We all know that football goes through a lot of ups and downs, per each team, division, and conference. One team or division might be good one year and suck the next, and that's what we love about football, the parity. That's what makes football the greatest sport and why baseball should take a few notes(see salary cap). But with all of this parity, how has the AFC west done as of late, let's take a look...

Whether you have looked this up or not, the AFC west has gone the longest of any other division to have a team go to the Super Bowl:

NFC East- NYG- 2007

NFC South- N.O. Saints- 2009

NFC West- ARI- 2008

NFC North- GB- 2010

(Yes a different division each of the last 4 years, can u say "parity"?)

AFC East-  N.E.- 2007

AFC North- PIT- 2010

AFC South- IND- 2009

AFC West- OAKLAND- 2002!

Yes it has been since the 2002 season since the AFC west has sent a team to the Super Bowl, 5 years longer than any other division, and it was the freaking Raiders, with our re-tred QB at the helm. And they lost so it's been even longer than that since we've won a SB. Let's look at that by division. 

NFC East- NYG- 2007

NFC South- N.O. Saints- 2009

NFC West- STL- 1999

NFC North- GB- 2010

AFC East-  N.E.- 2004

AFC North- PIT- 2008

AFC South- IND- 2006

AFC West- DENVER- 1998!

This one isn't as glaring as the last, since it's been since 99' for the NFC West, who has generally been considered a much weaker division than ours, and if not for the 9-7 Cardinals getting hot and squeezing into the playoffs against the Steelers in 08 then it would look a lot worse for them. But maybe that doesn't tell all of the story, maybe we've won playoff games and just not made it to the Super Bowl right? Let's look at those numbers by conference for the last 12 years or the season right after Denver won it all. 

-----------Playoff Appearance-------- Playoff Win------ Super Bowl App------ Super Bowl Win

NFC-East ------ 23------------------------- 18------------------    3------------------------------ 1

NFC-South -----17------------------------- 14------------------    3------------------------------ 2

NFC-North ------17-------------------------13------------------    2------------------------------ 1

NFC-West------ 15------------------------- 15------------------   4 -------------------------------1

AFC-East -------19------------------------- 19-----------------    4 -------------------------------3

AFC-South------ 20------------------------ 15------------------    3------------------------------- 1

AFC-North ------17------------------------- 18------------------    4 -------------------------------3

AFC-West------ 16--------------------------  8------------------     1------------------------------- 0

I think this graph is pretty telling for how miserable the AFC west has been the last decade. We've managed 8 playoff wins in 12 years and most of those came the year Oakland went to the Super Bowl. The other thing I found interesting is how bad the NFC North has been as well. Going into to last years playoffs they had 9 playoff wins, 1 appearance(Chicago) and no wins in the SB. Obviously last years performance by GB and CHI in the playoffs inflated their stats substantially, and until last year they were in the race right with us for the cellar dwellers. Alas, things change and maybe our record will look better after a couple good playoff performances over a couple years, but right now it's pretty clear that our division has been dismal the last decade, and I'm not sure who to blame. I'm not sure if blame is even due, if it's just the way football goes and sometimes teams go thru dry spells. Regardless I found these numbers interesting, hope you do too.