Editing American Football Conference (section)

==Season structure==
<!--Table must be updated for AFC champions-->
{{main|NFL regular season|NFL playoffs}}
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{| class="wikitable" style="font-size:90%"
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! {{abbr|POS|Position}} !! AFC East !! AFC North !! AFC South !! AFC West
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| 1st || style="background-color:#ffaa00"|[[Buffalo Bills|Bills]] || style="background-color:#ffaa00"|[[Baltimore Ravens|Ravens]] || style="background-color:#ffff00"|[[Houston Texans|Texans]] || style="background-color:#00ff00"|[[Kansas City Chiefs|Chiefs]]
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| 2nd || [[Miami Dolphins|Dolphins]] || [[Pittsburgh Steelers|Steelers]] || style="background-color:#ffff00"|[[Indianapolis Colts|Colts]] || style="background-color:#add8e6"|[[Los Angeles Chargers|Chargers]]
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| 3rd || [[New York Jets|Jets]] || [[Cincinnati Bengals|Bengals]] || style="background-color:#ffff00"|[[Jacksonville Jaguars|Jaguars]] || style="background-color:#add8e6"|[[Denver Broncos|Broncos]]
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| 4th || [[New England Patriots|Patriots]] || [[Cleveland Browns|Browns]] || style="background-color:#ffff00"|[[Tennessee Titans|Titans]] || style="background-color:#add8e6"|[[Las Vegas Raiders|Raiders]]
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! {{abbr|POS|Position}} !! NFC East !! NFC North !! NFC South !! NFC West
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| 1st || style="background-color:#ffff00"|[[Philadelphia Eagles|Eagles]] || style="background-color:#ffcccc"|[[Detroit Lions|Lions]] || [[Tampa Bay Buccaneers|Buccaneers]] || [[Los Angeles Rams|Rams]]
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| 2nd || style="background-color:#ffff00"|[[Washington Commanders|Commanders]] || [[Minnesota Vikings|Vikings]] || [[Atlanta Falcons|Falcons]] || [[Seattle Seahawks|Seahawks]]
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| 3rd || style="background-color:#ffff00"|[[Dallas Cowboys|Cowboys]] || [[Green Bay Packers|Packers]] || [[Carolina Panthers|Panthers]] || [[Arizona Cardinals|Cardinals]]
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| 4th || style="background-color:#ffff00"|[[New York Giants|Giants]] || [[Chicago Bears|Bears]] || [[New Orleans Saints|Saints]] || [[San Francisco 49ers|49ers]]
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This chart of the [[2024 NFL season#Regular season standings|2024 season standings]] displays an application of the NFL scheduling formula. The [[2024 Kansas City Chiefs season|Chiefs in 2024]] (highlighted in green) finished in first place in the [[AFC West]]. Thus, [[2025 Kansas City Chiefs season|in 2025]], the Chiefs will play two games against each of its division rivals (highlighted in light blue), one game against each team in the [[AFC South]] and [[NFC East]] (highlighted in yellow), and one game each against the first-place finishers in the [[AFC East]], [[AFC North]] (highlighted in orange) and [[NFC North]] (highlighted in pink).</div>
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Currently, the fourteen opponents each team faces over the 17-game regular season schedule are set using a predetermined formula:

Each AFC team plays the other teams in their respective division twice (home and away) during the regular season, in addition to eleven other games assigned to their schedule by the NFL: three games are assigned on the basis of a particular team's final divisional standing from the previous season, and the remaining eight games are split between the roster of two other NFL divisions. This assignment shifts each year and will follow a standard cycle. Using the 2023 regular season schedule as an example, each team in the AFC West plays against every team in the AFC East and NFC North. In this way, non-divisional competition will be mostly among common opponents – the exception being the three games assigned based on the team's prior-season divisional standing.

At the end of each season, the four division winners and three [[Wild card (sports)|wild cards]] (non-division winners with best regular season record) in the AFC qualify for the [[NFL playoffs|playoffs]]. The AFC playoffs culminate in the [[AFC Championship Game]], with the winner receiving the [[Lamar Hunt]] Trophy. The AFC champion then plays the [[National Football Conference|NFC]] champion in the [[Super Bowl]].