The Kansas City Chiefs are a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) West division. They are an AFC team and do not belong to the National Football Conference (NFC). Founded in 1960 as the Dallas Texans by Lamar Hunt, the team relocated to Kansas City, Missouri, in 1963 and was renamed the Kansas City Chiefs.

Understanding the NFL Structure

The NFL consists of 32 teams split evenly into two conferences: the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC).

Each conference has four divisions with four teams per division: North, South, East, and West. This divisional structure helps organize the schedule and postseason format.

During the 17-week regular season, each team plays:

6 divisional games (2 per opponent)
4 games against a rotating division within its conference
4 games against a rotating division in the other conference
2 games against teams from the remaining divisions in its conference
1 interconference game based on the previous year’s standings

The divisions and conferences allow the league to structure competitive matchups and develop playoff seeding. Understanding this format provides context around how the Kansas City Chiefs fit into the AFC.

The Chiefs in the AFC West

The AFC West is known for its competitive teams and fierce rivalries. The Kansas City Chiefs share this division with the Denver Broncos, Las Vegas Raiders, and Los Angeles Chargers. Each season, these teams compete intensely for the division title, aiming to secure a spot in the playoffs. The Chiefs won a whopping 8 division titles in a row! And get this – they’ve also won 5 total championships over their history including 4 Super Bowl wins. Pretty impressive.

Why Does Conference Matter?

The NFL organizes teams into two conferences – the AFC and NFC. A team’s conference is important for several reasons:

Playoff Structure: The playoffs pit the top teams in each conference against one another, ultimately determining the AFC and NFC champions. These two winners then square off in the Super Bowl.
Rivalries: Teams within the same division of a conference often have intense rivalries due to frequently playing each other. These divisional matchups, like the legendary Chiefs vs Broncos rivalry in the AFC West, add spice within the conferences each season.
Draft Order: Teams pick new players in the annual NFL Draft based on the previous season’s conference standings. Teams with the worst records in their conference get the highest picks in each round. This incentivizes weaker teams to improve for the next season.

A team’s conference dictates their playoff path, fuels traditional rivalries, and impacts future roster additions through the draft order – all key elements every NFL season.