1970 NFL season The 1970 NFL season was the 51st regular season of the National Football League , and the first one after the AFL - NFL Merger . The merger forced a realignment between the combined league ' s clubs . Because there were 16 NFL teams and 10 AFL teams , three teams needed to transfer to balance the two new conferences at 13 teams each . The Baltimore Colts , Cleveland Browns , and the Pittsburgh Steelers agreed to join all ten AFL teams to form the American Football Conference ( AFC ) . The remaining NFL teams formed the National Football Conference ( NFC ) . The conferences are similar to the American and National leagues from Major League Baseball but in the football sense and were divided into three divisions : East , Central , and West . The two Eastern divisions had five teams ; the other four divisions had four teams each . The realignment discussions were so contentious that at one point team names were pulled out of a glass jar . The format agreed on was as follows : NFC East : Eagles , Redskins , Cowboys , Giants , Cardinals NFC Central : Packers , Bears , Vikings , Lions NFC West : Rams , 49ers , Saints , Falcons AFC East : Patriots , Jets , Colts , Bills , Dolphins AFC Central : Steelers , Browns , Bengals , Oilers AFC West : Broncos , Raiders , Chargers , Chiefs This arrangement would keep most of the pre - merger NFL teams in the NFC conference and the AFL teams in the AFC . Pittsburgh , Cleveland , and Baltimore were placed in the AFC in order to balance it out , while the NFC equalizes the team strengths of its East and West divisions rather than sorting out teams just geographically . The NFL had originally consisted of an Eastern Conference ( consisted of Philadelphia , Washington , New York , Pittsburgh , St . Louis , Dallas , and Cleveland ) and a Western Conference ( Green Bay , Minnesota , Detroit , Chicago , Los Angeles , Baltimore , and San Francisco ) . In 1967 , this was changed to Capitol ( Philadelphia , Washington , Dallas , and newly - added New Orleans ) , Central ( Green Bay , Minnesota , Detroit , and Chicago ) , Century ( Cleveland , New York Giants , Pittsburgh , and St . Louis ) , and Coastal ( San Francisco , Atlanta , Los Angeles , and Baltimore ) divisions . Meanwhile , the AFL for its 10 - year existence had an Eastern Division ( New York Jets , Boston , Buffalo , Houston and later Miami ) and a Western Division ( Kansas City , Oakland , Denver , San Diego , and later Cincinnati ) . Division alignment in 1970 was largely intended to preserve the pre - merger setups , keeping traditional rivals in the same division . Plans were also made to add two expansion teams , but this would not take place until 1976 , seven years after the merger . The 26 - team league began to use an eight - team playoff format , four from each conference , that included the three division winners and a wild card team , the second - place team with the best record . The season concluded with the Colts defeating the Dallas Cowboys 16 – 13 in Super Bowl V , the first Super Bowl played for the NFL Championship . The game was held at the Orange Bowl in Miami , and was the first Super Bowl played on artificial turf . To televise their games , the combined league retained the services of CBS and NBC , who were previously the primary broadcasters of the NFL and the AFL , respectively . It was then decided that CBS would televise all NFC teams ( including playoff games ) while NBC all AFC teams . For interconference games , CBS would broadcast them if the visiting team was from the NFC and NBC would carry them when the visitors were from the AFC . The two networks also divided up the Super Bowl on a yearly rotation . Meanwhile , with the debut of " Monday Night Football " on ABC September 21 , 1970 , the league became the first professional sports league in the United States to have a regular series of nationally - televised games in prime - time . The Chicago Bears ' first home game of the season against the Philadelphia Eagles was played at Northwestern University ' s Dyche Stadium as part of an experiment . Before the season , the league demanded that the Bears find a new home field because the seating capacity of their then - current home , Wrigley Field , was too small ( after the merger , all stadiums were required to seat at least 50 , 000 ) . Ultimately , a deal to make Dyche Stadium as the Bears ' new home fell through and the team moved to Soldier Field in 1971 where they remain to the present day . On November 8 , New Orleans Saints placekicker Tom Dempsey kicked a 63 - yard field goal ( still the NFL record as of the 2009 NFL Season ) as the Saints beat the Detroit Lions 19 - 17 . The Denver Broncos , Detroit Lions , and Los Angeles Rams all started 3 - 0 but lost in Week Four . Only the Lions would go on to the playoffs after the 3 - 0 start . Division races . Starting in 1970 , and until 2002 , there were three divisions ( Eastern , Central and Western ) in each conference . The winners of each division , and a fourth " wild card " team based on the best non - division winner , qualified for the playoffs . The tiebreaker rules were changed to start with head - to - head competition , followed by division records , common opponents records , and conference play . The New York Giants lost their last regular - season game . Had they won that game , they would have tied for first place in the NFC East division and taken the division championship on a tie - breaker ; then , the tie - breakers would have led to a coin toss between Dallas and Detroit for the NFC wild card . National Football Conference American Football Conference Final standings . " W = Wins , L = Losses , T = Ties , PCT = Winning Percentage , PF = Points For , PA = Points Against " " - clinched wild card berth , - clinched division title " " Note : Prior to 1972 , the NFL did not include tie games when calculating a team ' s winning percentage in the official standings "