---
slug: "afc-west"
title: AFC West
depth_tier: league
side: UNIVERSAL
category: Conferences
source_id: "CON-0006"
created: 2026-05-12
updated: 2026-05-12
canonical: https://learningfootball.xyz/leagues/afc-west
aliases:
  - AFC West division
  - AFC West teams
---
# AFC West

## Short Definition

The AFC West—Broncos, Chiefs, Raiders, and Chargers, home of the Chiefs dynasty era and one of the AFC's most historically competitive divisions.

## Definition

The AFC West is one of four divisions in the American Football Conference, comprising the Denver Broncos, Kansas City Chiefs, Las Vegas Raiders, and Los Angeles Chargers. All four franchises were founding members of the AFL in 1960, making the AFC West unique among NFL divisions—its entire membership traces directly to the original rival league that merged with the NFL in 1970.

The division has been home to multiple championship dynasties across different eras. The Raiders' three Super Bowl championships under Al Davis established the division's outlaw identity. The Broncos' back-to-back titles under John Elway and a third under Peyton Manning made Denver a consistent AFC power. The Chiefs' dynasty under Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes beginning in the late 2010s has produced the division's most recent sustained excellence, with Kansas City becoming the AFC's dominant franchise.

The AFC West's geographic spread—from Denver to Las Vegas to Los Angeles to Kansas City—makes it one of the NFL's most dispersed divisions by market location, with franchises in the Mountain, Pacific, and Central time zones. The Raiders' move to Las Vegas in 2020 and the Chargers' move to Los Angeles in 2017 shifted the division's market geography significantly from its California-heavy original configuration.

The division consistently produces multiple playoff contenders, with the quality of competition making divisional games among the most consequential on the annual schedule.

## Example

"Every team in the AFC West was an original AFL franchise in 1960. No other division in the NFL can say that. Sixty-plus years of the same four franchises competing, with three separate dynasty eras between them."

## Common Confusion

All four AFC West franchises are original AFL members—Broncos, Chiefs, Raiders, and Chargers all founded in 1960. No other NFL division has this distinction. The division's competitive identity was shaped by the AFL's western franchises before the merger and has continued as one of the AFC's most consistently contested divisions across multiple eras.

## Related

- afc
- denver-broncos
- kansas-city-chiefs
- las-vegas-raiders
- los-angeles-chargers

---
Source: https://learningfootball.xyz/leagues/afc-west