NFL Championship Blog

The AFL-NFL merger of 1970 was the merger of the two major professional American football leagues in the United States at the time: the National Football League (NFL) and the American Football League (AFL). It came as a result of an intensely competitive war between the two leagues. The merger paved the way for the combined league, which retained the “National Football League” name and logo, to become one of the most popular and powerful sports leagues in America. This event is often referred to as the beginning of the modern era of professional American football.

War between the two leagues

At first, the NFL ignored the AFL and its eight teams. They assumed the AFL would consist of nothing but “NFL rejects,” and fans would not waste their time watching them when they could watch “the real thing.” But unlike the NFL’s previous rivals, the AFL was able to survive and grow. After the AFL’s Los Angeles team moved to San Diego (in 1961) and the Dallas team moved to Kansas City (in 1963), the league started to prosper. The New York team (rechristened the Jets) began to draw record crowds, aided by the signing of quarterback Joe Namath. Namath and New York agreed to a $427,000 contract, something completely unprecedented at the time. And by 1965, NBC paid the AFL $36 million to televise its games, ensuring the league’s financial survival.

As the rivalry between the leagues intensified, both leagues resorted to “dirty tricks” to sign players, and to “baby-sit” prospective draft picks to keep them away from the other league’s representatives. The leagues entered into a massive bidding war over the top college prospects, paying huge amounts of money to unproven rookies in a desperate attempt to outbid each other for the best players coming out of college.

Because of the intense competition, teams often drafted players that they thought had a good chance of signing with them instead of selecting the best players. For example, 1965 Heisman Trophy winning running back Mike Garrett was expected to sign with an NFL team, so no AFL team picked him in the 1966 AFL draft until the 20th (final) round, where he was selected by the Kansas City Chiefs. However, Garrett surprisingly shunned the NFL and decided to sign with Kansas City. But still, once they were signed, there was tacit agreement to honor the other league’s contracts and not sign players who were under contract with a team in their rival league.

A few devoted AFL fans held the belief that had Al Davis been given the opportunity to continue his efforts, the NFL would have been compelled to offer much more favorable terms to its rival, perhaps even accepting a permanent baseball-style “two league system” where the AFL could retain its unique rules and identity. Some have even suggested that Davis could have led the newer league to a position of dominance over the NFL, or even cause the older league to fold outright.

However, most observers consider those scenarios far-fetched since the NFL had a far richer television contract at the time of the merger, in large part due to market exclusivity in such leading population centers as Los Angeles, Detroit, Philadelphia, Washington and Baltimore, while the AFL had teams in cities that were not among the nations leading media markets, including cities such as Miami, Buffalo and Denver, which had no other major league teams, and Kansas City which had only a failing (and ultimately relocated) baseball team. Some of these American Football League fans were disappointed because they wanted their league to continue. Those feelings were reinforced when American Football League teams won the final two AFL-NFL World Championship games after the 1968 and 1969 seasons.

The old-guard NFL at first dominated the merged league, winning the great majority of games pitting old NFL teams versus old AFL teams in 1970 and, to a lesser extent, in 1971. Furthermore, the old guard NFL had five of the eight playoff berths and both Super Bowl berths following the 1970 season, and six of the eight playoff berths following the 1971 and 1972 seasons. Eventually, the AFC teams caught and passed the NFC during the mid- to late-1970s. Even then, NFL proponents claimed that the three NFL teams that joined the AFL to form the AFC were largely the reason. While the Colts and Browns were respectable playoff contenders during this period, AFL fans especially hated the Steelers because of the team’s dominance throughout the league, winning four Super Bowls in a six year span. (Ironically, before the merger, the Steelers had long been one of the NFL’s worst teams, and in fact had a 1-13 record in 1969, tied with the Chicago Bears for the worst record between both leagues.) With a few notable exceptions such as the Raiders and Dolphins, this essentially made the AFC dominated by an “old NFL” team instead of an AFL team.

The National Football League Most Valuable Player Award is given by various entities, most notably the Associated Press,to the player who is considered most valuable in the league.

The Joe F. Carr Trophy

The NFL awarded the Joe F. Carr Trophy (named for the league president, 1921-39) to the league’s MVP from 1938 to 1946.

As awarded by the UPI

United Press International gave an NFL MVP Award from 1951 through 1969.

The American Football League (AFL) was a professional football league that operated from 1960 until 1969, when it merged with the National Football League (NFL). The AFL operated in direct competition with the more established National Football League throughout its existence. Initially viewed as inferior, the AFL began attracting top talent from colleges and the NFL by the mid-1960s, well before the Common Draft which began in 1967. In fact, even in its first year, 1960, the AFL signed half of the NFL’s first-round draft choices, including All-American Billy Cannon, perennial All-Star Johnny Robinson, and Hall of Famer Ron Mix. In 1966, a merger between the two leagues was announced, but was not finalized until 1970. During its final two years of existence, the AFL won two upset victories over the NFL in Super Bowl III and IV, the former considered one of the biggest upsets in American sports history. When the merger took place all ten AFL franchises became part of the merged league’s American Football Conference, while only the NFL retained its old name and logo.

Movement and instability (1962–63)

While the Oilers found instant success in the AFL, other teams did not fare as well. The Oakland Raiders and New York Titans struggled on and off the field during their first few seasons in the league. Oakland’s eight-man ownership group was reduced to just three in 1961, after heavy financial losses their first season. Attendance for home games was poor, partly due to the fact that the team was playing in the San Francisco Bay Area—which already had an established NFL team (the San Francisco 49ers)—but the product on the field was also to blame. After winning six games their debut season, the Raiders won a total of three times in the 1961 and 1962 seasons. Oakland took part in a 1961 supplemental draft meant to boost the weaker teams in the league, but it did little good. They participated in another such draft in 1962.

The Titans fared a little better on the field but had their own financial troubles. Attendance was so low for home games that team owner Harry Wisner had fans move to seats closer to the field to give the illusion of a fuller stadium on television. Eventually Wisner could no longer afford to meet his payroll, and on November 8, 1962 the AFL took over operations of the team. The Titans were sold to a five-person ownership group headed by Sonny Werblin on March 28, 1963, and in April the new owners changed the team’s name to the New York Jets.

The Raiders and Titans both finished last in their respective divisions in the 1962 season. The Texans and Oilers, winners of their divisions, faced each other for the 1962 AFL Championship on December 23. The Texans dethroned the two-time champion Oilers, 20-17, in a double-overtime contest that was at the time professional football’s longest-ever game.

The AFL stands as the only professional football league to successfully compete against the NFL. When the two leagues merged in 1970, all ten AFL franchises and their statistics became part of the new NFL. Every other professional league that competed against the NFL: the three previous leagues named “American Football League”; the AAFC; the USFL; the WFL; and the XFL folded completely. From an earlier AFL (1936-1937), only the Cleveland Rams, and from the AAFC, only the Cleveland Browns and San Francisco 49ers joined the NFL and are currently operating.

The NFL adopted many ideas introduced by the AFL, including names on player jerseys and revenue sharing of gate and television receipts. The older league also adopted the practice of using the stadium scoreboard clocks to keep track of the official game time, instead of just having a stop watch used by the referee. The AFL also introduced the two-point conversion to professional football thirty-four years before the NFL instituted it in 1994 (college football had adopted the two point conversion in the late 1950s). All of these innovations pioneered by the AFL, including its more exciting style of play and colorful uniforms, have essentially made today’s pro football more like the AFL than like the old-line NFL. The AFL’s challenge to the NFL also laid the groundwork for the Super Bowl, which has become the standard for championship contests in the US.

Since it would eventually merge with the NFL, the AFL playoff history bears some explanation. For the 1960-68 seasons, the AFL used the two-divisional format identical to the NFL to determine its champion. There was no tie-breaker system in place, so ties atop the Eastern Division final standings in 1963 and Western Division in 1968 necessitated playoff games to determine each division’s representative in the championship.

For the 1969 season, a second round was added whereby the each division winner played the second place team from the other division. The winners of this game met in the AFL Championship Game. In the only year of this format, the AFL Champion Kansas City Chiefs were actually the second place team in the Western division. Thus they were the first non-division winner to win a Super Bowl (the Chiefs would go on to decisively win Super Bowl IV that season).

The Super Bowl Era

The Super Bowl began as an interleague championship game between the AFL and NFL. This compromise was the result of pressures the upstart AFL was placing on the older NFL. The success of the rival league would eventually lead to a full merger of the two leagues.

From the 1966 season to the 1969 season (Super Bowls I-IV) the game featured the champions of the AFL and NFL. Since the 1970 season, the game has featured the winners of the National Football Conference(NFC) and the American Football Conference(AFC).

When the leagues merged in 1970, the new NFL (with 26 teams) reorganized into two conferences of three divisions each. From the 1970 season to the 1977 season, four teams from each conference (for a total of eight teams) qualified for the playoffs each year. These four teams included the three division champions, and a fourth Wild Card team. Originally, the home teams in the playoffs were decided based on a yearly rotation. The league did not institute a seeding system for the playoffs until 1975, where the surviving clubs with the higher seeds were made the home teams for each playoff round. Thus, the top seeded division winner would play the wild card team, and the remaining two division winners would play at the home stadium of the better seed. However, two teams from the same division could not meet prior to the conference championship game.  Thus, there would be times when the pairing in the Divisional Playoff Round would be the 1 seed vs. the 3 seed and 2 vs. 4.

Following an expansion of the regular season from 14 to 16 games in the 1978 season, the league added one more wild card team for each conference. The two wild card teams would play the week before the division winners. The winner of this game would play the top seeded division winner as was done from 1970-1977. The league continued to prohibit intra-divisional games in the Divisional Playoffs, but allowed such contests in the Wild Card Round.  This ten-team playoff format was used through the 1989 season. Under this system, the Oakland Raiders became the first Wild Card team to win a Super Bowl following the 1980 season.

During the strike-shortened 1982 season only nine regular season games were played, and a modified playoff format was instituted. Divisional play was ignored (there were some cases where division rivals had both games wiped out by the strike), and the top eight teams from each conference (based on W-L-T record) were advanced to the playoffs. This was the only year that teams with losing records qualified for the playoffs, the 4-5 Cleveland Browns and the 4-5 Detroit Lions.

For the 1990 season, a third wild card team for each conference was added, expanding the playoffs to twelve teams. The lowest-seeded division winner was then “demoted” to the wild card week. Also, the restrictions on intra-divisional games during the Divisional Playoffs were removed. This format continued until the 2002 expansion and reorganization into eight divisions. In this current format, as explained above, the 4 division winners and 2 wild cards are seeded 1-6, with the top 2 seeds receiving byes, and the highest seed in each round guaranteed to play the lowest seed. Also, records do not always determine the home field advantage, seeds always do. Thus it is possible that a division champion with a worse win-loss record could host a wild card playoff team with a better win-loss record.

• UPI NFL MVP
• AFL All-Star Game MVP
• UPI NFC Player of the Year
• UPI AFL-AFC Player of the Year
• UPI NFL-NFC Rookie of the Year
• UPI AFL-AFC Rookie of the Year

Since 1967 The Associated Press has given two annual Rookie of the Year Awards to NFL American football players: one for an offensive player and one for a defensive player. These two are often regarded as the “official” awards. However, the league recognizes multiple other awarding agencies including, but not limited to, The Sporting News, Pro Football Weekly, Sports Illustrated, and Diet Pepsi.

AP Offensive Rookies of the Year

AP Defensive Rookies of the Year

Trivia

·                              The Detroit Lions and the Pittsburgh Steelers have both won a total of 6 Rookie of the Year awards. Detroit has won 4 Offensive ROTYs and 2 Defensive ROTYs, Pittsburgh 3 Offensive and 3 Defensive.

·                              Running backs have won 30 out of 39 Offensive ROTY awards, or 77%.

·                              Linebackers have won almost half of the Defensive ROTY awards (18 out of 39)

·                              Ben Roethlisberger, 2004 Offensive ROTY, was only the second quarterback to win the award, and the first since Dennis Shaw in 1970, a 34 year span. Two years later, Vince Young, another quarterback, would win the 2006 ROTY award.

·                              The Eagles, Jaguars, and Seahawks are the only franchises to never have a player win either award.

·                              1967 marked the only year that one team won both awards, as the Lions took home the Offensive (Mel Farr) and Defensive (Lem Barney) trophies.

·                              Buddy Curry & Al Richardson are the only co-winners; both Atlanta Falcons linebackers won the 1980 Defensive ROTY award.

In professional American football, the Super Bowl is the championship game of the Nati