Trivial Pursuits- The NFL

Many Americans have a comprehensive understanding of how the National Football League is structured.  However, imagine a scenario with me...

The National Football League is the organization
responsible for the regulation of the highest level
of professional American Football.

Someone close to you (boyfriend, father-in-law, etc.) is absolutely hooked when it comes to football, but you can't tell a hash-mark from a halftime show.  For some reason, it is required for you to reach-out to this football maniac, and you think that this might be a good bonding-point... If only you could appreciate the subtle differences between the New England Patriots and the Texas Longhorns (just so you know, one is a college team). This Trivial Pursuit should help you to understand how the NFL is organized in terms of who plays whom, but it won't do anything to help you understand the game itself.

The NFL is divided in two ways, first by Conference, and then by geographic location.  Let's start the breakdown.  There are two conferences in the NFL: The American Football Conference (AFC), and the National Football Conference (NFC).  Each conference contains sixteen professional teams, which combined make-up the thirty-two team NFL.  The origin of both conferences is found in the 1966 merger between the National Football League and the American Football League.  Up until that point, the two Leagues were not associated, but in an effort to consolidate, they merged.  The teams from the old NFL stayed together as the NFC, and the old AFL became the AFC.  Of course, the name of the two consolidated leagues remained the NFL, so don't get confused between the old NFL (NFC) and the new NFL (NFC and AFC).  

Now for the second way that the NFL is divided: Geographically.  Each Conference is divided into four geographic regions of four teams each- North, South, East, and West (4+4+4+4=16; 16x2=32 NFL Teams). These four units within each Conference are called Divisions.  Here is a quick breakdown of each division.

The logo of the National Football Conference.

NFC East:                                                    NFC North:

Dallas Cowboys                                           Chicago Bears

New York Giants                                         Detroit Lions

Philadelphia Eagles                                       Green Bay Packers

Washington Redskins                                   Minnesota Vikings

NFC South:                                                 NFC West:

Atlanta Falcons                                            Arizona Cardinals

Carolina Panthers                                        St. Louis Rams

New Orleans Saints                                     San Francisco 49ers

Tampa Bay Buccaneers                               Seattle Seahawks

The logo of the American Football Conference.

AFC East:                                                   AFC North:

Buffalo Bills                                                 Baltimore Ravens

Miami Dolphins                                           Cincinnati Bengals

New England Patriots                                  Cleveland Browns

New York Jets                                            Pittsburgh Steelers

AFC South:                                                 AFC West:

Houston Texans                                          Denver Broncos 

Indianapolis Colts                                       Kansas City Chiefs

Jacksonville Jaguars                                   Oakland Raiders

Tennessee Titans                                        San Diego Chargers

'What's the point?' you ask.  Why lay-out which teams are in which division, and why does it matter to you?  Because it helps to know why each team plays the opponents they do (believe it or not, it isn't random).  Each team plays sixteen games in a seventeen-week season, with one week off.  Of those sixteen games, six are played against other teams from the same Division (two each).  Another six games are played against teams within that same Conference (one each).  Finally, each team, over the course of a football season, will play four games against teams from the opposite Conference (one each).  Therefore, out of sixteen games played by a given team, twelve are played against teams from the same Conference, six of which are from the same Division and six from other Divisions, with a further four games played against teams from the opposite Conference. 

A brief recap might help.  There are four teams to a Division, four Divisions to a Conference, and two Conferences in the NFL.  Therefore, there are thirty-two teams in the NFL.  Any given team will play sixteen games in a season, three-quarters against teams from the same Conference, one-quarter against teams from the opposite Conference.  Each team gets one week-off during the season where they play no game. 

So the next time your football-crazed family-member wants to bond over some gridiron action, remember this Trivial Pursuit, and enjoy the game.