What Time Does the NFL Playoffs Start?
The NFL playoffs are finally here! Find out what time each game starts so you don’t miss a single minute of the action.
NFL Playoffs Basics
The NFL playoffs are a single-elimination tournament held after the end of the regular season to determine the NFL champion. Wild card teams are seeded fifth and sixth, and they play each other in the first round. The winners of those games go on to play the third-seeded and fourth-seeded divisional winners in the second round.
What time do the NFL playoffs start?
The NFL playoffs are a single-elimination tournament held after the end of the National Football League’s (NFL) regular season to determine the NFL champion. Six teams from each of the league’s two conferences qualify for the playoffs based on regular season records, and expand to seven teams in each conference if a team winning a Wild Card berth also wins their division.
The tournament culminates in the Super Bowl, the league’s championship game. Since 1966, when the NFL merged with the American Football League (AFL), the winner of the Super Bowl has been determined through play in those leagues’ respective championship games. Before that, the champion was determined by a vote of league owners. The playoffs were not instituted until 1933, when there were only two playoff teams (the NFL Championship Game). When the league expanded to four teams in 1936, three playoff rounds were added. When the league expanded to eight teams in 1950, it kept this structure for twelve seasons before returning to three rounds in 1967. In 1975 and 1978, only one wild card team would qualify instead of two from each conference. This lasted for three seasons before returning to two wild card teams per conference starting in 1981. Following an agreement reached with ABC in 1986 on Monday Night Football broadcaster ABC that they would be given an additional week off duringWild Card Weekend if they did not have any involvement with it (thus giving all of their announcers full rest before they called their respective Conference Championship Games), NBC gained control over broadcasting rights to both Conference Championship Games which they would then alternate between every year until 1997.[1][2] The current structure where four divisional winners and two wild card teams from each conference compete in separate brackets was adopted upon expansion to thirty-two teams with twelve victories needed for a Super Bowl win beginning with the eleven-win 1970 season following AFL–NFL merger; since then eleven wins have only been sufficient five times (in 1972, 1973, 2014[3], 2015[4] and 2016[5]). The number one seeds hosted games throughout most of the first three rounds while number two seeds hosted during Wild Card Weekend only; this has changed so that now all games are hosted at neutral sites throughout.[6]
How do the NFL playoffs work?
When the NFL regular season ends, the top teams from each conference (the American Football Conference (AFC) and National Football Conference (NFC)) advance to the playoffs.
The four divisional winners from each conference are seeded 1-4 based on their record, with the top seed receiving a bye in the first round. The two wild card teams from each conference are seeded 5 and 6.
In the first round of the playoffs, the 5 seed will play at the 4 seed and the 6 seed will play at the 3 seed. The winners of those games advance to play the top seed in each conference in the Divisional Round. The losers of those games go home.
In the second round of playoffs, called Divisional Round, the 1 seed will host the lowest remaining seeds while 2nd lowest remaining seeds will visit 2nd highest remaining seeds and so on. The winners of these games move on to face each other in AFC and NFC Championship games to decide who goes to Super Bowl.
Wild Card Round
The NFL Playoffs are here and we know you’re wondering what time the games start. This year, the Wild Card round will begin on Saturday, January 5th at 4:35pm EST with the Bills vs Texans game. The Sunday games will start at 1:05pm EST with the Seahawks vs Eagles followed by the Patriots vs Titans.
What time do the Wild Card games start?
The NFL playoffs start on Saturday, January 4, 2020. The four Wild Card games will be played on Saturday and Sunday, with the divisional games taking place the following weekend. The conference championships will be played on January 19, and the Super Bowl will be held on February 2.
How do the Wild Card games work?
The NFL playoffs are a single-elimination tournament held after the end of the regular season to determine the NFL champion. From 1990 to 1993, four teams from each conference were seeded 1-4 based on their regular season records. The league reintroduced the wild card format in 1995, when it expanded to 30 teams with the addition of the Carolina Panthers and Jacksonville Jaguars.
Under the current format, each conference sends three wild card teams (seeded 5-7) to the playoffs. The top seed in each conference receives a bye, while the remaining two divisional winners are seeded 2 and 3. The four wild card teams play each other in the first round, with the winners advancing to face the 1 and 2 seeds in the divisional round.
The NFL playoff schedule is usually released in late December, after all 16 regular season games have been played. The Wild Card round is typically held on either Saturday or Sunday, with divisional games taking place on the following weekend. The Conference Championships are then held on Sunday afternoon, followed by the Super Bowl two weeks later.
Divisional Round
The divisional round of the NFL playoffs is set to begin on Saturday, January 16th. The first game will see the Los Angeles Rams take on the Dallas Cowboys at 8:15 pm EST. This will be followed by the New England Patriots hosting the Kansas City Chiefs at 8:15 pm EST.
What time do the Divisional games start?
The NFL playoffs start on Saturday, January 12th. The first game is the Indianapolis Colts at the Buffalo Bills. The game starts at 1:05pm EST.
The second game is the Los Angeles Rams at the Green Bay Packers. The game starts at 4:35pm EST.
The third game is the Baltimore Ravens at the Tennessee Titans. The game starts at 8:15pm EST.
The fourth and final game of the day is the Seattle Seahawks at the Dallas Cowboys. The game starts at 8:15pm EST.
How do the Divisional games work?
The NFL Divisional Playoffs are a single-elimination tournament held each year to determine the second-round opponents for the AFC and NFC Championship Games.The four teams remaining in each conference (the two division winners and two wild card teams) compete in two games on Saturday and two games on Sunday, with the winners advancing to the Conference Championships the following weekend.
Conference Championships
The National Football League (NFL) Conference Championships are the annual playoffs that determine the league’s two annual champions. The conference champions receive the conference’s automatic berth in the Super Bowl, the biggest game in professional American football.
What time do the Conference Championship games start?
The 2020 NFL Conference Championships will be held on Sunday, January 19. The AFC Championship game will start at 3:05pm ET, and will be followed by the NFC Championship game at 6:40pm ET.
How do the Conference Championship games work?
The conference championships are the last step before the Super Bowl. In the AFC, it’s the New England Patriots vs. the Kansas City Chiefs. In the NFC, it’s the Los Angeles Rams vs. the New Orleans Saints. The conference championship games will be played on Sunday, Jan. 20.
The AFC game will start at 3:05 p.m. ET and will be televised on CBS. The NFC game will start at 6:40 p.m. ET and will be televised on Fox.
Super Bowl
The NFL playoffs are upon us and culminate with the biggest game of them all, the Super Bowl. This year’s matchup features the New England Patriots and Los Angeles Rams. Here’s everything you need to know about the game, including when it starts, how to watch, and more.
What time does the Super Bowl start?
The National Football League (NFL) playoffs are a single-elimination tournament held after the regular season to determine the NFL champion. From the league’s merger with the American Football League (AFL) in 1970 until Super Bowl XXXIV in 2000, AFC teams played NFC teams in the Super Bowl. Since Super Bowl XLV in 2011, the AFC team has played an NFC team every year.
The conference champions receive trophies for their accomplishment. The conference championship games are referred to as the “AFC Championship Game” and “NFC Championship Game”, or colloquially as the “AFC-NFC Championship Game”. Prior to 1970, several championships were decided on a points system and not all games were necessarily played.
Since 1971, all playoff games have been held on Sundays, but if Christmas Day falls on a Sunday that year, an additional game may be scheduled for that Saturday. The only other exception is Super Bowl Sunday, which is always held on the last Sunday of January or first Sunday of February regardless of which day of the week it falls on; therefore, if Christmas Day falls on a Sunday that year and New Year’s Day falls on a Saturday, only one additional playoff game will be scheduled for that Saturday instead of two.
How does the Super Bowl work?
The Super Bowl is the biggest and most important game in the NFL (National Football League) season. It is the annual championship game, and is played between the winners of the NFC (National Football Conference) and AFC (American Football Conference). The game is always played on a Sunday, and usually takes place in February. This year, the Super Bowl will be played on February 4th.
