AFC South
Encyclopedia
The AFC South is a division of the National Football League
's American Football Conference
. It was created before the 2002 season
when the league realigned divisions after expanding to 32 teams. Since its creation, the division has had the same four members: Houston Texans
, Indianapolis Colts
, Jacksonville Jaguars
, and Tennessee Titans
.
Before the 2002 season, the Texans did not exist, the Colts belonged to the AFC East
, and the Titans and Jaguars were members of the AFC Central. Indianapolis, Tennessee, and Jacksonville all won multiple division titles and wild card berths in their prior respective divisions.
. Its inaugural season was won by the Tennessee Titans who went on to play in the AFC Championship game. For the next five years, the Indianapolis Colts won the division including their victory in Super Bowl XLI
. In 2007, the AFC South became the best division of all time based on the combined record of 42–22 (.656 winning percentage). The record was previously held by the 1975 AFC Central's .643 winning percentage. In 2008, the Tennessee Titans won the division, ending Indianapolis' five year streak of division titles. However in 2009, the Colts would storm back to win their 6th division championship in Week 12 of the season with a win over the Houston Texans and a loss by the Jacksonville Jaguars to the San Francisco 49ers.
|- bgcolor="#efefef"
! Season !! Team !! Record !! Playoff Results
|-
| 2002 || Tennessee Titans
|| 11–5–0 || # Lost AFC Championship Game
|-
| 2003 || Indianapolis Colts
|| 12–4–0 || Lost AFC Championship Game
|-
| 2004 || Indianapolis Colts
|| 12–4–0 || Lost AFC Divisional Playoffs
|-
| 2005 || Indianapolis Colts
|| 14–2–0 || # Lost AFC Divisional Playoffs
|-
| 2006 || Indianapolis Colts
|| 12–4–0 || Won Super Bowl XLI
|-
| 2007 || Indianapolis Colts
|| 13–3–0 || # Lost AFC Divisional Playoffs
|-
| 2008 || Tennessee Titans
|| 13–3–0 || # Lost AFC Divisional Playoffs
|-
| 2009 || Indianapolis Colts
|| 14–2–0 || # Lost Super Bowl XLIV
|-
| 2010 || Indianapolis Colts
|| 10–6–0 || Lost AFC Wild Card Playoffs
# Team earned first-round bye.
|- bgcolor="#efefef"
! Season !! Team !! Record !! Playoff Results
|-
| 2002 || Indianapolis Colts
|| 10–6–0 || Lost AFC Wild Card Playoffs
|-
| 2003 || Tennessee Titans
|| 12–4–0 || Lost AFC Divisional Playoffs
|-
| 2005 || Jacksonville Jaguars
|| 12–4–0 || Lost AFC Wild Card Playoffs
|-
| 2007 || Jacksonville Jaguars
|| 11–5–0 || Lost AFC Divisional Playoffs
|-
| 2007 || Tennessee Titans
|| 10–6–0 || Lost AFC Wild Card Playoffs
|-
| 2008 || Indianapolis Colts
|| 12–4–0 || Lost AFC Wild Card Playoffs
|- bgcolor="#efefef"
! Team !! Division Champions# !! Wild Card Berths# !! Playoff Berths#
|-
| Indianapolis Colts
|| 7 (14) || 2 (10) || 9 (24)
|-
| Tennessee Titans
|| 2 (9) || 2 (12) || 4 (21)
|-
| Jacksonville Jaguars
|| 0 (2) || 2 (4) || 2 (6)
|-
| Houston Texans
|| 0 (0) || 0 (0) || 0 (0)
# Franchise totals listed in parentheses, including those won prior to AFC South.
National Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
's American Football Conference
American Football Conference
The American Football Conference is one of the two conferences of the National Football League . This conference and its counterpart, the National Football Conference , currently contain 16 teams each, making up the 32 teams of the NFL....
. It was created before the 2002 season
2002 NFL season
The 2002 NFL season was the 83rd regular season of the National Football League.The league went back to an even number of teams, expanding to 32 teams with the addition of the Houston Texans. The clubs were then realigned into eight divisions, four teams in each...
when the league realigned divisions after expanding to 32 teams. Since its creation, the division has had the same four members: Houston Texans
Houston Texans
The Houston Texans are a professional American football team based in Houston, Texas. The team is currently a member of the Southern Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
, Indianapolis Colts
Indianapolis Colts
The Indianapolis Colts are a professional American football team based in Indianapolis. They are currently members of the South Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League ....
, Jacksonville Jaguars
Jacksonville Jaguars
The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida, U.S. They are currently members of the South Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
, and Tennessee Titans
Tennessee Titans
The Tennessee Titans are a professional American football team based in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. They are members of the South Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League . Previously known as the Houston Oilers, the team began play in 1960 as a charter...
.
Before the 2002 season, the Texans did not exist, the Colts belonged to the AFC East
AFC East
The American Football Conference – Eastern Division or AFC East is a division of the National Football League's American Football Conference. There are four members: Buffalo Bills, Miami Dolphins, New England Patriots , and New York Jets...
, and the Titans and Jaguars were members of the AFC Central. Indianapolis, Tennessee, and Jacksonville all won multiple division titles and wild card berths in their prior respective divisions.
2000s
When the NFL realigned for the 2002 schedule, the newly created AFC South was formed from two former AFC Central teams, an AFC East team, and an expansion teamExpansion team
An expansion team is a brand new team in a sports league. The term is most commonly used in reference to the North American major professional sports leagues, but is applied to sports leagues worldwide that use a closed franchise system of league membership. The term comes from the expansion of the...
. Its inaugural season was won by the Tennessee Titans who went on to play in the AFC Championship game. For the next five years, the Indianapolis Colts won the division including their victory in Super Bowl XLI
Super Bowl XLI
Super Bowl XLI was an American football game that featured the American Football Conference champion Indianapolis Colts and the National Football Conference champion Chicago Bears to decide the National Football League champion for the 2006 season...
. In 2007, the AFC South became the best division of all time based on the combined record of 42–22 (.656 winning percentage). The record was previously held by the 1975 AFC Central's .643 winning percentage. In 2008, the Tennessee Titans won the division, ending Indianapolis' five year streak of division titles. However in 2009, the Colts would storm back to win their 6th division championship in Week 12 of the season with a win over the Houston Texans and a loss by the Jacksonville Jaguars to the San Francisco 49ers.
2010s
The Colts again won their division by winning their final four games, including a victory over the Jaguars that tied the records of the two teams. The Colts controlled their own destiny, with Jacksonville losing its last three games of the season.Division champions
{| class="wikitable"|- bgcolor="#efefef"
! Season !! Team !! Record !! Playoff Results
|-
| 2002 || Tennessee Titans
2002 Tennessee Titans season
The 2002 Tennessee Titans season was the 43rd season the team was with the league. The team improved upon their previous season's output of 7–9, managing eleven victories. The Titans qualified for the playoffs, but were unable to reach the Super Bowl, instead losing to the Oakland Raiders in the...
|| 11–5–0 || # Lost AFC Championship Game
|-
| 2003 || Indianapolis Colts
2003 Indianapolis Colts season
The 2003 Indianapolis Colts season was the 51st season for the team in the National Football League and 20th in Indianapolis.-Roster:-Schedule:- Division standings :...
|| 12–4–0 || Lost AFC Championship Game
|-
| 2004 || Indianapolis Colts
2004 Indianapolis Colts season
The 2004 Indianapolis Colts season was the 52nd season for the team in the National Football League and 21st in Indianapolis. The 2004 Colts season began with the team trying to maintain or improve on their 12–4 record from 2003, and advance farther into the playoffs...
|| 12–4–0 || Lost AFC Divisional Playoffs
|-
| 2005 || Indianapolis Colts
2005 Indianapolis Colts season
The 2005 Indianapolis Colts season was the 53rd season for the team in the National Football League and 22nd in Indianapolis. The 2005 Colts season began with the team trying to improve on their 12–4 record from 2004 and to advance further into the playoffs...
|| 14–2–0 || # Lost AFC Divisional Playoffs
|-
| 2006 || Indianapolis Colts
2006 Indianapolis Colts season
The 2006 Indianapolis Colts season was the 54th season for the team in the National Football League and 23rd in Indianapolis. The 2006 Colts season began with the team trying to maintain or improve on their regular season record of 14–2 from the 2005 season, and advance farther into the playoffs....
|| 12–4–0 || Won Super Bowl XLI
Super Bowl XLI
Super Bowl XLI was an American football game that featured the American Football Conference champion Indianapolis Colts and the National Football Conference champion Chicago Bears to decide the National Football League champion for the 2006 season...
|-
| 2007 || Indianapolis Colts
2007 Indianapolis Colts season
The 2007 Indianapolis Colts season was the 55th season for the team in the National Football League and 24th in Indianapolis. The 2007 Indianapolis Colts improved upon their 12–4 record from 2006 as well as winning their 5th straight AFC South Championship. They finished the season 13–3 and lost to...
|| 13–3–0 || # Lost AFC Divisional Playoffs
|-
| 2008 || Tennessee Titans
2008 Tennessee Titans season
The 2008 Tennessee Titans season was the 49th season for the team in the National Football League, their twelfth in Tennessee, and their tenth as the Titans. Despite being expected by most sportswriters to finish third or even fourth in the AFC South, they compiled a 13–3 regular season record and...
|| 13–3–0 || # Lost AFC Divisional Playoffs
|-
| 2009 || Indianapolis Colts
2009 Indianapolis Colts season
The 2009 Indianapolis Colts season was the 57th season for the team in the National Football League and the 26th in Indianapolis. It was the first season since 2002 that the Colts did not have Tony Dungy on their coaching staff, due to his retirement from coaching...
|| 14–2–0 || # Lost Super Bowl XLIV
Super Bowl XLIV
Super Bowl XLIV was an American football game between the American Football Conference champion Indianapolis Colts and the National Football Conference champion New Orleans Saints to decide the National Football League champion for the 2009 season. The Saints defeated the Colts by a score of...
|-
| 2010 || Indianapolis Colts
2010 Indianapolis Colts season
The 2010 Indianapolis Colts season was the 58th season for the team in the National Football League, the 27th in Indianapolis, and the second under head coach Jim Caldwell...
|| 10–6–0 || Lost AFC Wild Card Playoffs
# Team earned first-round bye.
Wild Card qualifiers
{| class="wikitable"|- bgcolor="#efefef"
! Season !! Team !! Record !! Playoff Results
|-
| 2002 || Indianapolis Colts
2002 Indianapolis Colts season
The 2002 Indianapolis Colts season was the 50th season for the team in the National Football League and 19th in Indianapolis.The 2002 season marked the first for the Colts in the new AFC South after competing for 32 seasons in the AFC East....
|| 10–6–0 || Lost AFC Wild Card Playoffs
|-
| 2003 || Tennessee Titans
2003 Tennessee Titans season
The 2003 Tennessee Titans season was the team's 44th season and their 34th in the National Football League. At 12–4 the Titans posted the 15th season with at least ten wins in the franchise's history dating to their Houston Oilers days...
|| 12–4–0 || Lost AFC Divisional Playoffs
|-
| 2005 || Jacksonville Jaguars
2005 Jacksonville Jaguars season
After a 9–7 season in 2004 the Jaguars came out of the gates prepared to become a dominant force in the AFC. They achieved that task, going 12–4 in the regular season, but did not manage to win their own division, getting swept by the Indianapolis Colts as they went 14–2...
|| 12–4–0 || Lost AFC Wild Card Playoffs
|-
| 2007 || Jacksonville Jaguars
2007 Jacksonville Jaguars season
-Final roster:-Schedule:The Jacksonville Jaguars pre-season schedule was announced on April 11, 2007.-Schedule:-Week 1: vs. Tennessee Titans:-Week 2: vs. Atlanta Falcons:-Week 3: at Denver Broncos:-Week 5: at Kansas City Chiefs:...
|| 11–5–0 || Lost AFC Divisional Playoffs
|-
| 2007 || Tennessee Titans
2007 Tennessee Titans season
The 2007 Tennessee Titans season was the 48th season for the team in the National Football League, and their eleventh in Tennessee. They entered the season in an attempt to improve on their 8–8 record from 2006, along with attempting to make the playoffs for the first time since...
|| 10–6–0 || Lost AFC Wild Card Playoffs
|-
| 2008 || Indianapolis Colts
2008 Indianapolis Colts season
The 2008 Indianapolis Colts season was the 56th season for the team in the National Football League and the 25th in Indianapolis. It was the first season since 2002 that the Colts did not win the AFC South title. However, after a 3–4 start on the season Peyton Manning led the Colts to a nine-game...
|| 12–4–0 || Lost AFC Wild Card Playoffs
Total playoff berths
{| class="wikitable"|- bgcolor="#efefef"
! Team !! Division Champions# !! Wild Card Berths# !! Playoff Berths#
|-
| Indianapolis Colts
Indianapolis Colts
The Indianapolis Colts are a professional American football team based in Indianapolis. They are currently members of the South Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League ....
|| 7 (14) || 2 (10) || 9 (24)
|-
| Tennessee Titans
Tennessee Titans
The Tennessee Titans are a professional American football team based in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. They are members of the South Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League . Previously known as the Houston Oilers, the team began play in 1960 as a charter...
|| 2 (9) || 2 (12) || 4 (21)
|-
| Jacksonville Jaguars
Jacksonville Jaguars
The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida, U.S. They are currently members of the South Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
|| 0 (2) || 2 (4) || 2 (6)
|-
| Houston Texans
Houston Texans
The Houston Texans are a professional American football team based in Houston, Texas. The team is currently a member of the Southern Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
|| 0 (0) || 0 (0) || 0 (0)
# Franchise totals listed in parentheses, including those won prior to AFC South.