Tom Brady was the quarterback that had the most championships by any player in NFL history. That record is now — officially — tied with Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback Otto Graham.
The NFL announced at the league meetings that the statistics from the All-America Football Conference will be incorporated into the league’s record books. The records were officially approved by the league’s owners Tuesday. The AAFC existed from 1946 through 1949 as a direct competitor to the NFL before folding, producing the Cleveland Browns, Baltimore Colts, and San Francisco 49ers.
The Browns won all four of the AAFC championships between 1946 to 1949, which is where Brady’s championship mark is tied with Graham. Now that the league recognizes these championships, the four titles Otto Graham won in Cleveland when they were in the AAFC adds to the three NFL championships he won with the Browns in 1950, 1954, and 1955 — giving him seven titles. With the AAFC records official, the Browns won five straight titles between 1946 and 1950 — four in the AAFC and one in the NFL.
Brady and Graham each played in 10 championship games, both going 7-3 in title games. While Brady still has the NFL record for most Super Bowls won (seven) and Super Bowl appearances as a player (10), he shares the all-time record with Graham for championships won and championship game appearances (the NFL started in 1920).
With the merger of the AAFC records, which were somehow ignored by the NFL when it folded and the league took the teams that didn’t disband, the most championships won by any coach in NFL history now belongs to Browns head coach Paul Brown.
Brown now has seven championships in the NFL record books instead of three, thanks to the NFL announcing the merger of the AAFC records. With seven championships, Brown surpasses Bill Belichick, George Halas, and Curly Lambeau for the most championships in NFL history. Belichick, Halas, and Lambeau each won six titles.
Belichick has the most Super Bowl titles for a head coach with six, but Brown has passed him for the all-time mark. Brown is officially seventh on the all-time wins list for head coaches with 213, as his 49 AAFC regular season victories were added (he was previously 21st with 164).
Here’s another caveat to the league record books with AAFC records intact. The 1972 Miami Dolphins have company with the perfect season, as the 1948 Browns went 14-0-0 in the AAFC. These are the only two teams recognized by the league as having a perfect regular season and postseason (undefeated and untied).
The Dolphins are still the only team to go undefeated and untied in an NFL season, but the Browns perfect season in the AAFC is part of the NFL record books as well.
The league incorporated the AFL records when the two leagues officially merged at the conclusion of the 1969 season. They are finally doing the same with the AAFC.
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