NFC South
division of the National Football League's National Football Conference
The NFC South is one of the four divisions of the National Football Conference (NFC) in the National Football League (NFL). It was created before the 2002 NFL season when the league realigned divisions after expanding to 32 teams. Since its creation, the division has had the same four members: the Atlanta Falcons, Carolina Panthers, New Orleans Saints, and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Before the 2002 season, the Buccaneers belonged to the AFC West (1976) and NFC Central (1977–2001) (with their four division rivals in the Upper Midwest), while the other three teams were part of the geographically inaccurate NFC West.
The NFC South is one of two divisions to have each of its teams make a Super Bowl appearance since the 2002 realignment (along with the NFC West): Tampa Bay (2002 and 2020), Atlanta (2016), Carolina (2003 and 2015) and New Orleans (2009). Also since 2002, each team has won at least four division titles, making it the only division that holds that distinction. On January 3, 2021, the Saints became the first-ever team to sweep the NFC South in the regular season, they nevertheless lost to the Buccaneers (eventual Super Bowl champions) in the playoffs.
Entering 2025, the Saints have the most wins and highest winning percentage among division members. The Saints' record is 417–480–5; their win in Super Bowl XLIV is the highlight of a 10–13 playoff record. The Falcons' record is 398–512–6 with a playoff record of 10–14; the Falcons lost in Super Bowls XXXIII and LI. The Buccaneers' record is 318–457–1 with a victory in both their Super Bowl appearances, Super Bowl XXXVII and Super Bowl LV, and an overall playoff record of 12–13.
The public source identifies “NFC South” as division of the National Football League's National Football Conference. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around South, division and National.
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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 10, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q934745. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2002, 1976, 1977 and 2001.
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This entry incorporates text from “NFC South” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.