83-662: The AFC Championship Game is the annual championship game of the American Football Conference (AFC) and one of the two semifinal playoff games of the National Football League (NFL), the largest professional American football league in the world. The game is played on the last Sunday in January by the two remaining playoff teams, following the AFC postseason's first two rounds. The AFC champion then advances to face
166-483: A drop kick , keeping the score at 16–7. Later on, Bradshaw was knocked out of the game when he took a knee-hit to the head by linebacker Monte Johnson . A few plays later, Oakland recovered their fourth fumble of the day with 1:31 left in the game. The Raiders then drove to the Pittsburgh 24-yard line, where they faced third down and 2 yards to go with 18 seconds left on the clock. They opted to have George Blanda kick
249-587: A $ 100 fine. Meanwhile, the Cowboys " Doomsday Defense " put the finishing touches on the team's victory by sacking Tarkenton on each of the final two plays of the game. It was another disappointing end to a spectacular season for the Vikings. They had finished with an NFC-best 12–2 record. Their defense led the league with the fewest yards allowed. Tarkenton had won the NFL Most Valuable Player Award , and
332-479: A 21-yard reception by running back Jim Otis . Otis finished the possession with a 3-yard touchdown run, but the extra point was blocked by Youngblood and the Rams responded on the first play of their next drive with Jaworski's 66-yard touchdown pass to Harold Jackson , making the score 28–6. Shortly before the end of the half, Hart completed a 23-yard pass to Mel Gray that set up Jim Bakken 's 39-yard field goal, cutting
415-454: A 3-yard loss as time ran down to the two-minute warning. "That play cost us the game," Tarkenton later said. "It wasn't the Hail Mary pass. We had the game in control but didn't make the play." The Cowboys got the ball back on their own 15-yard line with only 1:51 left. Staubach started the drive with a pair of completions to Pearson, who had not yet caught a pass in the game, moving the ball to
498-402: A 41-yard field goal (his longest of the season and last of his NFL career) to pull the deficit to 6 points. Then Hubbard recovered the ensuing onside kick with 9 seconds remaining to give Oakland one last attempt to win the game. Cliff Branch then caught a 37-yard reception, but he was stopped at the Pittsburgh 15-yard line by Steelers cornerback Mel Blount before he could get out of bounds and
581-458: A 7-yard rushing touchdown giving the Steelers a 14–10 lead. In the fourth quarter, a short punt from David Lee gave the Steelers favorable field position, and they scored on Bradshaw's 2-yard run, increasing their lead to 21–10. Now with the game slipping away, Colts coach Ted Marchibroda benched Domres (who had completed only 2 of 11 passes) and replaced him with Bert Jones (who had earlier left
664-459: A bomb to Drew Pearson, who caught the ball through tight coverage by Wright at the 4-yard line and ran into the end zone for a 50-yard scoring reception that Staubach, in a postgame interview, called a "Hail Mary" pass. That popularized the term to describe such a play. Wright, who was just in front of Pearson, fell as the ball came down, and the Vikings argued that Pearson pushed off and should have been flagged for offensive interference. The play drew
747-406: A drive to the Vikings 24, the Cowboys failed to convert a fourth-and-inches situation and the score was 7–0 at halftime. Dallas mounted the first sustained scoring drive of the game with their first second-half possession. A late hit by Vikings linebacker Wally Hilgenberg turned Preston Pearson 's 14-yard reception into a 29-yard gain. Then Staubach hit tight end Billy Joe Dupree for 17 yards to
830-408: A forehead gash and rendering him unconscious. Terzian wore a bandage, later requiring 11 stitches, as he walked off the field. He was replaced by substitute official Charley Musser for the final two plays. The NFL later banned glass bottles from being sold at stadiums. The fan who threw the glass bottle at Terzian eventually was found by police, pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault, and was sentenced to
913-479: A fumble from Lynn Swann at midfield, Oakland gave the ball back again when Lambert recovered a fumble from running back Clarence Davis on the Steelers 30-yard line. The turnover led to a 5-play, 70-yard drive that ended on running back Franco Harris 's 25-yard touchdown run to give the Steelers a 10–0 lead. Oakland stormed back, scoring in less than two minutes on a drive that lasted just six plays, three of them receptions by tight end Dave Casper . Stabler finished
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#1732845187325996-487: A fumble that was recovered by Nelson Munsey on the Steelers 19, leading to Toni Linhart 's 27-yard field goal that gave Baltimore a 10–7 lead early in the second half. On the second half kickoff, Munsey recovered a fumble from Steelers returner Dave Brown . But a few plays later, Pittsburgh cornerback Mel Blount intercepted a pass and returned it 20 yards to the Baltimore 7-yard line. From there, Rocky Bleier scored on
1079-680: A non-strike season until 1998 , a decade after the franchise moved to Arizona . This was the first postseason meeting between the Cardinals and Rams. at Metropolitan Stadium , Bloomington, Minnesota With 24 seconds to play, Cowboys quarterback Roger Staubach threw a 50-yard winning touchdown pass to wide receiver Drew Pearson on a play that became known as the Hail Mary pass . Pearson's last-minute touchdown reception remains strong in Cowboys lore and sour with Vikings fans. To them, Pearson's touchdown should never have counted because they contend
1162-422: A push when he made the catch. The official ruled he was forced out by Nate Wright . At the time, a catch by a receiver who was forced out of bounds in midair by a defender counted as a reception (this rule would change in 2008). These two would participate in a more controversial play two plays later. After Preston Pearson dropped a wide-open pass in the middle of the field with 32 seconds left, Staubach launched
1245-436: A sack, blocked an extra point, and forced a fumble. Meftcalf racked up 229 total yards, (8 carries for 27 yards, 6 receptions for 94 yards, 2 kickoff returns for 102 yards, 2 punt returns for 6 yards). Jaworski completed 12/23 passes for 203 yards and a touchdown. Hart completed 22 of 41 passes for 291 yards and a touchdown, but was intercepted 3 times. This was the Cardinals' last playoff game until 1982 , and their last in
1328-554: Is awarded to the winner of the Super Bowl . In recent years Conference championship rings are also awarded to members of the team who wins the AFC or NFC championship since they are the winners of the conference, even though they may not necessarily follow it up with a win in the Super Bowl. In the sortable table below, teams are ordered first by number of appearances, then by number of wins, and finally by year of first appearance. In
1411-754: The 1975 season began on December 27, 1975. The postseason tournament concluded with the Pittsburgh Steelers defeating the Dallas Cowboys in Super Bowl X , 21–17, on January 18, 1976, at the Orange Bowl in Miami . This was the first season in which the league used a seeding system in the playoffs. Thus, the surviving clubs with the higher seeds were made the home teams for each playoff round. The three division champions in each conference were seeded 1 through 3 based on their regular season won-lost-tied record, and
1494-426: The 1970–71 to 2001–02 seasons; four since the 2002–03 season ) and a set number of " wild card " teams that possess the best win–loss records after the regular season yet fail to win their division (one wild card team from the 1970–71 to 1977–78 seasons; two wild cards from 1978–79 to 1989–90 , and from 2002–03 to 2019–20 ; three from 1990–91 to 2001–02, and since 2020–21 ). The two teams remaining following
1577-538: The Cincinnati Bengals in 1968) before the merger. Modell was in the hospital for internal bleeding around the time negotiations were still going. When he was visited by Art Rooney (owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers ) and Wellington Mara (owner of the New York Giants ), Modell made the suggestion that his franchise would move to the AFC if the Steelers and Baltimore Colts did so as well. In order to equalize
1660-572: The Kansas City Chiefs , Lamar Hunt . The first AFC Championship Game was played following the 1970 regular season after the merger between the NFL and the AFL. The game is considered the successor to the former AFL Championship , and its game results are listed with that of its predecessor in the annual NFL Record and Fact Book . Since the pre-merger NFL consisted of six more teams than the AFL (16 teams for
1743-504: The NFC has sent 13 of the 16 NFC teams during that same time frame with only the Detroit Lions , Minnesota Vikings , and Washington Commanders missing out on an appearance in the Super Bowl . 17 of the 19 AFC champions from 2001 to 2019 have started one of just three quarterbacks - Tom Brady , Peyton Manning and Ben Roethlisberger - in the Super Bowl. The AFC has started 7 quarterbacks in
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#17328451873251826-514: The NFL Offensive Player of the Year Award , while Foreman amassed 1,761 all-purpose yards and 22 touchdowns. The day only got worse for Tarkenton. He soon learned his father had died of a heart attack while watching the game. The upstart and youthful Cowboys, not expected to do much after an 8–6 season in 1974 and the loss of several key veterans, would defeat the Rams and lose to Pittsburgh in
1909-678: The National Football Conference (NFC), each contain 16 teams with 4 divisions. Both conferences were created as part of the 1970 merger between the National Football League, and the American Football League (AFL). All ten of the AFL teams, and three NFL teams, became members of the new AFC, with the remaining thirteen NFL teams forming the NFC. A series of league expansions and division realignments have occurred since
1992-563: The Super Bowl . With the impending merger with the American Football League (AFL) for the 1970 NFL season , the league had careful discussion over the nature of which teams would play in the newly instituted conferences. Then-NFL President and owner of the Cleveland Browns Art Modell had suggested of a format in which three teams from the NFL would move to the AFC to create two thirteen-team conferences. But negotiations between NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle and other owners
2075-717: The Tennessee Titans . The NFL would again expand in 2002, adding the Houston Texans to the AFC. With the exception of the aforementioned relocations since that time, the divisional setup has remained static ever since. Between 1995 and 2022, the AFC has sent only 9 of its 16 teams to the Super Bowl : New England Patriots (10 times), Pittsburgh Steelers (4 times), Denver Broncos (4 times), Baltimore Ravens (2 times), Indianapolis Colts (2 times), Kansas City Chiefs (3 times), Cincinnati Bengals (1 time), Las Vegas Raiders (1 time), Tennessee Titans (1 time). By contrast,
2158-533: The 1972 AFC Divisional Playoff game (see: the Immaculate Reception ), Raiders' officials, including team owner Al Davis and head coach John Madden , accused the Steelers and Three Rivers Stadium groundskeepers of intentionally allowing the artificial playing surface to ice over, in an effort to slow Oakland's propensity for using a wide-open aerial attack as part of its offensive game plan. The game started out ugly, as Pittsburgh quarterback Terry Bradshaw
2241-681: The 1997 season. From 1998 to 2013, CBS was the primary broadcast rightsholder to the AFC; in those years, all interconference games in which the AFC team was the visiting team were broadcast on either NBC or CBS. Since 2014, the cross-flex policy allows select AFC games (that involve them playing an NFC team at home or intraconference games) to be moved from CBS to Fox. Since 1990, select AFC playoff games have been seen on ABC or ESPN. AFC Divisions AFC Division Rivals AFC East AFC North AFC South Rivals AFC West Rivals AFC Interdivisional Rivals AFC Television Network 1975%E2%80%9376 NFL playoffs The National Football League playoffs for
2324-618: The 2002 season, renaming the AFC Central as the AFC North, creating the AFC South, and shifting several teams among the divisions. Notes: American Football Conference The American Football Conference ( AFC ) is one of the two conferences of the National Football League (NFL), the highest professional level of American football in the United States. The AFC and its counterpart,
2407-556: The 2018–2022 seasons. The Denver Broncos and the Pittsburgh Steelers are the only two AFC teams to appear in at least one AFC Championship game in every decade since 1970. The structure of the NFL playoffs has changed several times since 1970. At the end of each regular season , the top teams in the AFC qualify for the postseason, including all division champions (three division winners from
2490-611: The AFC and the NFC, hold the distinction of appearing in both conference title games, a loss in the AFC conference title game to the Los Angeles Raiders for Super Bowl XVIII and, in their first appearance in a NFC conference title game, a win over the Carolina Panthers for Super Bowl XL . The Pittsburgh Steelers have the most appearances in the AFC Championship Game at 16, with 11 of those games being in Pittsburgh,
2573-542: The AFC and two have left, thus making the current total 16. When the Seattle Seahawks and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers joined the league in 1976, they were temporarily placed in the NFC and AFC respectively. This arrangement lasted for one season only before the two teams switched conferences. The Seahawks eventually returned to the NFC as a result of the 2002 realignment . The expansion Jacksonville Jaguars joined
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2656-665: The AFC in 1995. There have been five teams that have relocated at least once. In 1984, the Baltimore Colts relocated to Indianapolis. In 1995, the Cleveland Browns had attempted to move to Baltimore; the resulting dispute between Cleveland and the team led to Modell establishing the Baltimore Ravens with the players and personnel from the Browns, while the Browns were placed in suspended operations before they were reinstated by
2739-563: The Bengals defeated the Bills in the divisional round. Beginning with the 1984–85 NFL playoffs , the winner of the AFC Championship Game has received the Lamar Hunt Trophy, named after the founder of the AFL and founder and longtime owner of the Kansas City Chiefs . The original design consisted of a wooden base with a sculpted AFC logo in the front and a sculpture of various football players in
2822-478: The Bengals defense forced Oakland to punt for the first time in the game, and Ray Guy 's kick went just 38 yards. Three minutes later, Anderson's 14-yard touchdown pass to Isaac Curtis cut the score to 31–28. With 4:19 left in the game, Bengals defensive end Ron Carpenter recovered a Banaszak fumble on the Raiders 37-yard line. But on the next play, linebacker Ted Hendricks sacked Anderson for an 8-yard loss, pushing
2905-408: The Bengals out of field goal range. Anderson completed a 5-yard pass to Bruce Coslet on second down, but his next two passes were incomplete, resulting in a turnover. The Bengals managed to force a punt with 50 seconds left, but on a desperate attempt to block the kick that narrowly missed, linebacker Chris Devlin ran into Guy, drawing a penalty that gave the Raiders a first down and let them run out
2988-598: The Colts to 154 total yards of offense, while Pittsburgh's Franco Harris shredded Baltimore's defense with 153 rushing yards and a touchdown. The Steelers scored first after linebacker Jack Ham 's interception set up a 61-yard touchdown drive. Terry Bradshaw 's 34-yard completion to receiver Frank Lewis paved the way for Harris's 8-yard scoring run. Baltimore responded in the second quarter when Lloyd Mumphord returned an interception 58 yards to set up Glenn Doughty 's 5-yard touchdown catch from Marty Domres . Then Harris lost
3071-556: The Conference). The AFC logo basically remained unchanged from 1970 to 2009. The 2010 NFL season introduced an updated AFC logo, with the most notable revision being the removal of two stars (leaving four representing the four divisions of the AFC), and moving the stars inside the letter, similar to the NFC logo, which itself was updated at the same time to add a fourth star. NBC aired the AFC's Sunday afternoon and playoff games from 1970 through
3154-458: The Dallas 31. However, on the next play, Staubach fumbled a low snap in shotgun formation and was downed for an 8-yard loss. A few plays later, facing fourth-down-and-16, he threw a 25-yard completion to Pearson to set up the winning "Hail Mary" pass. The fourth-and-16 completion foreshadowed events to come with its own controversy. Minnesota argued that Pearson would have been out of bounds regardless of
3237-533: The NFL and 10 for the AFL), a realignment was required as part of the merger to create two conferences with an equal number of teams: The NFL's Baltimore Colts , the Cleveland Browns , and the Pittsburgh Steelers joined the ten former AFL teams to form the AFC; while the remaining 13 pre-merger NFL clubs formed the NFC. Every current AFC team except the Houston Texans has played in an AFC Championship Game at least once. The Seattle Seahawks , who have been members in both
3320-505: The NFL to become the new AFC Central. Upon the completion of the merger of the AFL and NFL in 1970, the newly minted American Football Conference had already agreed upon their divisional setup along mostly geographical lines for the 1970 season ; the National Football Conference, however, could not agree upon their setup, and one was chosen from a fishbowl on January 16, 1970. Since the merger, five expansion teams have joined
3403-669: The NFL. The Ravens were treated as an expansion team. In California , the Oakland Raiders relocated to Los Angeles in 1982, back to Oakland in 1995, and then to Las Vegas in 2020, while the San Diego Chargers returned to Los Angeles in 2017 after 56 years in San Diego . The Houston Oilers moved to Tennessee in 1997, where they were renamed the Tennessee Oilers. The team would change its name again, two years later, to
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3486-402: The Rams when he recovered a fumble from McCutcheon and ran it into the end zone with just over 4 minutes left in the game. By the time Cardinals running back Steve Jones finished the ensuing 68-yard, 12-play drive with a 3-yard touchdown run, the game was well out of reach. Youngblood had an outstanding performance. In addition to his 47-yard interception return for a touchdown, he also recorded
3569-421: The Super Bowl. Staubach finished 17 of 29 for 246 yards and a touchdown and rushed for 24 yards. Drew Pearson caught four passes for 91 yards, all on Dallas's final game-winning drive. Foreman was the game's top rusher with 56 yards and a touchdown, and caught four passes for 42 yards. Dallas outgained Minnesota 356 yards to 215. This was the third postseason game between the Cowboys and Vikings. The teams split
3652-454: The Vikings' 19. Doug Dennison then rumbled for a 10-yard carry, and three plays later he tied the game on a 4-yard scoring run. Early in the fourth quarter, Dallas took a 10–7 lead on a 24-yard field goal by Toni Fritsch . Following an exchange of punts, Tarkenton completed four of six passes for 37 yards on a 70-yard, 11-play drive, which included a 13-yard run on a reverse by Brent McClanahan . The third-year running back eventually finished
3735-657: The back. For the 2010–11 NFL playoffs , the Lamar Hunt Trophy and the George Halas Trophy , which is awarded to the NFC Champion, were redesigned by Tiffany & Co. at the request of the NFL in an attempt to make both awards more significant. The trophies are now a new, silver design with the outline of a hollow football positioned on a small base to more closely resemble the Vince Lombardi Trophy , which
3818-453: The ball again when Youngblood forced a fumble from Jim Otis that Fred Dryer recovered. Later on, Bill Simpson intercepted a pass from Hart on the first play of the second quarter and returned it 65 yards for a touchdown, making the score 21–0. Dwayne Crump returned the ensuing kickoff 28 yards to the St. Louis 40-yard line, and the team came back to score on an 8-play, 60-yard drive, featuring
3901-414: The ball, Dallas's Pat Donovan tried to dive on it, but the ball slipped away and was recovered by Minnesota's Fred McNeill on the Cowboys' 4-yard line. Chuck Foreman eventually took the ball into the end zone on a 1-yard score for a 7–0 Vikings lead. The Cowboys were able to move the ball on their next two drives, but the first ended with a missed field goal, and after a Mel Renfro interception sparked
3984-496: The clock ran out, sealing Pittsburgh's victory. Aside from his touchdown run, Harris ran for 54 yards on 26 carries, while also catching 5 passes for 58 yards. Raiders defender George Atkinson knocked Swann into a severe concussion that would have him hospitalized for 2 days. Swann, however would go on to win the Super Bowl MVP award with yardage records. Lambert set an AFC Championship Game record with three fumble recoveries in
4067-493: The clock. " Al Davis went to a lot of trouble to get Hendricks on his team", Bengals coach Paul Brown bitterly remarked after the game. "And today it finally paid off for him". "I've never been prouder of a football team than the Cincinnati team we brought in here today", he added. "They never quit." Stabler threw for 199 yards and three touchdowns, with 1 interception. Anderson threw for 201 yards and two touchdowns. This
4150-412: The drive with a 1-yard touchdown run, giving the Vikings a 14–10 lead with 5:24 remaining. Dallas went three-and-out on its ensuing drive, giving the ball back to Minnesota with 3:12 left and giving the Vikings a chance to run out the clock. They forced Dallas to use up all of its timeouts, but on a third-and-two, Cowboys safety Charlie Waters broke through Foreman's block attempt and tackled Tarkenton for
4233-502: The drive with a 14-yard touchdown pass to Mike Siani that made the score 10–7. Midway through the fourth quarter, Lambert recorded his third fumble recovery, this one from running back Marv Hubbard on the Oakland 25, setting up Bradshaw's 20-yard touchdown pass to receiver John Stallworth . Bobby Walden fumbled the snap on the PAT, which kicker Roy Gerela recovered but failed to convert on
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#17328451873254316-405: The first half, one for 9 yards to Mike Siani and an 8-yard one to Bob Moore . Cincinnati's lone score in the first half was an 8-play, 65-yard drive ending with a 1-yard touchdown run by running back Stan Fritts. The Raiders then scored on their first drive of the second half with running back Pete Banaszak 's 6-yard touchdown run to take a 24–7 lead. Then after the Bengals marched 91 yards to cut
4399-407: The first three quarters. In the third quarter, the Raiders blew two big scoring chances. After recovering a fumbled punt by the Steelers, the Raiders got a first down on the Pittsburgh 16-yard line. Then quarterback Ken Stabler threw a short pass to Pete Banaszak , only to watch him fumble the ball as he turned upfield, and linebacker Jack Lambert recovered it. Then after Jack Tatum recovered
4482-445: The fourteen opponents each team faces over the 17-game regular season schedule are set using a predetermined formula: Each AFC team plays the other teams in their respective division twice (home and away) during the regular season, in addition to eleven other games assigned to their schedule by the NFL: three games are assigned on the basis of a particular team's final divisional standing from
4565-404: The game due to injury), who promptly gave the team a golden opportunity to rally back with a 58-yard completion to Doughty on the Steelers 3-yard line. But on the next play, Ham knocked the ball out of Jones's hand as he was winding up for a pass. Linebacker Andy Russell recovered the fumble and returned it for an NFL playoff record 93 yards to the end zone. Russell's play is claimed by some as
4648-412: The game off with a 79-yard scoring drive, 51 of them from McCutcheon, on the way to a 5-yard touchdown run by quarterback Ron Jaworski . Then on the first Cardinals play, Rams linebacker Jack Youngblood intercepted a pass from Jim Hart and returned it 47 yards for a touchdown. St. Louis returner Terry Metcalf gave his team a chance to get back in the game with a 67-yard kickoff return, but they lost
4731-480: The game, and therefore both Buffalo and Cincinnati finished the regular season with one less game than the other NFL teams. Because both the Bills and the Kansas City Chiefs ended with the same number of regular season losses, it was decided that a Buffalo–Kansas City AFC Championship Game would be played at a neutral site, Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta , if both teams advanced that far. This never came to fruition, as
4814-470: The game. This was Oakland's 6th AFC championship loss in the last 8 years. This was the fourth postseason meeting between the Raiders and Steelers. Pittsburgh won two of the prior three meetings. at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum , Los Angeles Quarterback Roger Staubach threw for 220 yards and 4 touchdown passes while also rushing for 54 yards as the Cowboys upset the favored Rams. The first passing attempt by Los Angeles quarterback James Harris , who
4897-514: The game. A wild card team can only host the game if both participants are wild cards; such an instance has yet to occur in the NFL. For the 2022–23 season , NFL owners passed a temporary modification to accommodate for a Buffalo Bills – Cincinnati Bengals regular season game that was eventually canceled after Buffalo safety Damar Hamlin suffered cardiac arrest in the first quarter of that contest. (See also Damar Hamlin § In-game collapse .) The league decided neither to resume nor replay
4980-437: The higher seed. Although the Super Bowl , the championship round of the playoffs, was played at a neutral site, the designated home team was based on an annual rotation by conference. In the United States, NBC broadcast the AFC playoff games, while CBS televised the NFC games and Super Bowl X . at Three Rivers Stadium , Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Despite losing 5 turnovers, the Steelers forced 3 turnovers and held
5063-409: The ire of Minnesota's Alan Page , who was ejected for unsportsmanlike conduct for arguing with officials, and a 15-yard penalty was assessed that allowed Dallas to kick off from the 50. Tarkenton then vehemently argued with the referees but to no avail. Meanwhile, angry Minnesota fans threw objects onto the field, one of which was a liquor bottle that struck official Armen Terzian in the head, creating
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#17328451873255146-409: The last 20 Super Bowls, while the NFC has started 16. The merged league created a new logo for the AFC that took elements of the old AFL logo, specifically the "A" and the six stars surrounding it. The NFC also adopted a logo in 1970 which like the AFL and AFC logos also contained only the first letter as opposed to a full abbreviation, but with only three stars (to represent the then-three divisions of
5229-453: The lead, 24–14, with Lenvil Elliott 's 6-yard touchdown run, Stabler threw his third touchdown pass of the game, this time a 2-yard pass to tight end Dave Casper . Trailing 31–14 in the fourth quarter, the Bengals managed to come back with two unanswered touchdowns. First, Ken Riley intercepted a pass from Stabler and returned it 34 yards to the Raiders 34-yard line, setting up Ken Anderson 's 25-yard touchdown pass to Charlie Joiner . Then
5312-417: The longest single football play in time duration. Sports Illustrated called the play the "longest, slowest touchdown ever witnessed." "That play has been a source of embarrassment for me for years", said Russell several years later. "There have been so many jokes. Ray Mansfield was the one that said NBC cut to a commercial during the return and came back to catch me score the touchdown. Nonetheless, it
5395-590: The merger, thus making the current total of 16 teams in each conference. The current AFC champions are the Kansas City Chiefs , who defeated the Baltimore Ravens in the 2023 season 's AFC Championship Game for their fourth conference championship and went on to win Super Bowl LVIII against the San Francisco 49ers . Like the NFC, the conference has 16 teams organized into four divisions each with four teams: East , North , South and West . Currently,
5478-480: The most for either conference. The New England Patriots have won the most AFC Championships at 11, and played in a record eight straight AFC title games (2011–2018). At least one of Tom Brady and Ben Roethlisberger played in every championship game between the 2003 and the 2018 seasons, except for the 2009 season. The Kansas City Chiefs have hosted the AFC Championship a record five consecutive times, between
5561-400: The number of teams in each conference, three NFL teams that predated the AFL's launch (the Cleveland Browns , Pittsburgh Steelers , and the then- Baltimore Colts ) joined the ten former AFL teams to form the AFC. The two AFL divisions AFL East and AFL West were more or less intact, while the NFL's Century Division , in which the Browns and the Steelers had played since 1967, was moved from
5644-416: The officials missed two calls on the final Dallas drive, including offensive pass interference on Pearson in the touchdown reception. The defenses of both teams dominated the first half. The Vikings' longest gain was a 16-yard run by quarterback Fran Tarkenton early in the second quarter. The Vikings eventually punted, and the ball hit the ground near returner Cliff Harris . Thinking that Harris had touched
5727-512: The previous season, and the remaining eight games are split between the roster of two other NFL divisions. This assignment shifts each year and will follow a standard cycle. Using the 2023 regular season schedule as an example, each team in the AFC West plays against every team in the AFC East and NFC North. In this way, non-divisional competition will be mostly among common opponents – the exception being
5810-424: The previous two meetings. at Oakland Coliseum , Oakland, California The Raiders outgained Cincinnati in total yards 358–258, rushing yards 173–97, and first downs 27–17, while also recording five sacks, jumping to a 31–14 lead, and holding off a frantic Bengals comeback in the final period. Oakland kicker George Blanda made a 31-yard field goal, while quarterback Ken Stabler threw two touchdown passes in
5893-419: The score to 28-9 going into intermission. In the third quarter, the Cardinals drove 80 yards in 12 plays, including a 19-yard reception by Metcalf, to score on Hart's 11-yard touchdown pass to Gray and cut their deficit to 28–16. But in the fourth quarter, Simpson intercepted another pass and returned this one 28 yards to the Cardinals 36-yard line. Receiver Ron Jessie eventually scored the final touchdown for
5976-429: The second half on a shovel pass to Pearson for his third touchdown reception of the game. Toni Fritsch later added three field goals. Harris gave way to backup Ron Jaworski , but only John Cappelletti 's 1-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter prevented the Rams from being shut out. Pearson finished the game with 7 receptions for 123 yards, 3 touchdowns, and 20 rushing yards. The Dallas defense allowed only 118 yards,
6059-433: The sortable table below, teams are ordered first by number of appearances, then by number of wins, and finally by year of first appearance. In the "Season(s)" column, bold years indicate winning Conference Championship appearances. The table below shows AFC Championship Game records by division, based on the division the franchise was in during the season the championship game was played. The NFL realigned divisions prior to
6142-473: The three games assigned based on the team's prior-season divisional standing. At the end of each season, the four division winners and three wild cards (non-division winners with best regular season record) in the AFC qualify for the playoffs . The AFC playoffs culminate in the AFC Championship Game , with the winner receiving the Lamar Hunt Trophy. The AFC champion then plays the NFC champion in
6225-403: The wild card qualifier in each conference (i.e., the conference's top non-division winner with the best overall regular season record) became the 4 seed. Within each conference, the three division winners and the non-division winner with the best record qualified for the playoffs. The three division winners were seeded 1–3 based on their overall won-lost-tied record, and the wild card team
6308-408: The wild-card round (first round) and the divisional round (second round) play in the AFC Championship Game, with the winner advancing to the Super Bowl. Initially, the site of the AFC Championship Game was determined on a rotating basis. Since the 1975–76 season , the site of the game has been based on playoff seeding based on the regular season won-loss record, with the highest surviving seed hosting
6391-521: The winner of the NFC Championship Game in the Super Bowl . The game was established as part of the 1970 merger between the NFL and the American Football League (AFL), with the merged league realigning into two conferences . Since 1984, each winner of the AFC Championship Game has also received the Lamar Hunt Trophy , named after the founder of the AFL and founder and longtime owner of
6474-429: Was a memorable play in my career." The game is also notable in that it was the debut game for Steelers fans' Terrible Towels . This was the first postseason meeting between the Colts and Steelers. at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum , Los Angeles The Rams defense scored 2 touchdowns in the first half while running back Lawrence McCutcheon ran for an NFL playoff record 202 yards on 37 carries. Los Angeles started
6557-418: Was coming off an injury and making his first start since the 13th game of the season, was intercepted by Dallas linebacker D.D. Lewis . This set up Staubach's first touchdown pass, a screen to running back Preston Pearson for 18 yards. A 4-yard touchdown reception by Golden Richards and a diving catch in the end zone by Pearson put the Cowboys up 21–0 by halftime. Dallas scored again on their first drive of
6640-401: Was picked off twice in the first quarter. However, Oakland fared no better, as George Blanda 's missed 38-yard field goal attempt after Bradshaw's second interception was the closest they would get to scoring in the first half. In the second quarter, Steelers safety Mike Wagner intercepted a pass from Ken Stabler to set up Roy Gerela 's 36-yard field goal. This would be the only score of
6723-457: Was rampant in who would move (for his part, Modell had first thought the three most recent expansion NFL teams - Minnesota Vikings , Atlanta Falcons , New Orleans Saints should be the ones to move to the AFC), since others wanted to simply have no realignment of NFL teams. The AFL had begun play in 1960 with eight teams before adding two more expansion clubs (the Miami Dolphins in 1966 and
6806-461: Was seeded 4. The first round, dubbed the divisional playoffs , had a restriction where two teams from the same division could not meet: the surviving wild card team visited the highest-seeded division champion that was outside its own division, and the remaining two teams from that conference played each other. The two surviving teams from each conference's divisional playoff games met in the respective AFC and NFC Conference Championship games, hosted by
6889-618: Was the first postseason meeting between the Bengals and Raiders. at Three Rivers Stadium , Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania A defensive struggle in which both teams combined for 12 turnovers (7 for Pittsburgh, 5 for Oakland) turned into an offensive battle as the Steelers managed to stop the Raiders' final drive for the winning score as time ran out. As the two dominant teams of the era in the AFC, Oakland and Pittsburgh would eventually face off in five consecutive playoff games from 1972 to 1976, including three consecutive AFC Championship games from 1974 to 1976. Already bitter rivals dating back to
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