NFC
Two big leagues of the National Football League are going its way to high popularity and fame. One of them is the famous National Football Conference or NFC. The creation of NFC was the result after merging with the American Football League (AFL) in the 70’s decade.
That year, NFC had a total of 13 competing football teams where each team play before the merging took place. Meanwhile, various teams including the Baltimore Colts, Pittsburgh Steelers, and Cleveland Browns created the American Football Conference or AFC. They were the former teams from AFL.
Five important alignment plans are integrated in the NFC federation. Teams pick out plans for their team through a bowl glass container. Each five plans are categorized in Eastern, Central and Western divisions.
The NFC teams composed the five plans and they are being interchanged for every plan and division set. The teams include St. Louis Cardinals, Dallas, Los Angeles Rams, San Francisco, New Orleans, Detroit, Green Bay, Chicago, Minnesota, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Washington and New York Giants.
After the merger, there were three teams who joined the NFC, totaling the current teams into 16. When the teams Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Seattle Shawks became a member in 1976, temporarily they were put in the AFC and NFC, respectively. That was only for a season before these two teams changed conferences. The Seahawks went back to the NFC, resulting from the season 2002 realignment.
Meanwhile, the current 16 NFC champions composing the confederation are structured into West, East, South and North divisions. Every team competes twice to the other in their own division when the regular season hits. Two of the home games are appointed according the final record of the team, during the previous period or season. The 8 remaining teams will be divided between two NFL divisions left. This task changes annually.
Every season’s end, there are series of playoffs played among the six teams that top the list of the NFC. It consists of four division winners, determined through place standing, and two others, determined through wild cards. These NFC playoffs conclude for the George Halas trophy award. Whoever becomes the NFC champion will have the change to compete in the Super Bowl match.
To give a clear categorization of each team of every division, here is the list. The east division is composed of Dallas Cowboys, New York Giants, Philadelphia Eagles and Washington Redskins.
The north division takes in the teams Chicago Bears, Detroit Lions, Green Bay Packers and Minnesota Vikings. The south division group has teams Atlanta Falcons, Carolina Panthers, New Orleans Saints and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The fourth division, which is the west, consists of Seattle Seahawks, San Francisco 49ers, St. Louis Rams and Arizona Cardinals.
During the recent 2006 NFC championship competition, the Chicago Bears, which belong to the north division of the NFC, was hailed as the champion. Also known as Da Bears and The Monsters of the Midway, the Chicago Bears was established in 1919 at Decatur, Illinois.
The team has its headquarters in Halas Hall, situated near the Lake Forest in Illinois. Today, they are holding the yearly training camp at the campus in University of Bourbonnais in Illinois. Throughout the history, the Bears carry few official logos, which gives distinction to the group. Their logo is a simple “C” in orange color, with a trim in white shade. This is their current logo however the team is planning on revamping the design.
Behind the success of Da Bears are their head coach Lovie Smith, the chairman Michael McCaskey, owner Virginia Halas McCaskey and general manager Jerry Angelo. When the team won the 2006 championship award, millions of fans chant their fight song, “Bear Down, Chicago Bears”, of course joining the crowd is Staley Da Bear, the team’s mascot.
The NFC continues to polish their extraordinary football teams and persists their legend in the field of famous and extraordinary football league.