The NFL Century Division was one of the four divisions of the National Football League during the 1967 through 1969 seasons. (The other divisions were named ''Capitol'', ''Central'', ''Coastal''; each name began with C and consisted of seven letters). The NFL, previously, consisted of the Eastern Conference and Western Conference. The four-division setup was used in the preparation of the merger of the NFL and

American Football League The American Football League (AFL) was a major professional American football league that operated for ten seasons from 1960 until 1970, when it merged with the older National Football League (NFL), and became the American Football Conference. ...

(AFL) for the

1970 NFL season The 1970 NFL season was the 51st regular season of the National Football League, and the first one after the consummation of the AFL–NFL merger. The merged league realigned into two conferences: all 10 of the former American Football League, ...

. The NFL Century Division had four teams in each season; however, it had five different members: Cleveland Browns, New Orleans Saints,

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. ...

Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. Founded in , the Steel ...

, and St. Louis Cardinals. In 1967 and 1969 the four teams were the Browns, Cardinals, Giants, and Steelers. For the 1968 season, the Giants were placed in the Capitol Division, with the Saints switching to the Century. The Century Division was the only one not based on geography; the Capitol Division's teams were in the eastern U.S., the Central Division in the upper Midwest, and the Coastal had two teams on each coast. While the origin of name ''Century Division'' is not completely certain, it has been hypothesized that the name could have been intended to be a reference to the centennial of American football, which is generally regarded to have emerged as a distinct game in the late 1860s. In any case, the Century Division's teams varied widely by geography, although not to the extent of the Coastal Division. The Cleveland Browns won all three division titles in the Century Division. After the AFL–NFL merger in 1970, the division was disbanded; the Giants joined the

NFC East The National Football Conference – Eastern Division or NFC East is one of the four Division (sport), divisions of the National Football Conference (NFC) in the National Football League (NFL). It currently has four members: the Dallas Cowboys ...

; the Cardinals also joined the NFC East before moving to the NFC West in 2002. New Orleans became a member of the NFC West, moving to the newly-formed

NFC South The National Football Conference – Southern Division or NFC South is one of the four Division (sport), divisions of the National Football Conference (NFC) in the National Football League (NFL). It was created prior to the 2002 NFL season, when ...

in 2002. Cleveland and Pittsburgh joined the AFC Central (later the

AFC North The American Football Conference – Northern Division or AFC North is one of the four divisions of the American Football Conference (AFC) in the National Football League (NFL). The division was adopted after the restructuring of the 2002 NFL s ...

), with the

Cincinnati Bengals The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional American football team based in Cincinnati. The Bengals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The c ...

(from the AFL West) and Houston Oilers (from the

AFL East The American Football Conference – Eastern Division or AFC East is one of the four divisions of the American Football Conference (AFC) in the National Football League (NFL). There are currently four teams that reside in the division: the Buffa ...

Division champions

References

See also