Why do believe that the NFL before the merger with the AFL is irrelevant and not "real" football?
There are lots of folks here who were patriot fans before there was a Super Bowl, and Giant or Browns fans before that. There was an NFL since the 20's and professional leagues even before that.
History of the National Football League - Wikipedia
The Giants, that is, the New York football Giants were founded in 1925.
History of the New York Giants - Wikipedia
Like with Major League Baseball, there are different level of demarcations. The separate league setup has allowed the pennant idea to continue to be viable - National League pennants (and American Association pennants) won prior to 1903 are very legitimate and included by everyone in their record books. But no one considers them the world champions for the most part because the modern construct didn’t exist.
The NFL is different in that it actually absorbed the AFL instead of running with a dual league setup with a MLF overarching brand. It also didn’t have a National Association predecessor league like the NL did; instead the NFL just reorganized. MLB doesn’t recognize National Association records and championships for good reason.
But when you dig into the NFL’s actual record, I think clear lines of demarcation can be drawn:
- NFL championships prior to 1933 are a complete joke, the equivalent to baseball’s National Association, and should be disregarded.
- The quality of the NFL through 1945 was dubious; it was better than competitor leagues , but there was a game against college all stars every year for a reason - it was the NFL who begged for it. This was like the NL during 1876-1881.
- The NFL became a quality product post WW2 as people played in the war, saw instant strategic similarities, and the idea of being a professional football player became legitimized. The AAFC was a legit competitor for audience even if its talent was lower outside of the Browns. This is like the AA/NL years of 1882-1891.
- From 1950 on this accelerated further as the NFL absorbed 3 AAFL teams, and after the Colts folded, were able to bring a new Colts team back by popular outcry. Football is the perfect TV sport and its arrival combined with WW2 changed everything. The NFL was very legit here, but they intentionally kept the size of the league small, only 12 teams. This left a big opening. This is like the NL of the 1890s after the AA folded.
- Enter the AFL of the 1960s. The NFL was legit while the AFL got its bearings. Until the merger agreement, this is 1900-1902 Western League/ American League.
- Post merger agreement had the first championship, common draft, and expanded league. This is the NFL we know today, from 1966 on, like MLB 1903 on.
Where does that leave us? From my perspective pre-1933 records are worthless, and from there 1933 through 1965 NFL champions are basically like MLB pennant winners pre-World Series. I view them as NFC champions who had no AFC to face. Same thing with AFL from 1960 through 1965.
We don’t ignore the old times, but we recognize that the pro football era we all fell in love with and associate our champions with falls in a fully expanded professional league that is able to recruit the highest talent to play in its league rather than playing another sport. That’s the Super Bowl era.
