American Football Conference Central Division
| Conference | American Football Conference |
|---|---|
| League | National Football League |
| Sport | American football |
| Founded | 1970 (as the AFC Central) |
| Teams | |
| No. of teams | 4 |
| Championships | |
| Most recent AFC North champion(s) | Pittsburgh Steelers (22nd title) |
| Most AFC North titles | Pittsburgh Steelers (22 titles) |
The American Football Conference North Division, or AFC North, is a division of the National Football League's (NFL) American Football Conference (AFC). It was created as the AFC Central in 1970 following the completion of the AFL–NFL merger when two of the NFL teams—the Cleveland Browns and the Pittsburgh Steelers—moved from the "old" NFL to join the former American Football League teams in the AFC, in order to give the two conferences an equal number of teams. The division adopted its current name in 2002, when the league realigned divisions after expanding to 32 teams.
The AFC North currently has four members: Baltimore Ravens, Cincinnati Bengals, Cleveland Browns, and Pittsburgh Steelers. The original four members of the AFC Central were the Browns, Bengals, Steelers and Houston Oilers (now the Tennessee Titans).
The AFC North is the only division in the AFC that does not contain a charter team from the original American Football League. However, the Cincinnati Bengals were an AFL expansion team in the 1968 AFL season (the Steelers and Browns joined the AFC in 1970), although the Bengals joining the AFL was contingent on the team joining the NFL after the AFL–NFL merger was finalized in 1970], as Paul Brown was not a supporter of the AFL.
Three of the teams have interlocked histories. Both the Bengals and the Browns were founded by Paul Brown, while the Ravens and the city of Cleveland have their own unique relationship. Only the Steelers, who are older than the original Browns, have no direct history involving Paul Brown.
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