The History of the NFL

The NFL was formed in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association (APFA) before renaming itself the National Football League in 1922. After initially determining a champion by end-of-season standings, a playoff system was started in 1933 that ended with the NFL Championship Game until 1966. Following an agreement to merge the NFL with the rival American Football League (AFL), the Super Bowl was first held in 1967 to determine a champion between the best teams from the two leagues and has remained as the final game of each NFL season since 1970. The NFL has the highest average attendance of any professional sports league in the world and is the most popular sports league in the United States. The NFL is headquartered in New York City and the Pro Football Hall of Fame is located in Canton, Ohio.

NFL team that moved the farthest

Rams – From Cleveland, OH to Los Angeles, CA. 2,344 miles in 1946

NFL team in the same place the longest

Green Bay Packers – Since 1919 (over 100 years!)

Longest Team in the NFL

Arizona Cardinals. In 1899, the Morgan Athletic Club on the South Side of Chicago was formed, who later became the Chicago Cardinals, who then became the Arizona Cardinals. The Cardinals are the longest running professional team on the NFL.

Consecutive Super Bowl wins

Eight teams have won consecutive Super Bowls, the Pittsburgh Steelers have done it twice!

• Green Bay Packers (Super Bowls I and II)
• Miami Dolphins (VII and VIII)
• Pittsburgh Steelers (twice: IX and X; XIII and XIV)
• San Francisco 49ers (XXIII and XXIV)
• Dallas Cowboys (XXVII and XXVIII)
• Denver Broncos (XXXII and XXXIII)
• New England Patriots (XXXVIII and XXXIX)
• Kansas City Chiefs (LVII and LVIII) 

Teams With No Super Bowls

• Cleveland Browns
• Detroit Lions
• Houston Texans
• Jacksonville Jaguars

• The NFL's longest game was on December 2, 1971. The Miami Dolphins and the Kansas City Chiefs played against each other in the NFL’s longest game.  The game's lasted 82 minutes and 40 seconds, spanning two overtimes. The Miami Dolphins won 27-24.
• The heaviest player in NFL history was Marquan McCall, who played for the Baltimore Ravens in 2022 as a defensive tackle, tipped the scales at a jaw-dropping 379 pounds.
• The tallest player in NFL history was Richard Sligh, a defensive tackle for the Oakland Raiders from 1967 to 1974, measured an amazing 7 feet in height.
• The shortest player in NFL history was Jack "Soapy" Shapiro, standing at a mere 5 feet 1 inch tall. Played for the Staten Island Stapletons during the 1929 season.
• Quarterback with the Most NFL Titles is Tom Brady with 6 Super Bowl victories.
• The first Super Bowl tickets were priced at just $6 each.
•   Football-shaped is not a shape. A football's shape is actually called a prolate spheroid, essentially translating to "long sphere."
• Huddles only became commonplace thanks to Paul Hubbard, a 1890s quarterback. Hubbard was deaf and didn't want the other teams to read his hand signals.
• Wilson Has Been Making NFL Footballs for Over 70 Years. The firm has provided the sports league with footballs since 1941. Wilson currently produces an astonishing 4,000 footballs every day.
• The longest field goal ever made was a 66-yarder, kicked by the Baltimore Ravens' Justin Tucker in 2021.
• Green Bay Packers are the only team in the NFL that's publicly owned and a non-profit organization.
• It wasn't until 2021 that a team played a Super Bowl in its home stadium, The Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
• The New York Jets have never beaten the Philadelphia Eagles.
• The Arizona Cardinals have the longest post-season drought. Between 1947 and 1998 — 51 years — the team didn't win a single game in the post-season.
• Players weren't required to wear helmets until 1943.
• The Green Bay Packers have the longest waiting list for season tickets in the entire league.