<Tr> <Th> Most recent NFC North champion (s) </Th> <Td> Minnesota Vikings (20 titles) </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Most NFC North titles </Th> <Td> Minnesota Vikings (20 titles) </Td> </Tr> <P> The NFC North is a division of the National Football League (NFL)'s National Football Conference (NFC), based in the Upper Midwest region of the United States . Nicknamed the "Black & Blue Division" for the rough and tough rivalry games between the teams, it currently has four members: the Chicago Bears, Detroit Lions, Green Bay Packers, and Minnesota Vikings . The NFC North was previously known as the NFC Central from 1970 to 2001 . The Tampa Bay Buccaneers were previously members, from 1977, one year after they joined the league as an expansion team, until 2001 when they moved to the NFC South . </P> <P> The division was created in 1967 as the Central Division of the NFL's Western Conference and existed for three seasons before the AFL--NFL merger . After the merger, it was renamed the NFC Central and retained that name until the NFL split into eight divisions in 2002 . The four current division teams have been together in the same division or conference since the Vikings joined the league in 1961 . The Bears, Lions and Packers have been in the same division or conference since the NFL began a conference format in 1933 . Largely because the four teams have played each other at least twice a year, with the exception of the strike - shortened 1982 season, for more than half a century (more than 80 years in the case of the Bears, Lions and Packers), the entire division is considered one very large rivalry . </P>

When did the buccaneers leave the nfc north