Overview
Thirty-two clubs, a seventeen-game regular season, and a single-elimination playoff that ends in the Super Bowl — the most-watched annual event in American television.
The National Football League is the top professional American football league in the United States and, by revenue and television audience, the largest sports league in the world. Thirty-two clubs are split evenly between the American Football Conference and the National Football Conference, each of those divided into four divisions of four.
Clubs play a seventeen-game regular season across eighteen weeks from September to early January. Seven teams from each conference reach the playoffs — four division winners and three wild cards — and advance through a single-elimination bracket to the Super Bowl, played on the second Sunday in February.
2026 Standings
Regular season after Week 7. Within each division, teams are ordered by win percentage, then point differential; the NFL's official tiebreakers are not applied, so ties in record may be listed differently from the league's own table. 32 teams. Captured 27 October 2026 from the ESPN public standings feed.
AFC East
| # | Team | W | L | T | PCT | PF | PA | DIFF | STRK |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Buffalo Bills | 5 | 1 | 0 | .833 | 197 | 171 | +26 | W2 |
| 2 | New England Patriots | 4 | 3 | 0 | .571 | 160 | 143 | +17 | L1 |
| 3 | New York Jets | 2 | 5 | 0 | .286 | 137 | 150 | -13 | L2 |
| 4 | Miami Dolphins | 1 | 5 | 0 | .167 | 98 | 157 | -59 | W1 |
AFC North
| # | Team | W | L | T | PCT | PF | PA | DIFF | STRK |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pittsburgh Steelers | 5 | 2 | 0 | .714 | 153 | 138 | +15 | W3 |
| 2 | Cleveland Browns | 5 | 2 | 0 | .714 | 133 | 146 | -13 | W2 |
| 3 | Cincinnati Bengals | 4 | 2 | 0 | .667 | 163 | 122 | +41 | W2 |
| 4 | Baltimore Ravens | 4 | 3 | 0 | .571 | 169 | 167 | +2 | L2 |
AFC South
| # | Team | W | L | T | PCT | PF | PA | DIFF | STRK |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jacksonville Jaguars | 4 | 2 | 0 | .667 | 154 | 104 | +50 | L1 |
| 2 | Houston Texans | 2 | 5 | 0 | .286 | 165 | 170 | -5 | L1 |
| 3 | Indianapolis Colts | 2 | 5 | 0 | .286 | 154 | 180 | -26 | L3 |
| 4 | Tennessee Titans | 1 | 6 | 0 | .143 | 108 | 156 | -48 | L1 |
AFC West
| # | Team | W | L | T | PCT | PF | PA | DIFF | STRK |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kansas City Chiefs | 5 | 1 | 0 | .833 | 143 | 103 | +40 | L1 |
| 2 | Denver Broncos | 5 | 2 | 0 | .714 | 144 | 141 | +3 | W3 |
| 3 | Las Vegas Raiders | 3 | 4 | 0 | .429 | 183 | 197 | -14 | L4 |
| 4 | Los Angeles Chargers | 0 | 6 | 0 | .000 | 90 | 151 | -61 | L6 |
NFC East
| # | Team | W | L | T | PCT | PF | PA | DIFF | STRK |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | New York Giants | 4 | 2 | 1 | .643 | 163 | 161 | +2 | W1 |
| 2 | Dallas Cowboys | 3 | 4 | 0 | .429 | 189 | 180 | +9 | W1 |
| 3 | Philadelphia Eagles | 2 | 5 | 0 | .286 | 127 | 175 | -48 | L5 |
| 4 | Washington Commanders | 1 | 4 | 1 | .250 | 132 | 172 | -40 | L1 |
NFC North
| # | Team | W | L | T | PCT | PF | PA | DIFF | STRK |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Minnesota Vikings | 6 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 125 | 74 | +51 | W6 |
| 2 | Chicago Bears | 5 | 2 | 0 | .714 | 180 | 143 | +37 | W2 |
| 3 | Detroit Lions | 4 | 2 | 0 | .667 | 184 | 165 | +19 | W2 |
| 4 | Green Bay Packers | 4 | 3 | 0 | .571 | 144 | 145 | -1 | L1 |
NFC South
| # | Team | W | L | T | PCT | PF | PA | DIFF | STRK |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Carolina Panthers | 3 | 3 | 0 | .500 | 159 | 166 | -7 | L1 |
| 2 | Atlanta Falcons | 3 | 4 | 0 | .429 | 171 | 173 | -2 | W1 |
| 3 | Tampa Bay Buccaneers | 2 | 5 | 0 | .286 | 162 | 151 | +11 | W1 |
| 4 | New Orleans Saints | 2 | 5 | 0 | .286 | 162 | 194 | -32 | L1 |
NFC West
| # | Team | W | L | T | PCT | PF | PA | DIFF | STRK |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | San Francisco 49ers | 6 | 1 | 0 | .857 | 197 | 139 | +58 | L1 |
| 2 | Seattle Seahawks | 4 | 3 | 0 | .571 | 168 | 125 | +43 | W1 |
| 3 | Los Angeles Rams | 3 | 4 | 0 | .429 | 170 | 159 | +11 | W1 |
| 4 | Arizona Cardinals | 2 | 5 | 0 | .286 | 142 | 208 | -66 | L1 |
Clubs
Every club in the league. Tap a name for its page.
AFC
NFC
Season Format
Recent Champions
Most recent first. Seasons still in progress are marked.
History
The league was founded in Canton, Ohio in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association and took its present name two years later. For its first four decades it was a regional concern that trailed college football in popularity; the 1958 championship game between the Colts and Giants, the first decided in sudden death and broadcast nationally, is usually treated as the turning point.
A rival American Football League launched in 1960 and bid up player salaries until the two agreed to merge. The first AFL–NFL championship game was played in 1967 and retroactively named Super Bowl I; full merger followed in 1970, producing the AFC and NFC structure still in use.
Since then the league has been shaped by free agency and the salary cap, introduced together in 1993, by television contracts that now run to tens of billions of dollars, and by a long reckoning over head injuries that has changed both the rules and the equipment.
Governance
The league office is in New York and is led by the Commissioner, Roger Goodell, in post since 2006. The 32 club owners hold the ultimate authority and vote on rule changes, franchise moves and labour agreements; a three-quarters majority is required for most substantive decisions.
Players are represented by the NFL Players Association. The collective bargaining agreement signed in 2020 runs through the 2030 season and set the seventeen-game schedule, the expanded playoff field and the revenue split.