AFC vs. NFC Super Bowl record: How slim is the margin?

It turns out that the parity in the NFL doesn’t just go team-to-team, but also season-to-season and conference-to-conference. The NFC holds a 30–29 all-time edge over the AFC in Super Bowl wins, the closest conference split among the four major U.S. sports leagues. Here's what you need to know.

AFC vs. NFC Super Bowl record (all-time)

Across 59 Super Bowls, the NFC's 30–29 advantage over the AFC is slim. But how has that edge shifted over time? Let's look at all 59 Super Bowls, who won and what conference they were in. (Keep in mind: The first four games were played before the merger and before the term “Super Bowl” was officially used. On the same note, people ate their food with a skewer before it was called a fork; they still used forks, and those first four games were Super Bowls.)

When did the NFC dominate the Super Bowl?

In the first 30 seasons, the NFC led the race with 18 wins to the AFC’s 12 wins. One thing that really boosted those numbers was a 13-year winning streak, which was paired with a Bills’ four-year losing streak smack dab in the middle of it.

In those early years, it was mostly the Steelers, Raiders and Dolphins racking up wins for the AFC. They had four, three and two Super Bowl wins, respectively. For the NFC, it was Dallas and San Francisco with five each and Washington with three.

Has the AFC been better in recent Super Bowls?

That NFC run came to an end after the 1997 season, when the Broncos beat the Packers, and it was all because of the arm of some fella named John Elway, and the legs of this other guy named Terrell Davis.

The AFC turned it around and went 17-12. This was the era of Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Ben Roesthisberger and now Patrick Mahomes. That’s a much more consistent group of quarterbacks than the NFC’s Kurt Warner, Aaron Rodgers, Drew Brees, Russell Wilson and Jalen Hurts.

There weren’t any massive winning streaks, but the AFC has owned the more recent chunk of NFL history. That is, until Jalen Hurts and the Eagles beat Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs in Super Bowl LIX.

What are the longest winning streaks?

It’s hard to imagine a longer winning streak than the 13-year NFC streak between 1984 and 1996 ever happening again. There have been some decent ones on either side though. These are the longest win streaks:

• 13 years, NFC, 1984-96
• 5 years, AFC, 1972-76
• 4 years, AFC, 2003-06
• 3 years, NFC, 2009-11
• 3 years, AFC, 2014-16

You’ll probably find it hard to believe that Brady’s Patriots made up two of the four AFC wins from 2003 to 2006 and two of the three AFC wins from 2014 to 2016. The guy was good.

How many Super Bowl blowouts have there been?

Another way to look at the records is by getting rid of blowouts (wins by more than 17 points), of which there have been 19. It stinks that those happen so often, but it’s a game that decides the best football team in the world. A lot of times, one of the teams is infinitely better than the other one.

If you get rid of those 19 blowouts, the AFC has a 24-16 record over the NFC. Conversely, that means the NFC has won 14 of the non-competitive games, which checks out given the Eagles' 40-22 win over the Chiefs last year.

On top of that, Brady only won one Super Bowl that was won by more than 17 points, and it was the one where he played Mahomes back in the 2020 season. I think that’s pretty neat. If you loved him or hated him, Brady pretty much guaranteed a fun Super Bowl. At the end of the day, that’s all we really want in this world.

It’s impressive how close the race is between the two conferences. The Football Gods don’t play favorites.