American football dates back to the mid-19th century when schools began playing games using modified rules from football and rugby. As soccer grew in popularity, many firms sponsored professional teams. This laid the foundation for the American Professional Football Association (APFA), which was started in 1920 as the direct forerunner of the National Football League (NFL).
The APFA started off with 10 teams, which had already existed in some form as regional teams. Now, just two teams from this initial lineup are still around, the Arizona Cardinals (previously the Chicago Cardinals) and the Chicago Bears (originally the Decatur Staleys).
For the 1922 season, the APFA changed its name to the NFL and the other teams on this record joined in succeeding years. All these teams played a significant part in establishing the principles and habits of today’s NFL. Here are the top 8 Oldest teams in the NFL.
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Oldest teams in the NFL
1. Arizona Cardinals
According to NFL Sportskeeda, the Cardinals is one of only two groups that were part of the inaugural NFL roster, along with the Chicago Bears and they are also the oldest group in the NFL. Since 1988, the franchise was based out of Arizona.
However, their history traces all the way back to 1898, decades earlier even when the NFL was set. Originally, they were known as the Morgan Athletic Club. A few decades later the group bought used jerseys at the University of Chicago, which was called the faded color “Cardinal red” by the group founder Chris O’Brien.
2. Chicago Bears
Apart from the Arizona Cardinals, the Chicago Bears will be the only current franchise that’s existed since the very first year of the NFL in 1920. The Bears started out in Decatur, Illinois since the Staleys and were transferred to Chicago the next year. The team changed its name to the Chicago Bears in 1922 and has never moved cities or altered its name ever since then.
The Bears were initially sponsored by the Staley Starch Company, which decided to provide a team to legendary coach George Halas, for $5,000. The Staley Starch Company also allowed Halas to move the group to Chicago when he promised to maintain the Staleys name for yet another year. From the start, the Chicago Bears are one of the very popular and successful franchises in the NFL. Now, the Chicago Bears are still possessed by members of the Halas family.
3. New York Giants
As it was founded, The New York Giants have remained in precisely the exact same city. Founded in 1925 by Tim Mara, he purchased the franchise in New York for $500. Mara had spent another $25,000 by the end of that first season. The New York Giants were a popular, strong, and proficient team from the beginning. During its first time, more than 70,000 people had come out to see the team play.
4. Green Bay Packers
Though the Green Bay Packers did not join the NFL before its second season, the group has the distinction of being the oldest continuous franchise that has never moved or changed its name. From its beginning in 1919, the Packers, who had been sponsored by the Indian Packing Company, have been based from Green Bay, Wisconsin.
The Green Bay Packers were founded by Earl Curly Lambeau and George Whitney Calhoun. Lambeau was a former soccer player and became the Packers’ first trainer. The Green Bay Packers home field is named in honor of Lambeau. In addition to Lambeau, coach Vince Lombardi is another dominant figure in the Packers’ history. Between the 2 coaches, the Green Bay Packers won 11 NFL Championships (pre-Super Bowl).
5. Detroit Lions
The Lions are the next oldest team to never win a Super Bowl. They have long been known for their futility on the football field than victory, for example, their 2008 campaign when they became the first team to eliminate all 16 games in a season. However, some of this game’s greats Also Have suited up for the Lions, like Barry Sanders and Calvin Johnson.
6. Washington Redskins
The Washington Redskins were created as the Boston Braves in 1932 when George Preston Marshall was awarded the inactive Boston NFL franchise. Marshall named the group Braves following the name of the field the team used, Braves Field, which was the home of the National League baseball team. The team was moved to Fenway Park in 1933 along its title was changed to the Redskins.
During a 10-year run spanning the early 1980s through the early 1990s, Washington won three Super Bowls. Since that time the group has struggled to reclaim its glory days but hope that rookie quarterback Dwayne Haskins can change the mojo.
7. Philadelphia Eagles
After the Eagles won their first Super Bowl two seasons ago, taking down the New England Patriots, Philadelphia fans responded with raucous parties in the streets. House to a passionate base of supporters, the Eagles had suffered through more heartbreak than success in their 80-plus years of presence, despite hosting a spate of legendary players from Reggie White to Brian Dawkins.
Occasionally Eagles fans reacted so strongly to the team’s performance, that a court was put up within Veterans Stadium to take care of the many unruly offenders.
8. Pittsburgh Steelers
The Pittsburgh Steelers were set in 1933 by Arthur J. Rooney and the team remains under the ownership of the Rooney family now. While the group has always been in Pittsburgh, it was not always called the Steelers and was initially the Pittsburgh Pirates (like the baseball team).
For the first 40 years of the franchise’s history, the Steelers were an unremarkable group and never won a championship of any kind. In the 1970s, the Steelers hit their stride and had one of the greatest winning streaks in NFL history.
During the 1970s, the Pittsburgh Steelers got eight consecutive playoff berths, seven AFC Central titles, and four AFC championships. The Steelers went on to become the first team from the NFL to win four Super Bowls and is the only team to win the Super Bowl twice in a row.
Final Thought
The NFL is celebrating its 100th season, which entails a whole lot of history among stadiums, fans, and teams. But how many of those NFL’s first teams are still in existence? When it comes to the rest of the teams, which are the earliest? Despite the NFL’s centennial, let’s see the very best earliest NFL franchises have transformed over the years in this informative article above. Hope that you have great information.
