NFC South

NFC South

Conference	National Football Conference
League	National Football League
Sport	American Football
Founded	2000
No. of teams	4
Most recent champion(s)	Atlanta Falcons (2nd title)
Most titles	Tampa Bay Buccaneers (3 titles)

The NFC South is a division in the National Football Conference of the National Football League. It was created prior to the 2002 NFL season, when the league realigned divisions after expanding to 32 teams. The NFC South currently has four members: the Atlanta Falcons, Carolina Panthers, New Orleans Saints, and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Prior to the 2002 season, the Buccaneers belonged to the AFC West (1976) and NFC Central (1977–2001), while the other three teams were part of the geographically inaccurate NFC West.

The NFC South has been nicknamed by Fox NFL Sunday as the "NASCAR Division," due to its geographic location in traditional "NASCAR Country," and NASCAR's coverage on Fox (Fox is also the home of most NFC games).^{[citation needed]} Additionally, two of the division's cities (Atlanta and Charlotte) host NASCAR races, and the Charlotte area is the home base for most drivers and their crews.

The NFC South is the only division since the 2002 realignment to have each of its teams make a conference championship game appearance: Tampa Bay (2002), Atlanta (2004), Carolina (2003 and 2005), and New Orleans (2006 and 2009). All four teams have also made a Super Bowl appearance: Atlanta (XXXIII), Tampa Bay (XXXVII), Carolina (XXXVIII), and New Orleans (XLIV), with Tampa Bay and New Orleans having won. All four members of the NFC South have made postseason appearances before entering the division in 2002. Also since 2002, each team has got at least two division titles, the only such division in the league.

Total Divisional Bracket since 2001

Team	Division Championships	Playoff Berths	Super Bowl Appearances	Super Bowl Wins
Atlanta Falcons	2 (2004, 2010)	4 (2002, 2004, 2008, 2010)	none1	none
Carolina Panthers	2 (2003, 2008)	3 (2003, 2005, 2008)	1 (XXXVIII)	none
New Orleans Saints	2 (2006, 2009)	3 (2006, 2009, 2010)	1 (XLIV)	1 (XLIV)
Tampa Bay Buccaneers	3 (2002, 2005, 2007)	3 (2002, 2005, 2007)	1 (XXXVII)	1 (XXXVII)

¹ Atlanta appeared in Super Bowl XXXIII as a member of the NFC West. This table, however, only reflects championships (divisional, conference and league) and playoff berths earned as a member of the NFC South.

Division champions

Season	Playoffs	Team	Record	Playoff Results
2002	2002-03	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	12–4	Won Super Bowl XXXVII (Raiders) 48–21
2003	2003-04	Carolina Panthers	11–5	Lost Super Bowl XXXVIII (Patriots) 32–29
2004	2004-05	Atlanta Falcons	11–5	Lost NFC Championship (Eagles) 27-10
2005	2005-06	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	11–5	Lost Wild Card Playoff (Redskins) 17-10
2006	2006-07	New Orleans Saints	10–6	Lost NFC Championship (Bears) 39–14
2007	2007-08	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	9–7	Lost Wild Card Playoff (Giants) 24–14
2008	2008-09	Carolina Panthers	12–4	Lost Divisional Playoff (Cardinals) 33–13
2009	2009-10	New Orleans Saints	13–3	Won Super Bowl XLIV (Colts) 31–17
2010	2010-11	Atlanta Falcons	13–3	Lost Divisional Playoff (Packers) 48-21

Wild Card qualifiers

Season	Playoffs	Team	Record	Playoff Results
2002	2002-03	Atlanta Falcons	9–6–1	Lost Divisional Playoff (Eagles) 20–6
2003	2003-04	None
2004	2004-05	None
2005	2005-06	Carolina Panthers	11–5	Lost NFC Championship (Seahawks) 34–14
2006	2006-07	None
2007	2007-08	None
2008	2008-09	Atlanta Falcons	11–5	Lost Wild Card Playoff (Cardinals) 30–24
2009	2009-10	None
2010	2010-11	New Orleans Saints	11–5	Lost Wild Card Playoff (Seahawks) 41-36

Schedule rotation

Intra-conference games

• NFC North: 2002, 2005, 2008, 2011
• NFC East: 2003, 2006, 2009, 2012
• NFC West: 2004, 2007, 2010, 2013

Interconference games

• AFC North: 2002, 2006, 2010
• AFC South: 2003, 2007, 2011
• AFC West: 2004, 2008, 2012
• AFC East: 2005, 2009, 2013

Postseason oddities

• In every season since the division's formation, the team which finished in last place would significantly improve their record in the following season, qualifying for the playoffs in all cases except for 2010.
  • Carolina finished last in 2002 (7–9) and finished first in 2003 (11–5).
  • Atlanta finished last in 2003 (5–11) and finished first in 2004 (11–5).
  • Tampa Bay finished last in 2004 (5–11) and finished first in 2005 (11–5).
  • New Orleans finished last in 2005 (3–13) and finished first in 2006 (10–6).
  • Tampa Bay finished last in 2006 (4–12) and finished first in 2007 (9–7).
  • Atlanta finished last in 2007 (4–12) and finished second with a playoff berth in 2008 (11–5).
  • New Orleans finished last in 2008 (8–8) and finished first in 2009 (13–3).
  • Tampa Bay finished last in 2009 (3-13) but despite finishing third in 2010 with a 10-6 record, did not make the playoffs, due to Green Bay holding the wild-card tiebreakers.
  • Carolina finished last in 2010 (2-14).

• From 2003-2007 and again in 2009, the team which finished last the previous season won the division.

• From 2002 to 2009, no team in the NFC South earned back-to-back playoff appearances. In Week 16 of the 2010 season, New Orleans clinched a wild-card berth, becoming the first NFC South team to earn consecutive playoff appearances; however, no team in the NFC South has earned back-to-back division championships.

• Each team has won the division at least twice and made a playoff appearance at least three times since the division's formation. Tampa Bay is the only team which has not made the playoffs as a wild-card.

See Also

• I-85 Rivalry
• Falcons-Saints rivalry

References