Super Bowl Winners by Conference: The Record is Very Misleading

As of today, there have been 58 Super Bowls, and the NFC and AFC each have 29 wins. However, this is very misleading. This article explains the reason, and you may find it very interesting.

The NFL and the AFL

First, I want to give just a brief history before I prove my point.

The National Football League (NFL) was founded in 1920 in Canton, Ohio. For years, it has been the dominating football league.

However, there was a time when this dominance was challenged. In 1959, a group of successful business men got together, and started a new league. This was the American Football League (AFL). It was a very exciting league, known for its wide open offense, and many other things that no one had ever seen in football before.

It was also know for its multi-milion dollar TV deals, which sent the league well on its way to success.

During the 60s, the league was not as good as the NFL. However, the people associated with the AFL didn't buy this. The league decided to challenge the more seasoned NFL.

To make a long story short, the NFL decided to have a championship game in January, 1967, featuring the NFL Champion against the AFL Champion. This was the first Super Bowl, and the game featured the NFL's Green Bay Packers against the AFL's Kansas City Chiefs. The mighty Packers defeated the Chiefs 35-10.

The merger was to be effective, starting with the beginning of the 1969 football seaason. The plan was to have the Super Bowl for 3 years, to see how the AFL would match up with the more experienced NFL. If the AFL was competitive, then the merger would take place. Otherwise, there would have been no merger.

Well, the AFL made it more than just competitive. The first two Super Bowls were blow out wins by the NFL. But, the table turned. The AFL won Super Bowls III and IV, and very convincingly.

The New York Jets defeated the mighty Baltimore Colts 16-7, and the Kansas City Chiefs defeated the Minnisota Vikings 23-7.

The old days of the AFL and the things leading up to the merger were events that happened a long time ago. Many people reading this were not around then.

It is a very fascinating story. There is a very interesting playlist on YouTube. In this playlist, there are 5 videos, each under an hour, that describe everything that took place, from the inception of the AFL, to the opening of the first season after the merger.

If you are a football fan, you will love these 5 videos.

Click here, or on the image to watch these videos.

Why the Record is Misleading

Before the merger took place, there was an agreement that the older NFL would send 3 of its teams to the newer AFL, in order to balance out the two leagues. After many negotiations, 3 NFL owners agreed, and 3 teams were to be moved to the AFL, which was known as the AFC after the merger:

The 3 teams were:

By the way, the people in Cleveland missed their football. So, the Cleveland Browns came back in 1999 as an expansion team, and was put in the AFC. But it's no way near the same franchise it was when the Ravens were known by the same name.

The End Result: The NFL consisted of two conferences, the NFC and the AFC. The NFC is mostly the teams that were in the old NFL, and the AFC is the old AFL. Of course, there have been expansion teams over the years, but this still applies today.

Now I'll prove my point.

Here are 10 Super Bowl results when teams from the old NFL won it all:

Concluding Thoughts

The bottom line: While the old AFL was a very exciting league to watch, those teams were no comparison to the teams from the old NFL. Over the years, the media wanted people to believe that the new league equaled themselves to the older NFL.

Other than the Dynasty of the New England Patriots, the old AFL has not faired very well in the Super Bowl over the years. And this was because of Tom Brady. During the 80s and the 90s, the NFC beat the AFC, as though the games were men against boys However, it's not likely to happen this year. The favorite to win it all is the Kansas City Chiefs of the AFC. They've been there many times, they have that championship mentality, and I can't see the San Francisco 49'ers stopping Patrick Mahomes.

But don't bet on this. I've seen strange things happen in Super Bowls over the years.

I hope you found this article interesting. And fianlly, watch the videos I recommended. If you love football, you will love these videos.

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Enjoy the Game! And it will be on CBS, so you are likely to hear Jim Nantz and Tony Romo.

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