The NFL landscape changed in 2002; how the divisions stack up since then may surprise you

When the Houston Texans joined the NFL as an expansion franchise in 2002, the league took the opportunity to reshape the AFC and NFC into four divisions instead of three while keeping rivalries alive and some geographic integrity intact.

The league sent the Seahawks from the AFC West to NFC West, among other changes. Overall the realignment provided nice and even lines, allowing four division winners and two wild card teams in each conference into the playoffs. There’s a possibility that the NFL playoffs expand with another wild card team in the coming years, but we’re now in the 15th season since the realignment. There’s now a lot of history to reflect on to see how the divisions stack up.

(Note: If you’re not interested in the details of the methodology, just skip down to the rankings below, starting with 8 down to 1.)