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This is a list of National Football League champions prior to the 1970 AFL-NFL Merger, that is, all the franchises that have won the championship of the National Football League. From 1920 to 1932, the league champion was determined by a team's win-loss percentage, with ties omitted. In 1932, due to a tie in the final standings, a playoff game was played to determine the championship.

In 1933, the NFL was organized into two divisions (later called conferences). The winners of each division played each other to determine the champion of the league. This format would remain through the 1966 season.

In 1967, the now 16-team NFL split each conference into two divisions of 4 teams each. From 1967 to 1969, the division winners met in a conference championship game. The two conference champions then played for the NFL championship. Starting with the 1966 season, the NFL champion played the American Football League champion in what would become the Super Bowl.

Since the completion of the merger in 1970, the Super Bowl has served as the NFL championship game. Unlike the Super Bowl, which is contested at a neutral site, NFL championship games from 1933 to 1969 took place at the home field of one of the competing teams. __NOEDITSECTION__

End-of-season championships


Note: From 1920–1971, the NFL did not officially include tie games in the winning percentage.
{| class="wikitable" Year Team Win Loss Tie Pct. 1920 Akron Pros (1)
8
0
3
1.000 1921 Chicago Staleys (1)
9
1
1
.900 1922 Canton Bulldogs (1)
10
0
2
1.000 1923 Canton Bulldogs (2)
11
0
1
1.000 1924 Cleveland Bulldogs (1)
7
1
1
.875 1925 Chicago Cardinals (1)
11
2
1
.846 1926 Frankford Yellow Jackets (1)
14
1
2
.933 1927 New York Giants (1)
11
1
1
.917 1928 Providence Steam Roller (1)
8
1
2
.889 1929 Green Bay Packers (1)
12
0
1
1.000 1930 Green Bay Packers (2)
10
3
1
.769 1931 Green Bay Packers (3)
12
2
0
.857 1932 Chicago Bears (2)
7
1
6
.875

  • No official standings were maintained for the 1920 season, and the championship was awarded to the Akron Pros in a league meeting on April 30, 1921. Clubs played schedules that included games against non-league opponents.
  • The Chicago Staleys were renamed the Chicago Bears in 1922.
  • At the end of the 1932 season the Chicago Bears and Portsmouth Spartans finished regularly scheduled games tied for first place. The Bears won a playoff game, which counted in the standings, 9-0.
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NFL Championships


Eastern Division Western Division
Year Winning Team Score Losing Team Location
1933 Chicago Bears (3) 23-21 New York Giants Wrigley Field
1934 New York Giants (2) 30-13 Chicago Bears Polo Grounds
1935 Detroit Lions (1) 26-7 New York Giants University of Detroit Stadium
1936 Green Bay Packers (4) 21-6 Boston Redskins Polo Grounds
1937 Washington Redskins (1) 28-21 Chicago Bears Wrigley Field
1938 New York Giants (3) 23-17 Green Bay Packers Polo Grounds
1939 Green Bay Packers (5) 27-0 New York Giants Wisconsin State Fair Park (West Allis, WI)
1940 Chicago Bears (4) 73-0 Washington Redskins Griffith Stadium
1941 Chicago Bears (5) 37-9 New York Giants Wrigley Field
1942 Washington Redskins (2) 14-6 Chicago Bears Griffith Stadium
1943 Chicago Bears (6) 41-21 Washington Redskins Wrigley Field
1944 Green Bay Packers (6) 14-7 New York Giants Polo Grounds
1945 Cleveland Rams (1) 15-14 Washington Redskins Cleveland Municipal Stadium
1946 Chicago Bears (7) 24-14 New York Giants Polo Grounds
1947 Chicago Cardinals (2) 28-21 Philadelphia Eagles Comiskey Park
1948 Philadelphia Eagles (1) 7-0 Chicago Cardinals Shibe Park
1949 Philadelphia Eagles (2) 14-0 Los Angeles Rams Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
  • In 1950 the league's two divisions were renamed the American and National Conferences, respectively.
{| border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" style="margin: 1em 1em 1em 14em; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px #aaa solid; border-collapse: collapse;" American Conference National Conference
Year Winning Team Score Losing Team Location
1950 Cleveland Browns (1) 30-28 Los Angeles Rams Cleveland Municipal Stadium
1951 Los Angeles Rams (2) 24-17 Cleveland Browns Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
1952 Detroit Lions (2) 17-7 Cleveland Browns Cleveland Municipal Stadium
  • In 1953 the league's two conferences were renamed the Eastern and Western Conferences, respectively.

Eastern Conference Western Conference
Year Winning Team Score Losing Team Location
1953 Detroit Lions (3) 17-16 Cleveland Browns Briggs Stadium
1954 Cleveland Browns (2) 56-10 Detroit Lions Cleveland Municipal Stadium
1955 Cleveland Browns (3) 38-14 Los Angeles Rams Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
1956 New York Giants (4) 47-7 Chicago Bears Yankee Stadium
1957 Detroit Lions (4) 59-14 Cleveland Browns Briggs Stadium
1958 Baltimore Colts (1) 23-17 (OT) New York Giants Yankee Stadium
1959 Baltimore Colts (2) 31-16 New York Giants Memorial Stadium
1960 Philadelphia Eagles (3) 17-13 Green Bay Packers Franklin Field
1961 Green Bay Packers (7) 37-0 New York Giants City Stadium
1962 Green Bay Packers (8) 16-7 New York Giants Yankee Stadium
1963 Chicago Bears (8) 14-10 New York Giants Wrigley Field
1964 Cleveland Browns (4) 27-0 Baltimore Colts Cleveland Municipal Stadium
1965 Green Bay Packers (9) 23-12 Cleveland Browns Lambeau Field

  • Between 1966 and the merger in 1970, the NFL champions would go on to play the AFL champions in Super Bowls I, II, III and IV.

Eastern Conference Western Conference
Year Winning Team Score Losing Team Location
1966 Green Bay Packers (10) 34-27 Dallas Cowboys Cotton Bowl
1967 Green Bay Packers (11) 21-17 Dallas Cowboys Lambeau Field
1968 Baltimore Colts (3) 34-0 Cleveland Browns Cleveland Municipal Stadium
1969 Minnesota Vikings (1) 27-7 Cleveland Browns Metropolitan Stadium

NFL Championship Game 1933-69 appearances


NumTeamWLPCT
14New York Giants311.214
11Cleveland Browns47.364
10Green Bay Packers82.800
10Chicago Bears64.600
6Boston/Washington Redskins24.333
5Detroit Lions41.800
5Cleveland/L A Rams23.400
4Baltimore Colts31.750
4Philadelphia Eagles31.750
2Chicago Cardinals11.500
2Dallas Cowboys02.000
1Minnesota Vikings101.00

Records


  • The Cleveland Browns made six straight appearances in the NFL championship game (1950-55). The Chicago Bears made four straight (1940-43).

  • The Green Bay Packers won 3 straight championship games (1965-67). The Browns lost 3 straight (51-53) as did the New York Giants (61-63).

  • Teams that won in their first championship game appearance: Chicago Bears (1933), Detroit Lions (1935), Green Bay Packers (1936), Cleveland Rams (1945), Chicago Cardinals (1947), Cleveland Browns (1950), Baltimore Colts (1958) and Minnesota Vikings (1969).

  • The Boston Redskins were the host team for the 1936 championship game, but team owner George Preston Marshall who was playing to move the team the next year sold the game site to the Polo Grounds in New York.

  • The largest attendence for a game was in 1955 at Los Angeles 85,693. The smallest was in 1941 at Chicago 13,341.

  • Cleveland Municipal Stadium hosted 6 games (1 with the Rams and 5 with the Browns). Wrigley Field hosted 5 (all with the Bears) and the Polo Grounds hosted 5 (4 with the Giants and the 1936 game moved by the Redskins).

First and last points scored.

  • 1933 first points were scored by Chicago's Jack Manders a field goal. The first touchdown was scored by New York on a touchdown pass from Harry Newman to Morris "Red" Badrgo.

  • 1969 last field goal was scored on a 3rd quarter kick by Minnesota's Fred Cox. The last points scored was on a Cleveland touchdown pass from Bill Nelsen to Gary Collins with the extra point scored by Don Cockroft.

Winning and losing player shares

  • 1933 Each Chicago player received $210.34 and each New York player received $140.22

  • In the 37 championsip games played the teams from the Western Division/National/Western Conference won 25 of the games to the Eastern Division/American/Eastern Conference teams total of 12.

  • The home team won 25 of the 37 games played.

  • After the 1970 AFL-NFL merger and the emergence of the Super Bowl, all NFL league championship games prior to merger are listed along with the NFC conference championship games in the NFL's official records.

See also


Reference


External link


National Football League playoffs | Sports-related lists

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "List of NFL champions".

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