1970 Standings

By Wikipedia

The 1970 NFL season was the 51st regular season of the National Football League, and the first one after the AFL-NFL Merger. The Baltimore Colts, Cleveland Browns, and the Pittsburgh Steelers agreed to join the other AFL teams to form the American Football Conference (AFC). The remaining NFL teams formed the National Football Conference (NFC).

Also, the merged league began to use an eight-team playoff format that included one wild card team from each conference, the second-place team with the best record. The season ended with Super Bowl V when the Colts defeated the Dallas Cowboys.

Meanwhile, with the debut of Monday Night Football during this season, the NFL becomes the first professional sports league in the United States to have a regular series of nationally televised games in prime time.

Major rule changes

• The NFL rules basically become the standardized rules for the merged league, including the rule that a point after touchdown is worth one point. The AFL previously used the two-point conversion, which would not be adopted to the NFL until 1994.
• The official time of the game is kept on the stadium scoreboard clock.
• Rules are added to place names on the back of players' jerseys.

Playoffs

Main articles: Division, Conference

(Home team in capitals.)

AFC

• Divisional playoffs: BALTIMORE 17, Cincinnati 0; OAKLAND 21, Miami 14
• AFC Championship: BALTIMORE 27, Oakland 17

NFC

• Divisional playoffs: DALLAS 5, Detroit 0; San Francisco 17, MINNESOTA 14
• NFC Championship: Dallas 17, SAN FRANCISCO 10

Super Bowl V

Baltimore (AFC) 16, Dallas (NFC) 13, at Orange Bowl, Miami, Florida