NFL History – AFC Divisional Championship Weekend

It’s a long and winding road to represent the AFC in the Super Bowl and one of the stops along the way is the AFC Divisional Championship Weekend.

Once the Wild Card Weekend is over there are eight of the twelve playoff teams still alive and they play during the AFC and NFC Divisional Championship Weekend. The winners advance to their respective Conference Championship games to earn the right to play in the Super Bowl.

AFC Divisional Championship History

The AFC Divisional Championship games were first played in 1968 when the Oakland Raiders pounded the Kansas City Chiefs 41-6 in front of 53,605 fans. That earned the Raiders the the right to play in Super Bowl II against the Green Bay Packers. In 1969 the format was changed from one game per division to two games.

From 1968 through 1976 the players received 1/14 of their annual salary for playoff appearances. From 1977 through the 1981 Divisional Playoffs the players received a lump some payment of $5,000. The playoff appearance fee has steadily increased sine 1982 ($10,000 per player) to the $20,000 level it stands at today.

Over the history of NFL AFC Divisional Playoffs there has been 83 games played. Of those games seven of them have gone to into overtime with a first team to score wins format. The most recent sudden death game (2004) was won by the Pittsburgh Steelers over the New York Jets by a score of 20-17. The lowest scoring game ever was won 7-6 by the Steelers over the New England Patriots in 1997.

NFL Fans Flock To The AFC Divisional Championship Games

Not counting the 2009 playoffs, 5,418,409 NFL fans have enjoyed the AFC Divisional playoff games live in person. The largest crowd ever was in Los Angeles when the Raiders defeated the Cincinnati Bengals in 1990 by a score of 20-10 in front of a crowd of 92,045. The four games hosted by the Los Angeles Raiders hold the top four attendance records as those games were played in the historic Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

A record low attendance of just 49,557 saw the Pittsurgh Steelers defeat the Baltimore Colts on December 27, 1975 at Three Rivers Stadium. Coincidentally, that game was the debut of the Steelers iconic “Terrible Towel” that Steelers fans still wave today.

AFC Divisional Championship Weekend – Winners

The team with the most wins in AFC Divisional Championship history is the Pittsburgh Steelers who have 14 wins. The Raiders, who won eleven games while based in Oakland and two during their short stay in Los Angeles, come in second with thirteen wins. The Denver Broncos have eight wins while the New England Patriots and Miami Dolphins have seven wins each. Every AFC team, with the exception of the expansion Houston Texans, has won an AFC Divisional Championship game.

AFC Divisional Championship Weekend – Losers

The Miami Dolphins have lost the most AFC Divisional Championship games at ten. As good as they have been, the Steelers have also been on the losing end seven times while the Baltimore franchise and the San Diego Chargers have each lost six times. Apart from the Texans, every AFC team has lost at least one AFC Divisional Championship game.

The AFC Divisional Championship Weekend is one of the most anticipated events on the NFL calender and the games of 2010 playoff season will be no different.