NFL Divisions Aligned Geographically

[diabsoule]

I had quite a bit of time to kill today and began tinkering with all of the NFL divisions wondering what they would look like if I had to arrange them based on location. In doing so I tried taking a few things into account:

1. Division rivalries would not skew any re-arranging. (i.e. - Cowboys/Giants would not take precedence)

2. All of the old AFL teams had to remain in the AFC. When I initially began I said "to hell with that" but changed my mind based on the historical impact it has had on the NFL and it brings a bit of nostalgia to the game.

3. I tried to make the AFC and NFC balanced. When I first started the AFC North was loaded while the NFC West was extremely weak.

4. In the end I just could not separate the teams in the NFC North. Those teams have too much history and I feel it is the perfect division based on NFL history, rivalries, and tradition.

5. If needed then certain rivalries could be kept like in college football (i.e. Florida playing Florida State). Every year the Cowboys could play the Giants, Buffalo could play Miami, etc...

***NOTE*** This was more difficult than I thought it would be.

○ - denotes original AFL team.

AFC East
Buffalo Bills○
Indianapolis Colts
New England Patriots○
New York Jets○

AFC North
Baltimore Ravens
Cincinnati Bengals○
Cleveland Browns
Pittsburgh Steelers

AFC South
Jacksonville Jaguars
Miami Dolphins○
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Tennessee Titans○

AFC West
Oakland Raiders○
San Diego Chargers○
Denver Broncos○
Kansas City Chiefs○

NFC East
Carolina Panthers
New York Giants
Philadelphia Eagles
Washington Redskins

NFC North
Chicago Bears
Green Bay Packers
Detroit Lions
Minnesota Vikings

NFC South
Atlanta Falcons
Houston Texans
New Orleans Saints
St. Louis Rams

NFC West
Arizona Cardinals
Dallas Cowboys
San Francisco 49ers
Seattle Seahawks

Based purely on geographic location and the shortest distance for four teams to travel then this is what the divisions would look like:

AFC East
Baltimore Ravens
Buffalo Bills
Pittsburgh Steelers
Washington Redskins

AFC North
Chicago Bears
Cleveland Browns
Detroit Lions
Indianapolis Colts

AFC South
Atlanta Falcons
Carolina Panthers
Cincinnati Bengals
Tennessee Titans

AFC West
Oakland Raiders
San Diego Chargers
San Francisco 49ers
Seattle Seahawks

NFC East
New England Patriots
New York Jets
New York Giants
Philadelphia Eagles

NFC North
Green Bay Packers
Kansas City Chiefs
Minnesota Vikings
St. Louis Rams

NFC South
Jacksonville Jaguars
Miami Dolphins
New Orleans Saints
Tampa Bay Buccaneers

NFC West
Arizona Cardinals
Dallas Cowboys
Denver Broncos
Houston Texans

[MetSox17]

Dallas would be in the playoffs every year :p

[DoughBoy]

Having three rivals in Florida would suck.

[awfullyquiet]

i actually enjoy.

i think they should throw conferences for a loop some day in the future. merge afc conferences some nfc conferences. and spit them back out.

heck, it's even closer to geographically compatable

[diabsoule]

Originally Posted by awfullyquiet

i actually enjoy.

i think they should throw conferences for a loop some day in the future. merge afc conferences some nfc conferences. and spit them back out.

heck, it's even closer to geographically compatable

I'm probably going to go back and do another version which will be purely based on geographic location. Old AFL members be damned!

[vikes_28]

Originally Posted by MetSox17

Dallas would be in the playoffs every year :p

Not as long as Tony Romo is your QB. :o

[ElectricEye]

I think it would be better to find a way to work the Eagles back into an east division(you could probably put the Steelers in one as well) but it's hard to do that with a limited amount of slots. Interesting concept, nice work.

[Raiderz4Life]

Well...cant say i'm surprised about the AFC West

[Hines]

That AFC North would be so good. Baltimore, Pittsburgh, and Philly? Oh my.

[Go_Eagles77]

Why not just leave the eagles in the NFC East and the browns in the AFC North? Just curious.

[drowe]

I like the idea.

some thoughts.

I'd ALMOST give the NFC East the same treatment as the NFC North, but i see where the Cowboys are the odd ducks. from your list, i would:

-have the Browns and Eagles switch divisions. geographically, it works just as well, and ya get to keep the Eagles in the NFC East.

-have the Redskins and Colts switch. again, this allows 3/4 of the NFC East to remain intact. and sends the Colts back to the East where they'll renew their divisional rivalry with the Patriots.

-Switch the Titans and Falcons. just for geographic reasons. we'd have a full division of florida and georgia.


this way, i think the only glaring issue would the Cowboys going from the (arguable) flagship of one of the most storied divisions in football to the NFL equivilant of the Mountain West Conference.

[diabsoule]

Originally Posted by drowe

I like the idea.

some thoughts.

I'd ALMOST give the NFC East the same treatment as the NFC North, but i see where the Cowboys are the odd ducks. from your list, i would:

-have the Browns and Eagles switch divisions. geographically, it works just as well, and ya get to keep the Eagles in the NFC East.

-have the Redskins and Colts switch. again, this allows 3/4 of the NFC East to remain intact. and sends the Colts back to the East where they'll renew their divisional rivalry with the Patriots.

-Switch the Titans and Falcons. just for geographic reasons. we'd have a full division of florida and georgia.


this way, i think the only glaring issue would the Cowboys going from the (arguable) flagship of one of the most storied divisions in football to the NFL equivilant of the Mountain West Conference.

I had been thinking of switching the Eagles and Browns. I like the idea of having Pittsburgh and Philadelphia in the same division but it does stack the odds. That would leave the AFC North untouched to go along with the AFC West and NFC North.

The Titans are the old AFL Houston Oilers. I can't move them out of the AFC if you read the stipulations I gave myself.

And that does make sense about switching the Redskins and Colts. It would renew the old rivalry between Indianapolis and New England when the two were in the same conference.

[YAYareaRB]

NFC West
San Francisco 49ers
Oakland Raiders
San Diego Chargers
Arizona Cardinals

It would never happen but that would make my day

[JFLO]

I love the AFC South, that would be sick. I also like the fact that you kept the NFC North the same.

The NFC East is a little suspect with INdy and Cleveland, but it would be really hard to re-align the teams exactly right, so it would never be perfect.

I like.

[Vox Populi]

Giants-Jets in the same division would probably lead to a massive number of civilian casualties from police preventing post-game riots twice a year. I think the league should go with it ;)

Although that makes the NYJ-NYG super bowl impossible. I want one of those ;D

[Splat]

The Chiefs being in the NFC would just be wrong.

[Mr.Regular]

During class today I read this and decided to make 8 divisions purely based on geography. No rivalries or conference alignments were taken into account. I got
West
Seattle
San Francisco
Oakland
San Diego

South West
Arizona
Denver
Dallas
Houston

South East
New Orleans
Jacksonville
Tampa Bay
Miami

Mid West
Green Bay
Minnesota
St. Louis
Kansas City

North
Detroit
Chicago
Cleveland
Indianapolis

North East
New York Giants
New York Jets
New England
Buffalo

East
Baltimore
Pittsburgh
Washington
Philadelphia

Central
Carolina
Cincinnati
Tennessee
Atlanta

[WMD]

I'm sure once Goodell is done ******* up the draft, he'll decide to screw with the divisions.

[Rosebud]

Originally Posted by Mr.Regular

During class today I read this and decided to make 8 divisions purely based on geography. No rivalries or conference alignments were taken into account. I got
West
Seattle
San Francisco
Oakland
San Diego

South West
Arizona
Denver
Dallas
Houston

South East
New Orleans
Jacksonville
Tampa Bay
Miami

Mid West
Green Bay
Minnesota
St. Louis
Kansas City

North
Detroit
Chicago
Cleveland
Indianapolis

North East
New York Giants
New York Jets
New England
Buffalo

East
Baltimore
Pittsburgh
Washington
Philadelphia

Central
Carolina
Cincinnati
Tennessee
Atlanta

How are Minnesota and GB not in the North? When Indianapolis, cleveland and chicago, three cities that are south of Minny and GB, are?

[Brothgar]

I really think that they SHOULD re-arrange it for geographical local. Imagine Jets v Giants twice a year and Boston v NY twice a year. Awesome.

[fenikz]

Originally Posted by MetSox17

Dallas would be in the playoffs every year :p

doesn't mean **** when they can't win a game, Cardinals have won 4 playoff games since the Cowboys won 1

[vidae]

These kinds of posts are why these boards are so fun to read every day.

But please, keep the Chiefs away from the Packers and Vikings. :(

[Jughead10]

Originally Posted by diabsoule

AFC East
Buffalo Bills○
Indianapolis Colts
New England Patriots○
New York Jets○

AFC North
Baltimore Ravens
Cincinnati Bengals○
Cleveland Browns
Pittsburgh Steelers

AFC South
Jacksonville Jaguars
Miami Dolphins○
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Tennessee Titans○

AFC West
Oakland Raiders○
San Diego Chargers○
Denver Broncos○
Kansas City Chiefs○

NFC East
Carolina Panthers
New York Giants
Philadelphia Eagles
Washington Redskins

NFC North
Chicago Bears
Green Bay Packers
Detroit Lions
Minnesota Vikings

NFC South
Atlanta Falcons
Houston Texans
New Orleans Saints
St. Louis Rams

NFC West
Arizona Cardinals
Dallas Cowboys
San Francisco 49ers
Seattle Seahawks

I like the idea of keeping the original AFL teams in the AFC. There is a pride there that I think should stay intact. Only changes I would make is move Baltimore which was an old NFL city when there was an AFL to the NFC East. Boot Carolina to the AFC South and move Tennesee to the AFC North. I know Tennesee really isn't all that North but I like how they fit it in that division. Either way the AFC South in this breakdown isn't very exciting.

[diabsoule]

Originally Posted by Jughead10

I like the idea of keeping the original AFL teams in the AFC. There is a pride there that I think should stay intact. Only changes I would make is move Baltimore which was an old NFL city when there was an AFL to the NFC East. Boot Carolina to the AFC South and move Tennesee to the AFC North. I know Tennesee really isn't all that North but I like how they fit it in that division. Either way the AFC South in this breakdown isn't very exciting.

I like your proposals but the thing keeping me from doing that is how Tennessee fits geographically in a division with Pittsburgh, Cincy, and Cleveland. Baltimore is just a much better fit.

[Brothgar]

Originally Posted by Jughead10

I like the idea of keeping the original AFL teams in the AFC. There is a pride there that I think should stay intact. Only changes I would make is move Baltimore which was an old NFL city when there was an AFL to the NFC East. Boot Carolina to the AFC South and move Tennesee to the AFC North. I know Tennesee really isn't all that North but I like how they fit it in that division. Either way the AFC South in this breakdown isn't very exciting.

I don't really think that anyone has a conference pride anymore maybe that is just me.