NFL Football is one of the Intellivision's signature sports titles, offering a strategic and action-packed simulation of American football. Players control both offensive and defensive formations, calling plays, passing, running, punting, and kicking in a full game that emphasizes timing, execution, and play selection. Originally released by Mattel Electronics under an official National Football League (NFL) license, the game was later republished by INTV Corporation as Football after acquiring the Intellivision product line, with the primary change being the removal of the NFL branding. Widely regarded as one of the console's finest sports games, NFL Football helped establish Intellivision's reputation for delivering deeper and more realistic sports simulations than its contemporaries.

NFL Football was one of the key titles featured in Mattel's famous television commercials comparing Intellivision sports games to those on the Atari 2600. Those ads were instrumental in establishing Intellivision as the "serious sports gamer's" console in the early 1980s.