History

The division's original name, NFL Capitol Division, derived from being centered on the capital of the United States, Washington, D.C., and the country's birthplace, Philadelphia. In 1967 and 1969, the teams in the division were Dallas, Philadelphia, Washington and the expansion team New Orleans Saints, with the New York Giants swapping divisions with the Saints for the 1968 season. This arrangement had been agreed in advance as a means to ensure all of the NFL's teams would be able to visit New York once in those three years. With the merger in 1970, following contentious negotiations culminating in a random draw, it was agreed that New York (along with the St. Louis Cardinals) would permanently return to the re-branded NFC East.

General information

The NFC East teams have combined to be the most successful division in the Super Bowl era with 22 NFC championships and 14 Super Bowl victories, the highest marks of any division in the NFL. The division features a number of prominent rivalries such as the Cowboys–Eagles rivalry, Cowboys–Washington rivalry and Eagles–Giants rivalry, among others. Because the division's teams are in some of the United States' largest media markets (New York No. 1, Dallas-Fort Worth No. 4, Philadelphia No. 5, and Washington No. 8), the NFC East receives a high amount of coverage from national sports media outlets. In the early 1990s the division claimed four consecutive Super Bowl champions, all against the Buffalo Bills, with the Giants and Washington respectively winning back-to-back in Super Bowls XXV and XXVI; and the Cowboys winning twice after in Super Bowls XXVII and XXVIII. Those same three teams won seven out of ten Super Bowls, from 1986–87 to 1995–96 (the 49ers won the other three during that span). Meanwhile, the Eagles are the most recent team in the division to win multiple Super Bowls, beating the Patriots 41–33 in Super Bowl LII and the Chiefs 40-22 in Super Bowl LIX.

The NFC East was the first division since the 2002 realignment to send 3 teams to the playoffs when the 2006-07 NFL playoffs had Philadelphia winning the division and Dallas and New York taking both Wild Card spots. On the other hand, the NFC East became one of three divisions to be won by a team with a losing record (the previous two being the NFC South and NFC West) when the then-Washington Football Team won the division crown with a 7–9 record.

The NFC East previously held a 20-year streak without a consecutive division champion. The Philadelphia Eagles won four consecutive titles from 2001 to 2004, then there was no repeat winner again until the Eagles won in 2024 and 2025.

The Philadelphia Eagles are the only NFC East team to actually play in the city of the team's naming. The other three teams play in suburbs of the major cities they are named after. The Dallas Cowboys play in Arlington, Texas, and are the only team in this division not based in the Eastern Time Zone (the Cowboys are based in the Central Time Zone). The Washington Commanders play in Landover, Maryland, and the New York Giants play in East Rutherford, New Jersey, where they share a stadium with the New York Jets. Analogously, three of the four AFC East teams do not actually play within the city of their naming. (The Patriots geographical identifier is New England, being named for the region the team plays in.)

As of 2024, all four teams in the division were in the top ten of most valuable NFL franchises (Cowboys #1; Giants #2; Commanders #7; Eagles #9).

Division lineups

Place cursor over year for division champion.

: The Eastern Conference was divided into the Capitol and Century Divisions. Dallas, Philadelphia, and Washington moved in. Also, the New Orleans Saints joined the league. :The Capitol Division adopts its current name. New Orleans realigned to the NFC West. The Giants and Cardinals are added from the Century Division. :Although the Cardinals were division champions, the Cowboys won the NFC Championship as a wild card qualifier. :St. Louis moved to Phoenix in 1988. The team changed its name from Phoenix Cardinals to the Arizona Cardinals in 1994. :Arizona moved to the NFC West when the league realigned into eight four-team divisions before the 2002 season. :Although the Cowboys were division champions, the Giants won the Super Bowl as a wild card qualifier.

Division champions

• • A players' strike in 1982 reduced the regular season to nine games. Thus, the league used a special 16-team playoff tournament just for this year. Division standings were ignored; Washington had the best record of the division teams and won the Super Bowl.
• ++ The 1987 Redskins are the only NFC 3rd Seed to win the Super Bowl.
• ^ The 2007 Dallas Cowboys were defeated by division rival and NFC 5th Seed New York Giants, who ultimately won Super Bowl XLII.

• The 2011 New York Giants are the only sub-10-win team to win the Super Bowl (other than the 1982 Redskins listed above), as well as the first team to win the Super Bowl as the NFC's 4th Seed.

• • The 2020 Washington Football Team is the only NFC East division winner to have a losing record.

Including the pre-Super Bowl era, the Giants have eight league championships, while Eagles, Cowboys, and Washington have five each.

There have been three division sweeps of the NFC East Division, the 1998 Dallas Cowboys (8–0), the 2004 Philadelphia Eagles (6–0), and the 2021 Dallas Cowboys (6–0).

Wild Card qualifiers

• • A players' strike in 1982 reduced the regular season to nine games, so the league used a special 16-team playoff tournament just for this year.
• ** The 2007 New York Giants are the only NFC East team to win a Super Bowl as a Wild Card team, and the first NFL team in history to win the Super Bowl as a 5th Seed in either Conference.

Total playoff berths since 1967

To sort table above, click button to right of heading.

:1These numbers only reflect the Cardinals' time as a member of the NFC East, as the team realigned to the NFC West after the 2001 season.

Season results

Schedule assignments

References

References

1. Polacek, Scott. (February 5, 2018). "NFC East Becomes 1st Division in Which Each Team Has Won a Super Bowl".
2. Dubow, Josh. (2025-02-12). "Eagles' roster overhaul between two Super Bowl titles is an NFL rarity".
3. "Local Television Market Universe Estimates".
4. Hladik, Matt. (January 7, 2024). "The NFC East's New Division Winner Streak Has Now Reached 19 Years".
5. Richman, Jacob. (January 9, 2024). "When was the last NFC East repeat champion and why is the streak so long?".
6. Frank, Reuben. (August 28, 2023). "A look at every NFC East winner since 2004 and why they didn't repeat".
7. Maaddi, Rob. (2022-10-17). "Analysis: NFC East goes from least to beast in 2 years".
8. Gordon, Grant. (January 7, 2024). "Cowboys win second NFC East title in three seasons with win over Commanders".
9. (December 31, 2024). "NFC East Has No Repeat Champions For Two Decades".
10. Gordon, Grant. (December 20, 2025). "Eagles repeat as NFC East champions; snap 21-year streak without consecutive division winners".
11. "Lincoln Financial Field - Google Maps".
12. "AT&T Stadium - Google Maps".
13. "FedExField".
14. "Met Life Stadium - Google Maps".
15. (August 9, 2023). "NFL team valuations rankings for 2023:Cowboys again tower over every franchise, Giants exceed $7 billion".
16. (January 3, 2013). "Graphic: Which NFL Playoff Seeds Succeed?".
17. "NFL.com - Official Site of the National Football League - NFL.com".