37-866: The National Football Conference (NFC) is one of two conferences within the National Football League (NFL), the American Football Conference (AFC) being the other. Prior to 1970, there were two separate professional football leagues, the National Football League and the American Football League (AFL). In 1970, the AFL merged with the NFL. As part of the merger, the former AFL teams, plus three former NFL teams (the Baltimore Colts ,
74-632: A 58-yard run down to the Falcons' 22-yard line. Three plays later, Warner's 17-yard scoring pass to Faulk gave the Rams a 28–0 lead. Faulk had his first 100-yard game for the Rams with 172 yards from scrimmage. After the Falcons got their only points midway through the third quarter. Warner broke loose for a 5-yard touchdown run as the Rams have their first win against Atlanta since 1996. at Cinergy Field , Cincinnati , Ohio First quarter Second quarter Third quarter Fourth quarter With this win
111-445: A blue 'N' with three stars across it. The new logo was similar to that of the AFC (which itself was similar to the AFL logo) in that unlike the NFL logo it consisted of a single letter instead of a full abbreviation. The three stars represented the three divisions that were used from 1970 to 2001 (Eastern, Central and Western). The 2010 NFL season brought an updated NFC logo. Largely similar to
148-446: A record nine times. The Rams, Cowboys and Packers have each been the runner up six times. The record for the most regular season wins by an NFC champion is 15, by the 1984 San Francisco 49ers , the 1985 Chicago Bears and the 2015 Carolina Panthers , each with a 15–1 record. Six NFC champions have won 14 games. The 1982 Washington Redskins had the fewest wins of any NFC champion, with eight wins and just one loss in
185-518: Is the St. Louis Cardinals , who moved in 1988 to Phoenix suburb of Tempe (they moved to Glendale in 2006). The Los Angeles Rams moved to St. Louis in 1995, but moved back to Los Angeles in 2016. None of the expansion teams added after 1970 have relocated. With the exception of the aforementioned relocations since that time, the divisional setup established in 2002 has remained static ever since. The original NFC logo, in use from 1970 to 2009, depicted
222-614: The 1957–58 St. Louis (now Atlanta) Hawks of the NBA. They would be followed by two more World Series championships by the St. Louis Cardinals and a championship by the St. Louis Blues in the 2019 Stanley Cup Finals which made St. Louis the eighth city to win a championship in each of the four major U.S. sports. Quarterback Kurt Warner was the MVP in both the regular season and in Super Bowl XXXIV. It
259-613: The 2002 realignment . The Carolina Panthers joined the NFC in 1995 . Parity is generally greater among NFC teams than AFC teams. The only NFC team that has never made a Super Bowl appearance is the Detroit Lions . Since the 2002 division realignment, the NFC has sent 12 different teams to the Super Bowl -- all except the Lions, Vikings, Cowboys, and Commanders -- whereas the AFC has only sent 8:
296-538: The 2023 season , the Dallas Cowboys and San Francisco 49ers have won more NFC championships than any other team, with eight. The Washington Redskins, New York Giants , and Los Angeles/St. Louis Rams have each won five NFC championships. The Minnesota Vikings and Green Bay Packers have won three apiece. The San Francisco 49ers have also been the NFC runner up, as a result of losing the NFC Championship Game,
333-403: The American Football Conference (AFC), each have 16 teams organized into four divisions . Both conferences were created as part of the 1970 NFL merger with the rival American Football League (AFL). All ten of the former AFL teams and three NFL teams formed the AFC while the remaining thirteen NFL clubs formed the NFC. A series of league expansions and division realignments have occurred since
370-408: The American Football League (AFL) in 1970. When the AFL began play in 1960 with eight teams, the NFL consisted of 13 clubs. By 1969, the AFL had expanded to ten teams and the NFL to 16 clubs. In order to balance the merged league, all ten of the former AFL teams along with the NFL's Cleveland Browns , Pittsburgh Steelers , and Baltimore Colts formed the AFC, while the remaining 13 NFL teams formed
407-984: The Baltimore Ravens (1 time), the Cincinnati Bengals (1 time), the Las Vegas Raiders (1 time), the Kansas City Chiefs (2 times), the Denver Broncos (2 times), the Indianapolis Colts (2 times), the Pittsburgh Steelers (3 times) and the New England Patriots (8 times). The only NFC team to make back to back Super Bowls since 2002 are the Seattle Seahawks . As of 2021, the only pre-merger team that does not play in its 1969 market
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#1732852577642444-539: The Cleveland Browns and the Pittsburgh Steelers ), were placed into the AFC. The remaining former NFL teams were placed in the NFC. As of the 2023 season only the Detroit Lions have not won an NFC championship. The NFC champion is not necessarily the team with the best record in the regular season. Rather, the champion is decided by the NFC Championship Game as part of the post-season playoffs involving
481-518: The National Football League (NFL) and the fifth season in St. Louis, Missouri . The Rams finished the regular-season with a record of 13–3, and defeated the Tennessee Titans in Super Bowl XXXIV . It was the team's first playoff appearance in St. Louis, their first since 1989 , and their first division title since 1985 . The Rams were undefeated at home for the first time since 1973 . On
518-417: The 100 greatest teams of all time presented by the NFL on its 100th anniversary. After a poor showing from the Rams offense in the previous 1998 season, Rams VP John Shaw suggested the Rams hire Redskins quaterbacks coach Mike Martz , and Vermeil and the team agreed. Martz advocated for the Rams to sign quarterback Trent Green from Washington , which the team did. This made Tony Banks expendable, and he
555-470: The 17-game regular season schedule are set using a predetermined formula: Each NFC 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 the previous season, and the remaining eight games are split between
592-499: The 1973, 1974 and 1976 Minnesota Vikings is the only offensive lineman with three 1st team All-Pro selections for an NFC champion. Several defensive players have been 1st team All-Pros for two NFC champions, including Alan Page , Cliff Harris , Ronnie Lott , LeRoy Butler , Richard Sherman and Earl Thomas . The Super Bowl is played annually between the AFC champion and the NFC champion. The first four Super Bowls were played prior to
629-633: The 1979 Los Angeles Rams and the 1984 San Francisco 49ers. Jerry Rice and Michael Irvin each led an NFC champion in receiving yards three times. Bob Hayes , Drew Pearson , Charlie Brown , Dwight Clark , Gary Clark and Antonio Freeman each led an NFC champion in receiving yards twice. The 1983 Washington Redskins had seven 1st team All-Pros, more than any other NFC champion. The 2012 San Francisco 49ers and 2015 Carolina Panthers each had six and 1985 Chicago Bears had five. The 1975 Dallas Cowboys , 2000 New York Giants and 2007 New York Giants did not have any 1st team All-Pros. Ron Yary of
666-506: The 52 Super Bowls played since the formation of the NFC with the AFL/NFL merger through the end of the 2019 season. Los Angeles Rams † National Football Conference The National Football Conference ( NFC ) is one of the two conferences of the National Football League (NFL), the highest level of professional American football in the United States. The NFC and its counterpart,
703-422: The AFL/NFL merger between the AFL and NFL champion. The 1970 NFC champion Dallas Cowboys lost the first Super Bowl played after the merger, but the 1971 Cowboys were the first NFC team to win the Super Bowl. The NFC had a streak in which its champion won 13 consecutive Super Bowls, from the 1984 NFC champion San Francisco 49ers through the 1996 NFC champion Green Bay Packers. Overall, the NFC champion has won 26 of
740-465: The NFC in 1970 were as follows, with Plan 3 eventually selected: Three expansion teams have joined the NFC since the merger, thus making the 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, for one season before they switched conferences. The Seahawks returned to the NFC as a result of
777-402: The NFC team was the visiting team were broadcast on either CBS or Fox. Since 2014, the cross-flex policy allows select NFC games (that involve them playing an AFC team at home or intraconference games) to be moved from Fox to CBS. Since 1990, select NFC playoff games have been seen on ABC or ESPN. 1999 St. Louis Rams season The 1999 St. Louis Rams season was the team's 62nd year with
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#1732852577642814-513: The NFC. While the newly formed AFC had already agreed upon and set up their divisional alignment plan along almost purely geographic lines, team owners could not agree to a plan on how to align the clubs in the NFC. The alignment proposals were narrowed down to five finalists (each one sealed in an envelope), and then the plan that was eventually selected was picked out of a glass bowl by then-NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle 's secretary, Thelma Elkjer, on January 16, 1970. The five alignment plans for
851-512: The end of each season, the four division winners and three wild cards (non-division winners with best regular season record) in the NFC qualify for the playoffs . The NFC playoffs culminate in the NFC Championship Game with the winner receiving the George S. Halas Trophy. The NFC champion then plays the AFC champion in the Super Bowl . Both the AFC and NFC were created after the NFL merged with
888-523: The merger, thus making a total of 16 clubs in each conference. The defending champions of the NFC are the San Francisco 49ers , who defeated the Detroit Lions in the 2023 season 's NFC Championship Game for their eighth conference championship in the team's history. Since 2002, like the AFC, the NFC has 16 teams that organized into four divisions each with four teams: East , North , South , and West . The fourteen opponents each team faces over
925-405: The old logo, the new logo has a fourth star, representing the four divisions that have composed the NFC since 2002, with the AFC logo being simultaneously updated in a similar manner. CBS aired the NFC's Sunday afternoon and playoffs games from 1970 through the 1993 season. From 1994 to 2013, Fox was the primary rightsholder to the NFC's games. In those years, all interconference games in which
962-611: The road, the Rams were 5–3. In the post-season, they defeated the Minnesota Vikings by a score of 49–37 in the NFC Divisional Playoffs and went on to defeat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 11–6 in the NFC Championship Game. These were the first NFL playoff games ever played in St. Louis. The Rams then won their first ever Super Bowl title, defeating the Tennessee Titans by a score of 23–16 in Super Bowl XXXIV . The game
999-526: 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 NFC East plays against every team in the NFC West and AFC East. In this way, non-divisional competition will be mostly among common opponents – the exception being the three games assigned based on the team's prior-season divisional standing. At
1036-483: The starting quarterback for two NFC champions, although Simms missed the NFC Championship Game in one of those seasons (1990) due to injury. Chuck Foreman and Emmitt Smith were each the leader in rushing yards for an NFC champion three times. Others who led an NFC champion in rushing yards multiple times are Duane Thomas , Tony Dorsett , John Riggins , Wendell Tyler , Roger Craig , Marshall Faulk and Marshawn Lynch . Tyler did so with two different franchises,
1073-650: The strike–shortened 1982 season . The fewest wins by an NFC champion in a complete season were by the 1979 Los Angeles Rams , 2008 Arizona Cardinals , and the 2011 New York Giants . All three had nine wins and seven losses. Tom Landry was the head coach for five NFC championships, more than any other head coach. Landry coached the Dallas Cowboys to NFC championships in 1970 , 1971 , 1975 , 1977 and 1978 . Joe Gibbs coached four NFC champions, and Bud Grant , Bill Walsh and Mike Holmgren each coached three. Holmgren and Dick Vermeil both won NFC championships for two different franchises. Holmgren
1110-523: The teams with the best regular season records. The Dallas Cowboys won the first two NFC championships, in 1970 and 1971 . No team has won more than two consecutive NFC championships. The Cowboys won two consecutive NFC championships three times (1970–1971, 1977–1978, 1992–1993). The Minnesota Vikings (1973–1974), Washington Redskins (1982–1983), San Francisco 49ers (1988–1989), Green Bay Packers (1996–1997), and Seattle Seahawks (2013–2014) have also won two consecutive NFC championships. Through
1147-479: Was named NFC Offensive Player of the Week, completing 17 of 25 passes for 275 yards, three touchdown passes and also ran for another. Warner threw his first touchdown pass on the first play of the second quarter, hooking up with Torry Holt on a 38-yard strike. After an interception by safety Todd Lyght , Warner hit Isaac Bruce with a 46-yard touchdown. Bruce caught three passes for 68 yards. Marshall Faulk broke off with
List of NFC champions - Misplaced Pages Continue
1184-580: Was played on January 30, 2000 at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta . It was also the franchise's first NFL championship since 1951 , when the Rams played in Los Angeles . The Rams also became the first “dome-field” (indoor home games) team to win a Super Bowl. It would be the franchise's only Super Bowl win during the St. Louis era; their next title would come in 2021 , five years after their return to Los Angeles. It
1221-454: Was the final season the Rams wore their 1973–1999 uniforms that had been synonymous with their time in Los Angeles (they brought them back as their home uniform set beginning in 2018 after their return to Los Angeles). This season would start a period of strength for the Rams, as they would post a winning record in all but one season from this year to 2003 . The 1999 Rams team ranked No. 11 on
1258-541: Was the first season of the Rams’ “ Greatest Show on Turf ” offense. The 1999 Rams remain one of only five teams in NFL history to score more than 30 points twelve separate times in a single season. On defense, the Rams recorded seven interceptions returned for touchdowns, third most in NFL history. The Rams were the third St. Louis–based pro sports team to win a major championship, joining the, then, nine-time World Series Champion St. Louis Cardinals of Major League Baseball and
1295-429: Was the head coach of the 1996 and 1997 NFC champion Green Bay Packers and of the 2005 NFC champion Seattle Seahawks . Vermeil was the head coach of the 1980 NFC champion Philadelphia Eagles , and 19 years later was the head coach of the 1999 NFC champion St. Louis Rams . Roger Staubach and Joe Montana were each the starting quarterback for four NFC championships, more than any other quarterback. Staubach
1332-507: Was the starting quarterback for the 1971, 1975, 1977 and 1978 Dallas Cowboys. Montana was the starting quarterback for the 1981 , 1984 , 1988 and 1989 San Francisco 49ers . Fran Tarkenton , Troy Aikman and Kurt Warner were each the starting quarterback for three NFC champions. Warner accomplished this for two different franchises, the 1999 and 2001 St. Louis Rams and the 2008 Arizona Cardinals . Joe Theismann , Phil Simms , Brett Favre , Eli Manning and Russell Wilson were each
1369-1112: Was traded to the Ravens , which moved Kurt Warner from third-string to backup quarterback. VP Shaw also acquired Marshall Faulk from the Indianapolis Colts in exchange for two draft picks. The team also signed guard Adam Timmerman and linebacker Todd Collins, both of whom became starters. Front office Head coaches Offensive coaches Special teams coaches Strength and conditioning Running backs (RB) Wide receivers (WR) Tight ends (TE) Defensive linemen (DL) Defensive backs (DB) Special teams Reserve at Trans World Dome , St. Louis , Missouri First quarter Second quarter Third quarter Fourth quarter Quarterback Kurt Warner threw for 309 yards and three touchdowns in his first NFL start. The Rams pass defense notched five sacks and two interceptions against Ravens quarterback Scott Mitchell. at Trans World Dome, St. Louis, Missouri First quarter Second quarter Third quarter Fourth quarter Kurt Warner
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