The AFC Championship Game is the annual championship game of the American Football Conference (AFC) and one of the two semi-final

playoff The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

games of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL), the largest professional

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

league in the world. The game is played on the last Sunday in January by the two remaining playoff teams, following the AFC postseason's first two rounds. The AFC champion then advances to face the winner of the NFC Championship Game in the Super Bowl. The game was established as part of the 1970 merger between the NFL and the American Football League (AFL), with the merged league realigning into two conferences. Since 1984, each winner of the AFC Championship Game has also received the Lamar Hunt Trophy, named after the founder of both the AFL and the

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Lamar Hunt Lamar Hunt (August 2, 1932 – December 13, 2006) was an American businessman most notable for his promotion of American football, soccer, and tennis in the United States. He was the principal founder of the American Football League (AFL) and ...

History

The first AFC Championship Game was played following the 1970 regular season after the merger between the NFL and the American Football League. The game is considered the successor to the former

AFL Championship For its first nine seasons, 1960 through 1968, the American Football League determined its champion via a single playoff game between the winners of its two divisions (although ties in the standings in 1963 (Eastern) and 1968 (Western) necessitat ...

, and its game results are listed with that of its predecessor in the annual ''NFL Record and Fact Book''. Since the pre-merger NFL consisted of six more teams than the AFL (16 teams for the NFL and 10 for the AFL), a realignment was required as part of the merger to create two conferences with an equal number of teams: The NFL's Baltimore Colts, the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (A ...

, and the Pittsburgh Steelers joined the ten former AFL teams to form the AFC; while the remaining 13 pre-merger NFL clubs formed the NFC. Every current AFC team except the Houston Texans has played in an AFC Championship Game at least once. The Seattle Seahawks, who have been members in both the AFC and the NFC, hold the distinction of appearing in both conference title games, a loss in the AFC conference title game to the Los Angeles Raiders for

Super Bowl XVIII Super Bowl XVIII was an American football game played on January 22, 1984, at Tampa Stadium between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion and defending Super Bowl XVII champion Washington Redskins and the American Football Conference ( ...

and, in their first appearance in a NFC conference title game, a win over the Carolina Panthers for

Super Bowl XL Super Bowl XL was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Seattle Seahawks and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Pittsburgh Steelers to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion f ...

. The Pittsburgh Steelers have the most appearances in the AFC Championship Game at 16, with 11 of those games being in Pittsburgh, the most for either conference. The New England Patriots have won the most AFC Championships at 11, and have played in a record eight straight AFC title games (2011–2018). At least one of

Tom Brady Thomas Edward Patrick Brady Jr. (born August 3, 1977) is an American football quarterback for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football League (NFL). He spent his first 20 seasons with the New England Patriots organization, with which ...

and

Ben Roethlisberger Benjamin Todd Roethlisberger Sr. (; born March 2, 1982), nicknamed "Big Ben", is an American former football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 18 seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers. He played college football ...

played in every championship game between the 2003 and the 2018 seasons, except for the 2009 season. The Denver Broncos and the Pittsburgh Steelers are the only two AFC teams to appear in at least one AFC Championship game in every decade since 1970.

Playoff structure

The structure of the NFL playoffs has changed several times since 1970. At the end of each

regular season In an organized sports league, a typical season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport are in session: for example, in Major League Baseball the season lasts approximately from the last week of March to the last week of ...

, the top teams in the AFC qualify for the postseason, including all division champions (three division winners from the 1970–71 to 2001–02 seasons; four since the 2002–03 season) and a set number of " wild card" teams that possess the two best win–loss records after the regular season yet fail to win their division (one wild card team from the 1970–71 to 1977–78 seasons; two wild cards from 1978–79 to 1989–90, and from 2002–03 to 2019–20; three from

1990–91 Year 199 ( CXCIX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was sometimes known as year 952 '' Ab urbe condita''. The denomination 199 for this year has been used since t ...

to 2001–02, and since 2020–21). The two teams remaining following the Wild Card round (first round) and the divisional round (second round) play in the AFC Championship Game, with the winner advancing to the Super Bowl. Initially, the site of the AFC Championship Game was determined on a rotating basis. Since the 1975–76 season, the site of the game has been based on playoff seeding based on the regular season won-loss record, with the highest surviving seed hosting the game. A wild card team can only host the game if both participants are wild cards; such an instance has yet to occur in the NFL.

Lamar Hunt Trophy

Beginning with the 1984–85 NFL playoffs, the winner of the AFC Championship Game has received the Lamar Hunt Trophy, named after the founder of the AFL. The original trophy consisted of a wooden base with a sculpted AFC logo in the front and a sculpture of various football players in the back. For the 2010–11 NFL playoffs, the Lamar Hunt Trophy and the George Halas Trophy, which is awarded to the NFC Champion, were redesigned by Tiffany & Co. at the request of the NFL, in an attempt to make both awards more significant. The trophies are now a new, silver design with the outline of a hollow football positioned on a small base to more closely resemble the Vince Lombardi Trophy, which is awarded to the winner of the Super Bowl. In recent years Conference championship rings are also awarded to members of the team who wins the AFC or NFC championship since they are the winners of the conference, even though they may not necessarily follow it up with a win in the Super Bowl.

List of AFC Championship Games

:''Numbers in parentheses in the table are AFC Championships''. ''Bold indicates team won Super Bowl that year''. :''Numbers in parentheses in the city and stadium column is the number of times that metropolitan area and stadium has hosted an AFC Championship, respectively.''

Appearances, 1970–present

Appearances by year

In the sortable table below, teams are ordered first by number of appearances, then by number of wins, and finally by year of first appearance. In the "Season(s)" column, bold years indicate winning Conference Championship appearances.

Most common matchups

Records

* Most victories: 11**; New England Patriots (

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

, 1996, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2011,

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the Unit ...

) * Most losses: 8; Pittsburgh Steelers, (

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using mean solar tim ...

1976 Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 ...

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

, 1994, 1997, 2001, 2004,

) * Most appearances: 16; Pittsburgh Steelers (1972, 1974–1976, 1978, 1979, 1984, 1994, 1995, 1997, 2001, 2004, 2005, 2008, 2010, 2016) * Most consecutive appearances: 8**; New England Patriots (2011–2018) * Most consecutive victories: 4**; Buffalo Bills ( 1990–

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peacefu ...

) * Most victories without a loss: 3; Cincinnati Bengals (

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensiv ...

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Bicenten ...

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...

)The Miami Dolphins won 5 AFC Championships before losing their first championship game. The New England Patriots equaled that record before losing a championship game. * Most appearances without a win: 4; New York Jets (1982, 1998, 2009, 2010) * Most consecutive losses without a win: 4; (tie) Oakland Raiders (1970, 1973, 1974, 1975) * Most shutouts: 2**;

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member team of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The team p ...

( 1971, 21–0 vs Colts and 1982, 14–0 vs Jets) * Most consecutive losses: 3; Oakland Raiders (

1973 Events January * January 1 - The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 15 – Vietnam War: ...

– 1975) * Most games hosted: 11**; Pittsburgh Steelers (1972, 1975, 1978, 1979, 1994, 1995, 1997, 2001, 2004, 2008, 2010) * Most consecutive games hosted: 4**;

(2018–2021) * Most numerous matchups: 3 (tie) ** Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Oakland Raiders (1974, 1975, 1976) ** Cleveland Browns vs. Denver Broncos (1986, 1987, 1989) ** New England Patriots vs. Pittsburgh Steelers (2001, 2004, 2016) ** New England Patriots vs. Indianapolis Colts (2003, 2006, 2014) * Most points scored: 51**; January 20, 1991 (1990) – Buffalo Bills (51) vs. Los Angeles Raiders (3) * Largest margin of victory: 48 points**; January 20, 1991 (1990) – Buffalo Bills (51) vs. Los Angeles Raiders (3) * Fewest points scored, winning team: 10; January 12, 1992 (

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phi ...

) – Buffalo Bills (10) vs. Denver Broncos (7) * Fewest points scored: 0*; (tie) Jan 2, 1972 ( 1971) Baltimore Colts 0 vs

Dolphins A dolphin is an aquatic mammal within the infraorder Cetacea. Dolphin species belong to the families Delphinidae (the oceanic dolphins), Platanistidae (the Indian river dolphins), Iniidae (the New World river dolphins), Pontoporiidae (t ...

21, Jan 23, 1983 ( 1982) NY Jets (0) vs

(14) * Most points scored, losing team: 34**; January 21, 2007 ( 2006) – New England Patriots (34) vs. Indianapolis Colts (38) * Most combined points scored: 73**; January 6, 1985 (1984) –

(45) vs. Pittsburgh Steelers (28) * Fewest combined points scored: 14; January 23, 1983 ( 1982) –

(14) vs. New York Jets (0) * Current AFC teams which have never appeared in a Conference Championship Game: Houston TexansThe franchise was founded in 2002. * Current AFC teams which have never hosted a Conference Championship Game:

Baltimore Ravens The Baltimore Ravens are a professional American football team based in Baltimore, Maryland. The Ravens compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. The team plays it ...

, Houston Texans, New York Jets,The Jets last hosted the 1968 AFL Championship Game during the pre-Super Bowl era.

Tennessee Titans The Tennessee Titans are a professional American football team based in Nashville, Tennessee. The Titans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division, and play their hom ...

The Houston Oilers/Tennessee Titans franchise last hosted the 1962 AFL Championship Game. * Current AFC teams which have never won a Conference Championship:

(0–3), Houston Texans (0–0),

Jacksonville Jaguars The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida. The Jaguars compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division. The team pla ...

(0–3) and New York Jets (0–4) * Longest drought without appearing in an AFC Championship Game: 32 years;

(last appearance –

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxon Valdez oil tanker runs ...

) * Longest drought without an AFC Championship: 50 years**: New York JetsThe Jets won

Super Bowl III Super Bowl III was an American football game played on January 12, 1969 at the Orange Bowl in Miami, Florida. It was the third AFL–NFL Championship Game in professional American football, and the first to officially bear the trademark name "Su ...

as the 1968 AFL Champion. * Highest attendance: 91,445; Los Angeles Raiders vs. Seattle Seahawks in Los Angeles on January 8, 1984 (

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning ...

) * Overtime games: ** 1986 Denver Broncos 23 Cleveland Browns 20 **

New England Patriots 37 Kansas City Chiefs 31 **

Cincinnati Bengals 27 Kansas City Chiefs 24 Notes: * *Tied for Conference Championship record * **Conference Championship record

TV ratings

*1982: 51.6 million viewers *2003: 41.5 million *2005: 44.3 million *2006: 39 million viewers *2007: 46.7 million viewers *2009: 42 million viewers *2010: 42.352 million viewers *2011: 54.9 million viewers *2012: 48.7 million viewers *2013: 47.7 million viewers *2014: 51.3 million viewers *2015: 42.1 million viewers *2016: 53.3 million viewers *2017: 41.2 million viewers *2018: 53.9 million viewers *2019: 41.1 million viewers *2020: 41.85 million viewers *2021: 47.85 million viewers

Footnotes

References

{{NFL Recurring sporting events established in 1971