History of NFL Football Teams

The National Football League can trace its roots to 1920 when it was an organization known as the American Professional Football Association. Two years later, it became the entity now called the NFL. The NFL was composed of three teams: The Chicago Bears, the Green Bay Packers and the Chicago Cardinals, which are now in Arizona. Those teams are still in the NFL, which was grown to 32 franchises.

  1. Most titles

    • The Packers are the football team with the most NFL titles with 12 championships. The Bears boast nine championships while the New York Giants have seven. The Pittsburgh Steelers have won six NFL championships, all of them coming in the Super Bowl, the name for the title game since 1966 when the NFL champion played the American Football League champion. The San Francisco 49ers and Dallas Cowboy have won five Super Bowls each while the Washington Redskins have five titles, with two of these coming before 1966 and three in the span from 1982 through 1991 in the Super Bowl.

    No titles

    • Eight NFL franchises have never won a title. The Minnesota Vikings, in the NFL since 1961, has gone the longest without a title. The Atlanta Falcons entered the league in 1966 and have yet to win a championship as have the New Orleans Saints, a member since 1967. The Cincinnati Bengals joined the league in 1968 and have been to a pair of Super Bowls, losing both. Expansion teams such as the Seattle Seahawks, Houston Texans, Carolina Panthers and Jacksonville Jaguars have no championships to their credit.

    Undefeated

    • Only one team in the history of the NFL has gone an entire season, including the playoffs, without a loss. In 1972, the Miami Dolphins went 17-0, with a 14-0 record in the regular season and three wins in the playoffs, including a 14-7 triumph over the Redskins in the Super Bowl.

    Dynasties

    • From 1929 through 1945, the Packers and Bears dominated the NFL. Green Bay won six championships during that time and Chicago won a half dozen also. The Cleveland Browns, which walloped all competition in the All American Football Conference from 1946 through 1949 were able to win three NFL titles in six seasons after joining the league in 1950. Green Bay returned to greatness under Coach Vince Lombardi in the 1960s, winning five crowns, including the first two Super Bowls. The Steelers were the best team in the 1970s with four Super Bowl wins while the 49ers won five between 1981 and 1994. Dallas was tops in the early 1990s with three titles in four years. The New England Patriots were able to win three from 2001 through 2004.

    Merger

    • In 1970, the National Football League merged with the American Football League, absorbing all 10 franchises from the rival circuit and placing them in the American Football Conference along with the Baltimore Colts, the Browns and the Steelers. Joining the NFL at that time were the Patriots, the Buffalo Bills, the Houston Oilers, the Bengals, the Oakland Raiders, the Kansas City Chiefs, the San Diego Chargers, the Denver Broncos, the Dolphins and the New York Jets.