What was the NFL like before the merge?

Answer 1

In the four years before the 1970 merger the NFL was composed of two conferences, Eastern and Western. The Eastern Conference was composed of the Capital and Century Divisions and the Western was composed of the Central and Coastal Divisions. The winners of the two Eastern divisions and Western divisions played against each other in the Conference Championship with the two winners playing the NFL Championship. Prior to 1966, there were simply the Esstern and Western Conferences, with the winners playing for the NFL Championship. Of note, the site for the Championship game rotated between Eastern and Western Conferences each year, so the team that had actually won more games could be playing on the road. Finally, the two second place teams in each conference played each other in the NFL Playoff Bowl in Miami.