The NFL franchises have the most varied names. Whether they have been chosen by fans or by owners, whether they are intimidating animals, tributes to people, industries, or groups, each team has a story behind it.
Below, we will share a summary of the stories behind some top NFL teams (you’ve probably staked on their NFL odds), so sit and enjoy.
Arizona Cardinal
They are the oldest football team in the United States since they were born in 1898 as Morgan Athletic Club. The name Cardinals arrived in 1920 and was chosen because they wore maroon jerseys whose discolouration resulted in the so-called cardinal red. The franchise adopted the northern cardinal as its emblem in the 1940s.
Atlanta Falcons
It is very common for team names in North American leagues to win popular tournaments. Before the Georgians kicked off in 1966, there were about five hundred proposals to name the franchise, including Peaches or Confederates. However, the winning option was Falcons because they are “lethal, proud, dignified birds that never let go of their prey.”
Baltimore Ravens
Art Modell moved the Browns from Cleveland to Baltimore in 1996. However, there was an agreement between Modell, the NFL, and the city of Cleveland that Brown’s story would remain in Ohio pending their resurrection in 1999. Therefore, Modell’s is considered an expansion team and had to receive a new name. This was Ravens (Ravens) in homage to the famous poem The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe, who died in Baltimore in 1849.
Buffalo Bills
The current Buffalo Bills were born in the American Football League (AFL) in 1960. Their name was taken as a sign of respect for the disappeared Buffalo Bisons/Bills of the also extinct AAFC. This team adopted that last denomination in homage to the famous explorer and bison hunter Buffalo Bill. A very well-drawn name.
Carolina Panthers
Jerry Richardson chose Panthers as the name for his team. This is because that feline brought together what, for him, should be the characteristics of an NFL team: power, elegance, and strength. It should also be noted that the franchise’s place name makes no distinction between the two Carolinas, even though the Panthers play in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Chicago Bears
In 1921 George Halas took control of the Decatur Staleys and moved them to Chicago, where the Chicago Cubs ( Bear Cubs ) played baseball. For Halas, football players were bigger than baseball players, so he decided that his team would be the Bears ( adult Bears ).
Cincinnati Bengals
Same case as the Bills. The Cincinnati Bengals (Bengal Tigers) now have that name because between 1937 and 1941, there was a football team named after that in the southern Ohio city. The group chose Bengals because the Cincinnati Zoo had a rare breed of Bengal tiger.
Cleveland Browns
The Browns are the only North American team whose name is derived directly from someone. Although one of its colors is brown, the Cleveland team does not owe its name to the color but to Paul Brown, the franchise’s first coach and general manager.
Dallas Cowboys
The one now was the third name that the team had before even playing a game. And it is that the America’s Team was first the Steers ( Halters ) and then the Rangers, but its first president, Tex Schramm, discarded them because having an ox as a mascot was ridiculous and not to copy the Minor League Baseball team. that was in Dallas, respectively. In the end, in 1960, the Cowboys ( Cowboys ) were born—an unbeatable nod to Texas history.
Denver Broncos
In North America, they use the term bronco to refer to wild or little domesticated horses with a tendency to buck (for example, those seen in rodeos). These are very popular in the Denver area, so it was no wonder that the Broncos were the winner of the famous contest that gave name to one of the founders of the American Football League.
Detroit Lions
A method was similar to that of the Bears. The franchise, now based in Detroit, was born in 1930 as the Portsmouth Spartans but moved to Motor City four years later. Since there were already some felines there (the Detroit Tigers of the MLB), the team became the Detroit Lions ( Leones ) because they also wanted to be the kings of the NFL, so what better feline than the king of the jungle.
Green Bay Packers
The Indian Packing Company was a company dedicated to canning meat that had one of its factories in the small town of Green Bay (Wisconsin). One of his couriers, Curly Lambeau, founded the Green Bay Packers in 1919. The name ( Packers ) was a token of appreciation to the company’s owner for giving him the money to buy the team’s first uniforms.
Houston Texans
The youngest franchise in the NFL was born in 1999 to fill the void left in Houston by the Oilers’ departure to Tennessee and to balance the number of teams in the league. Bob McNair wanted to call his team Stallions but felt there were too many horses already (Broncos and Colts and the secondary Chargers logo). In the end, he settled on Texans to represent the bravery of the people of Texas.
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