NFL Divisional Showdowns: Who Will Reign Supreme?

Who will win the AFC East this year? How about the NFC West? You can bet on it right now at our sports betting page? Check out our NFL futures page, and you’ll find not only odds for who will win the Super Bowl 2025, but also who will win each of the league’s two conferences and eight divisions.

If you’re completely new to football betting, or just need a refresher, the NFL is split between the National Football Conference (NFC) and the American Football Conference (AFC). Each conference features four of the eight NFL divisions, with four teams per division:

  • AFC North
  • AFC South
  • AFC West
  • AFC East
  • NFC North
  • NFC South
  • NFC West
  • NFC East

Other sports have their divisions too, but they’ve become less important over the years. Not so in the NFL; these divisions are part of the football culture, and the winners will generally have a much higher chance of winning the Super Bowl when all is said and done.

AFC North

The AFC North was born in 2002 after the NFL expanded to 32 teams and eight divisions. It consists of the following four teams:

  • Pittsburgh Steelers
  • Cleveland Browns
  • Cincinnati Bengals
  • Baltimore Ravens

This is the only division in the AFC that doesn’t contain any original members of the American Football League, which merged with the NFL in 1970 and became its own conference. The Bengals were an AFL expansion team in 1968. The two-time Super Bowl champions from Baltimore were founded in 1996 when the first Cleveland Browns franchise moved to Maryland, and the new Browns (born in 1999) were allowed to assume the history of the old Browns (born in 1944).

Before the 2002 realignment, Pittsburgh (tied for the record with six Super Bowl titles), Cleveland and Cincinnati were part of the old AFC Central, alongside the Houston Oilers. That Oilers team moved to Tennessee in 1997, and eventually joined the next division on our list.

AFC South

The least successful of the eight divisions in the NFL, the AFC South features these four clubs:

  • Indianapolis Colts
  • Tennessee Titans
  • Jacksonville Jaguars
  • Houston Texans

The Colts, who moved to Indianapolis from Baltimore in 1984, are the only team from the list to win the Super Bowl; Johnny Unitas led the Colts to glory at Super Bowl V, and Peyton Manning did the same at Super Bowl XLI.

The Tennessee franchise is the former Houston Oilers, who became the Tennessee Oilers for two years before changing their name to the Titans. They lost Super Bowl XXXIV by the slightest of margins to the St. Louis Rams. The Jaguars (born 1995) and Texans (born 2002) are both expansion teams and have yet to play in the Big Game.

AFC West

The AFC West is the toughest division in the conference at the time of this writing. These are the four teams involved:

  • Kansas City Chiefs
  • Denver Broncos
  • Las Vegas Raiders
  • Los Angeles Chargers

Kansas City is the current and three-time Super Bowl champion, winning two of the last four titles (and barely missing a third) with two-time NFL MVP Patrick Mahomes at the helm. Denver and Las Vegas have each won three Super Bowls, although the Raiders were playing in Oakland and Los Angeles at the time. The Chargers (zero titles) are back in LA after playing in San Diego from 1961 to 2016.

AFC East

The NFL was concentrated on the East Coast when it was founded in 1920 (as the American Professional Football Association, or APFA), and the AFC East remains the marquee division in their conference. Here are the four teams involved:

  • New England Patriots
  • Buffalo Bills
  • Miami Dolphins
  • New York Jets

The Patriots absolutely dominated the AFC East during the Bill Belichick-Tom Brady years, winning 17 of 19 division titles and six Super Bowls between 2001 and Brady’s departure after the 2019 season. The Bills have been on top ever since, but they’re still looking for their first Super Bowl win, while the Dolphins (VII, VIII) and Jets (III) were champions in the early days of the Big Game.

NFC North

The National Football Conference is where you’ll find most of the teams who played in the NFL before the 1970 merger with the AFL. And the toughest of their four divisions is the NFC North, aka the Black and Blue Division:

  • Green Bay Packers
  • Chicago Bears
  • Detroit Lions
  • Minnesota Vikings

The Packers (born 1919) and Bears (born 1920) are two of the oldest teams in the league, and their storied rivalry is unmatched in pro football – although the Bears have won the Super Bowl only once (XX), while Green Bay (I, II, XXXI, XLV) continued their dynasty post-merger under head coach Vince Lombardi. They even named the championship trophy after him.

The Lions were successful back in the 1950s, but they’re the only non-expansion team in the NFL that has failed to play in a single Super Bowl. The Vikings are also looking for their first title after losing four Super Bowls between 1969 and 1976.

NFC South

The NFC South was created in 2002 and includes four relatively young teams:

  • Tampa Bay Buccaneers
  • New Orleans Saints
  • Atlanta Falcons
  • Carolina Panthers

This has been the most competitive division in the NFL the past 20-plus years, but also the weakest. Then again, all four NFC South teams have appeared in the Super Bowl, with Tampa winning twice (once with Brady) and New Orleans once. The Falcons and Panthers were both victims of Brady and the Patriots, and Carolina also lost to Peyton Manning’s Broncos at Super Bowl 50.

NFC West

It’s taken a while, but the westward migration of NFL franchises has finally created a monster division on the West Coast. The NFC West is absolutely stacked with talent at press time:

  • San Francisco 49ers
  • Los Angeles Rams
  • Seattle Seahawks
  • Arizona Cardinals

From this group, only the Cardinals – born in 1898, and the oldest team in the league – have yet to taste victory at the Super Bowl. The 49ers won five championships between 1981 and 1994, and the Rams, back in LA after 30 years in St. Louis, have two titles to their name, but the old NFC West included Atlanta and New Orleans. The Seahawks started here in 1976 before moving to the AFC West in 1977, then back to the NFC West in 2002.

NFC East

And now we have the cream of the crop. The NFC East is the glamour division in the NFL, and the only one where all four teams have won the Super Bowl:

  • Dallas Cowboys
  • New York Giants
  • Washington Commanders
  • Philadelphia Eagles

Originally the Capitol Division when first formed in 1967, they changed their name after the 1970 NFL-AFL merger. The St. Louis (then Phoenix, now Arizona) Cardinals were also a member before the 2002 realignment. Of these four remaining teams, the Eagles are the only one that actually plays in their named location; Dallas plays in Arlington, New York in East Rutherford, and Washington in Landover.

Which NFL division has won the most Super Bowls?

Having all of those big-name teams in the NFC East is almost unfair. This division has racked up 13 Super Bowl titles, with the Cowboys winning five, the Giants four, the Commanders three and the Eagles one.

Dallas might even be the most successful franchise in the history of the NFL – at least during the Super Bowl era. They’re one title short of Pittsburgh and New England, but the Cowboys are called America’s Team for a reason: They’re the league’s most famous product, and their most valuable franchise at an estimated $8 billion according to Forbes’ 2022 rankings.