When Tom Brady retired in 2023 – this time for good – he did so with seven Super Bowl titles to his name – a record most believed could never be matched.
Yet, just two years later, the legendary NFL quarterback has been joined on his pedestal following a major decision by the league.
At the annual NFL league meetings, owners approved a proposal by Competition Committee on Tuesday to incorporate player, coach and team statistics from the All-America Football Conference into the official NFL records.
The AAFC had been a direct competitor to the NFL from 1946 through 1949 before folding and the Cleveland Browns, San Francisco 49ers and original Baltimore Colts then joining the league in 1950.
Out of those three teams, one proved to be extremely successful in the pre-NFL chapter of its history. The Browns, coached by Paul Brown and led by Otto Graham at quarterback, won all four AAFC championships.
And following the decision to incorporate the AAFC’s statistics into the NFL’s records, the addition of those four championships takes Graham’s total to seven – matching the number of Super Bowls (NFL championships) won by Brady.
Tom Brady’s number of NFL championships has now been matched following a league decision
The legendary quarterback retired in 2023 with seven Super Bowl titles to his name
After the incorporation of AAFC stats, Otto Graham’s total has been taken to seven
Graham has seven pre-Super Bowl-era championships now in the record books, thanks to the three more the Browns won upon their arrival in the NFL in 1950, 1954, and 1955.
While Graham has tied Brady, it’s worse news for Bill Belichick, who has now been surpassed by Brown with the latter’s seven titles snatching the crown for the winningest head coach in NFL history from the New England Patriots legend’s six.
The AAFC had published a statistical supplement after its final season in 1949 that included single-game records, but scoresheets from all the individual games weren’t available at the time.
However, those scoresheets have now been recovered and after consultation with the Elias Sports Bureau and the Pro Football Hall of Fame, the stats are now part of the official record.
The NFL incorporated stats from the AFL into its official record after the leagues merged in 1970.
That gives Brown 52 additional regular-season and playoff wins to his previous total of 170, moving him from 22nd place all time to seventh with 222.
The incorporation of the AAFC stats includes the 1948 season when the Browns went 14-0 in the regular season and then won the championship game for a perfect 15-0 season.
Only one NFL team has gone through a regular season and playoffs undefeated, with the 1972 Miami Dolphins going 17-0. Some of the members of that team celebrate the accomplishment each year with Champagne after every team in the NFL has at least one loss.
Cleveland Browns coach Paul Brown now also has a total of seven championships
Brown’s total surpasses Patriots legend Bill Belichick as the NFL’s winningest head coach
They can still do that as the NFL’s only undefeated team in the playoff era that began in 1933 with the NFL planning to list the AAFC champions separately in the record book.
The quality of the AAFC as a league was shown when the Browns won the NFL title in 1950 in their first year in the new league. There are two coaches and 15 players from the AAFC in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, including notable names like Otto Graham, Lou Groza, Elroy Hirsch, Tom Landry, Marion Motley, Joe Perry and YA Tittle.
Tittle now moves from 65th in career yards passing to 44th – between Steve Young and Troy Aikman – and Motley’s 5.7 yards per carry are the best ever for any running back with at least 750 carries and fourth best for any player. Groza moves from 41st all-time in scoring to 24th with 1,608 points.
For team records, the 1948 49ers now have the single-season rushing record with 3,663 yards, eclipsing the previous mark of 3,296 by the Ravens in 2019. San Francisco’s 6.07 yards per carry that season are also the new record, ahead of Baltimore’s 5.76 this past season.
