempted to score a tying touchdown (“The Fumble”). However, the Broncos were not able to capitalize on these thrilling championship game victories and were soundly beaten (by the New York Giants and the Washington Redskins, respectively) in each season’s subsequent Super Bowl. The Broncos returned to the Super Bowl in 1990, but they were defeated by the San Francisco 49ers by a score of 55–10, the worst loss in Super Bowl history. Reeves’s failure to win a Super Bowl—compounded by his years of feuding with Elway—led to his dismissal after the 1992 season.
The arrival of Dan Reeves (left, front) and quarterback John Elway during the 1980s boosted the Denver Broncos into the upper echelon of the NFL. George Rose/Getty Images
Denver’s former offensive coordinator Mike Shanahan was hired as the team’s head coach in 1995. With a talented roster including running back Terrell Davis, wide receiver Rod Smith, and tight end Shannon Sharpe, the Broncos were one of the premier offenses in the NFL during Shanahan’s first seasons with the team, and in 1998 they again were the AFC’s representative in the Super Bowl. This time the well-balanced Broncos squad upset the Green Bay Packers to capture the franchise’s first title. Denver won a team-record 14 games the next season, which it followed with a second Super Bowl victory (over the Atlanta Falcons). Elway then retired, and Denver finished last in their division the following season. The team went to the postseason in four of the six years between 2000 and 2005 but advanced past the first round only once and lost in the AFC championship that season (2005). After three consecutive years of missing the playoffs, Shanahan was fired after the 2008 season, and the Broncos began a thorough rebuilding effort.
Based in Kansas City, Mo., the Chiefs won three AFL championships (1962, 1966, 1969) and Super Bowl IV.
The team, originally based in Dallas and known as the Texans, was one of eight founding franchises when the AFL came into existence in 1960. The Texans were owned by Lamar Hunt, who—after having been rebuked in his earlier attempt to purchase the NFL’s Chicago Cardinals—initiated the founding of the AFL by organizing other prospective NFL owners who had been turned down by the established league. Hunt hired Hank Stram to serve as the Texans’ first head coach, and Stram led the team to two middle-of-the-road finishes in its first two seasons. The Texans brought in quarterback Len Dawson (like Stram a future Hall of Famer) before the 1962 season, and Dallas went 11–3 that year, defeating the Houston Oilers in the AFL championship game. Despite the team’s success, the Dallas market was not able to sustain two football franchises (the other being the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys), and Hunt decided to relocate the Texans to Kansas City in 1963.
The newly renamed Chiefs returned to the middle of the AFL West standings until 1966. That season they again won 11 games and captured the AFL title. The Chiefs were then a part of one of the most historic moments in football history when they faced off against the Green Bay Packers in the first annual AFL-NFL World Championship Game (which would later be renamed the “Super Bowl” by Hunt), which they lost 35–10. In 1969 the Chiefs featured the league’s leading defense—which starred future Hall of Famers Willie Lanier, Bobby Bell, and Buck Buchanan—and they once again won an AFL championship and earned a berth into the Super Bowl. At the Super Bowl the Chiefs defeated the Minnesota Vikings in what was the final game ever played by an AFL franchise, as the two leagues merged in 1970. Kansas City made another play-off appearance in 1971 but then entered a period that saw the team post losing records in nine of the 14 seasons between 1972 and 1985 and miss the postseason in each of those years.
In 1989 the Chiefs hired head coach Marty Schottenheimer and drafted linebacker Derrick Thomas. Schottenheimer guided Kansas City to a play-off berth in his second season with the team, and in 1993, led by quarterback Joe Montana, the Chiefs advanced to the AFC championship game, which they lost to the Buffalo Bills. With Thomas and defensive end Neil Smith anchoring a stout defense, the Chiefs won an NFL-best 13 games in 1995, but they were upset in their opening play-off contest by the Indianapolis Colts. The Chiefs tied for the best record in the league in 1997 but were again defeated in their first play-off game, this time by the division rival Denver Broncos. After a five-year postseason drought, Kansas City—with a high-scoring offense featuring running back Priest Holmes and tight end Tony Gonzalez—again won 13 games and a division crown in 2003. Once again a stellar regular season was followed by play-off disappointment as the Chiefs were once again upset at home by the Colts. The team then had a series of moderately successful years, including another postseason berth (and first-round loss) in 2006, before an abrupt slide resulted in a franchise-worst 2–14 record in 2008 and the hiring of a new front office and coaching staff.
Based in Oakland, Calif., the Raiders have won three Super Bowl championships (1977, 1981, 1984), one AFL championship (1967), and four AFC titles. Viewed by many as the “villains” of the NFL because of their historic tendency for rough play, the Raiders embody the motto coined by longtime owner Al Davis: “Just win, baby.”
The Raiders were founded in 1960 as one of the eight original teams of the AFL. After three losing seasons, the franchise hired Davis in 1963 to serve as the team’s head coach and general manager. He implemented a “vertical” passing attack, which relied on long throws downfield to stretch the opposing defense, and quickly turned the team into a contender. After a three-month stint as AFL commissioner in 1966, Davis became a part-owner of the Raiders, and he began buying out (and, in some cases, forcing out) the other owners, ultimately gaining complete control of the team in 1976.
With an offense starring quarterback Daryle Lamonica and centre Jim Otto, the Raiders won the AFL championship in December 1967, a victory that sent the team to its first Super Bowl the following January (a loss to the Green Bay Packers). John Madden was hired as head coach in 1969, and under his guidance the Raiders became an elite team, posting consecutive winning seasons during Madden’s 10-year tenure with the team and taking the franchise’s first Super Bowl (1977). It was during this period that the Raiders forged an image as a team of tough, take-no-prisoners players—such as future Hall of Fame offensive linemen Jim Otto, Gene Upshaw, and Art Shell; linebacker Ted “The Stork” Hendricks; defensive end Ben Davidson; and cornerback Willie Brown—who would occasionally cross the line into dirty play. Those teams also featured an additional trio of future Hall of Fame players in tight end Dave Casper, kicker George Blanda, and wide receiver Fred Biletnikoff, as well as fiery quarterback Ken “The Snake” Stabler. Madden’s successor, Tom Flores (who was the Raiders’ first starting quarterback), shepherded the team to another Super Bowl victory in 1981.
Davis had been long upset about the conditions of the Raiders’ home stadium when, in 1980, he signed a memorandum of agreement promising to move the franchise to Los Angeles. The NFL blocked the move, but Davis won a landmark antitrust lawsuit against the league in 1982, and the Raiders immediately relocated. The team qualified for the play-offs in each of their first four seasons in Los Angeles, which included another Super Bowl title in 1984. The teams of the 1980s featured three future Hall of Famers—running back Marcus Allen, defensive lineman Howie Long, and cornerback Mike Haynes—and multisport sensation Bo Jackson, who excelled in both Major League Baseball and the NFL. Davis soured on the stadium in Los Angeles over the years, and he moved the franchise back to Oakland in 1995. The Raiders struggled in the years after their second move, but, behind a high-powered offense led by quarterback Rich Gannon and wide receivers Tim Brown and Jerry Rice, they advanced to the Super Bowl in 2003, which they lost to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Since 2003 the franchise has been marked by a lack of success on the field, poor personnel decisions, and a fractious front office, all of which considerably damaged the famed Raiders’ mystique.
Based in San Diego, the Chargers have appeared in one Super Bowl (1995).
Originally based in Los Angeles, the Chargers began play in 1960 as one of the original eight members of the upstart AFL. The Chargers went 10–4 in their first season and advanced to the inaugural AFL championship game, which they lost to the Houston Oilers. After just one year in Los Angeles, the team relocated to San Diego, where their success continued as they won 12 of their 14 games and again appeared in the AFL title game (and again lost to the Oilers).
The key to the Chargers’ early good fortunes was head coach Sid Gillman, one of the most innovative minds in the history of football, who led the team from their inaugural year through most of 1969 and for part of the 1971 season; he also served as the Chargers’ general manager from 1960 to 1971. Gillman, as coach of the NFL’s Los Angeles Rams from 1955 to 1959, had developed the first offense to centre around the downfield pass. He brought this proficient offense to the AFL when he took over the Chargers, and his high-scoring team won division crowns in five of the league’s first six seasons.
In 1963 San Diego—featuring future Hall of Famers Lance Alworth at wide receiver and Ron Mix at offensive tackle, along with quarterback John Hadl and running back Paul Lowe—won its only AFL title, defeating the Boston Patriots 51–10 in the championship game. During the mid-1960s the Chargers’ play fell off slightly, and, despite finishing with winning records from 1966 through the end of the decade, they never returned to the AFL championships.
The AFL merged with the NFL in 1970, and the Chargers struggled in the expanded league. They did not have a winning season in their first eight years in the NFL, as the team’s formerly potent offense became one of the worst in the league.
The Chargers began to return to past form when they hired Don Coryell as head coach five games into the 1978 season. Coryell reinvigorated the play of quarterback Dan Fouts, who became the centrepiece of an aerial attack that led the league in passing yards for a record six consecutive seasons (1978–83). Also featuring superstars wide receiver Charlie Joiner and tight end Kellen Winslow, the San Diego offense (nicknamed “Air Coryell”) propelled the Chargers to four straight postseason berths between 1979 and 1982. San Diego played in two conference championship games over this span, which was highlighted by a defeat of the Miami Dolphins in a seesaw 41–38 divisional play-off contest in January 1982 that many consider one of the greatest NFL games of all time. However, the Coryell Chargers failed to advance to the Super Bowl. Coryell resigned during the 1986 season, amid a nine-year postseason drought for the Chargers.
San Diego’s return to the play-offs after the 1992 season was notable, as it was the first time in NFL history that a team started with an 0–4 record and rallied to earn a postseason berth. The Chargers lost to the Dolphins in their second play-off game that year. Their postseason run after the 1994 season was much more successful. Led by a defense starring All-Pro linebacker Junior Seau, San Diego won a divisional title and upset the Pittsburgh Steelers in the AFC championship game en route to the franchise’s first Super Bowl berth. There they lost soundly to the San Francisco 49ers, 49–26.
The Chargers soon entered one of the worst stretches in franchise history, losing at least 11 games in four of the five years between 1997 and 2001, including a 1–15 season in 2000. The silver lining of the team’s disastrous 2000 season was that the Chargers were in a position to draft running back LaDainian Tomlinson and quarterback Drew Brees in the 2001 NFL draft, and the duo led San Diego back to the play-offs after the 2004 season. Chargers teams featuring Tomlinson, quarterback Philip Rivers, and tight end Antonio Gates have had great regular-season success—including four consecutive AFC West titles from 2006 to 2009—but have failed to advance to the Super Bowl.
The Super Bowl is the championship game of the NFL, played by the winners of the AFC and NFC each January or February. The game is hosted by a different city each year.
The game grew out of the merger of the NFL and rival American Football League (AFL) in 1966. The agreement called for an end-of-season championship game, and, although the merger was not finalized until 1970, the first such game, then called the AFL-NFL World Championship Game, was played at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on Jan. 15, 1967. Broadcast on two television networks and played before less than a sellout crowd, the game saw the NFL’s Green Bay Packers defeat the AFL’s Kansas City Chiefs, 35–10. The name “Super Bowl” first appeared in 1969, as did the use of Roman numerals, which, because the game is played in a different year from the season it culminates, are used to designate the individual games.
The day of the Super Bowl game, known as Super Bowl Sunday, has evolved into an unofficial American holiday, with viewing parties held in homes, taverns, and restaurants throughout the country. The week prior to the game is highlighted by extensive media buildup and a festival atmosphere in the host city. The game itself is accompanied by elaborate pregame and halftime ceremonies and entertainment.
All Super Bowls since the first have been sellouts and consistent TV-ratings leaders, with many Super Bowls among the highest-rated televised sporting events of all time. As a result, commercial time during the game is the most expensive of the year; for example, in 2005 a 30-second spot cost approximately $2.4 million. The high-profile advertisements have featured celebrities and noted filmmakers as well as new technologies in hopes of making an impression on the huge Super Bowl audience. Since the 1980s, media scrutiny of and public interest in Super Bowl commercials have nearly matched that accorded the game itself.
