Who Made the NFL Playoffs?

The NFL playoffs are upon us and there are four teams left vying for a spot in the Super Bowl. Who will win it all?

The NFL Playoffs

The NFL playoffs are a single-elimination tournament held after the regular season to determine the NFL champion. Each year, six teams from each conference (NFC and AFC) qualify for the playoffs. The four division winners in each conference are seeded 1-4 based on their record, with the top two seeds receiving a first-round bye. The other two teams are wild card teams, seeded 5 and 6.

The teams that made it

So, who made the playoffs? In the AFC, the New England Patriots, Pittsburgh Steelers, Jacksonville Jaguars, and Kansas City Chiefs clinched their respective divisions while the Los Angeles Chargers claimed a spot as a wild card team. In the NFC, the Los Angeles Rams, New Orleans Saints, Chicago Bears, and Dallas Cowboys took their divisions while the Seattle Seahawks and Minnesota Vikings secured wild card positions.

The teams that didn’t

The following eight teams didn’t make the playoffs this year. Some of them were close, but ultimately fell short. Others simply had a down year and failed to meet expectations. Regardless, they’ll all be looking to bounce back in 2020 and return to the playoffs.

-Atlanta Falcons
-Dallas Cowboys
-Detroit Lions
-Los Angeles Chargers
-Minnesota Vikings
-New England Patriots
-Pittsburgh Steelers
-Seattle Seahawks

How the NFL Playoffs Work

The National Football League (NFL) playoffs are a single-elimination tournament held after the end of the regular season to determine the NFL champion. A series of playoff games are played until only two teams remain, who then compete in the Super Bowl, the league’s championship game.

The seeding

In the NFL, the team with the best record in each conference (AFC and NFC) earns a first-round bye and home-field advantage in the divisional playoffs. The next two teams in each conference (based on record) host wild card playoff games.

The seeding of the remaining four divisional winners is based on their regular season records, with the best team playing the worst team, and the second-best playing the second-worst. The winners of those games advance to face one of the top two seeds in the conference Championship game, held at a neutral site.

Theoringically, this system is supposed to create two evenly matched Conference Championship games, featuring the four best teams in each conference. In practice, it doesn’t always work out that way – often times there are mismatches (like last year’s AFC game between New England and Jacksonville), or teams with similar records end up meeting each other early on in the playoffs.

The Wild Card Round

The first weekend of the NFL playoffs is known as the Wild Card round. In this round, the four division winners from each conference are seeded one through four based on their records. The two division winners with the worst records face each other in a game, as do the other two division winners. The higher seeds host each game. These four winners advance to the Divisional Playoffs.

The Divisional Round

The eight survivors of the Wild Card round advance to the Divisional Round. This field is then whittled down to the four teams that will play in the Conference Championships.

In the Divisional Round, the lower-seeded team in each matchup hosts the game. Just like in the Wild Card Round, if both conference’s #6 seeds win, then both #5 seeds will get to host a game. If one #6 seed wins and one #5 seed wins, then only the #5 seed will get a home game — remember, it all comes down to who has the better record.

The four winners advance to the Conference Championships, where they battle it out to see who goes to the Super Bowl. The higher-seeded team in each matchup hosts the game.

The Conference Championships

The Conference Championships are the penultimate round of the NFL playoffs. The four divisional winners from each conference (the AFC and NFC) play each other in two separate games to decide which team from each conference will advance to the Super Bowl.

The Conference Championships are usually played on the third weekend in January. The NFC Championship game is played at one of the home stadiums of the participating teams, while the AFC Championship game is played at a neutral site. This year, the NFC Championship game will be played at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin, while the AFC Championship game will be played at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri.

The Conference Championships are generally considered to be the most important games of the NFL season outside of the Super Bowl itself. As such, they tend to attract a large amount of media attention and generate considerable excitement among fans of both participating teams and of the NFL in general.

The Super Bowl

The Super Bowl is the biggest and most important game of the NFL season. It is the championship game, played between the winner of the American Football Conference (AFC) and the winner of the National Football Conference (NFC). The game is played at a neutral site, usually a city with a warm climate or a dome stadium. The first Super Bowl was played in 1967.

The winning team receives the Vince Lombardi Trophy, named after the legendary coach who led the Green Bay Packers to victories in the first two Super Bowls. The loser receives nothing but bragging rights until next season.

Tickets to the Super Bowl are among the most coveted in all of sports. They are very difficult to get and very expensive. Most fans watch the game on television, which is nearly as good as being there in person.

What Happens Next

There are 12 teams in the NFL playoffs this year. 6 from the AFC and 6 from the NFC. The AFC is made up of the New England Patriots, Pittsburgh Steelers, Jacksonville Jaguars, Kansas City Chiefs, Tennessee Titans, and Los Angeles Chargers. The NFC is made up of the Philadelphia Eagles, Minnesota Vikings, Los Angeles Rams, New Orleans Saints, Carolina Panthers, and Atlanta Falcons. The playoffs start on Saturday, January 5th with the wildcard games.

The offseason

Once the season is over, the teams that didn’t make the playoffs enter what’s known as the offseason. This is when they start to prepare for next year’s campaign. Front office personnel will evaluate the team’s performance from the past year and make decisions about which players to keep and which to let go. They’ll also start looking at potential draft picks and free agents who could improve the team.

Meanwhile, the coaching staff will be busy developing a game plan for next season. They’ll study film from this year and try to identify areas where their team needs to get better. They’ll also start working on ways to stop their opponents’ strengths and exploit their weaknesses.

As the offseason wears on, teams will begin holding voluntary workouts and minicamps. These are designed to help players stay in shape and get acquainted with the playbook before training camp starts in late July or early August.

Once training camp begins, things really start to ramp up. Players will compete for starting spots on the depth chart and position battles will begin in earnest. The coaches will also start putting together a game plan for the regular season opener.

The preseason will wrap up shortly before Labor Day, at which point the focus will shift completely to the regular season. For 16 weeks, every team in the league will battle it out in hopes of making it to the playoffs and ultimately winning a chance to hoist the Lombardi Trophy.

The NFL Draft

The National Football League Draft is an annual event in which the 32 NFL teams select eligible football players to add to their rosters. The draft order is determined by the previous season’s standings, with the team with the worst record receiving the first pick and the Super Bowl champion receiving the final pick of each round.

The draft consists of seven rounds, with each team having one pick in each round. Teams are also allowed to trade picks with other teams, so the order of picks can change throughout the draft.

Players who have completed their college eligibility are eligible for the draft, as are any players who have been out of college for three years or less. Players who have been out of college for more than three years are not eligible for the draft but may still sign with an NFL team as free agents.

Free agency

In the NFL, free agency usually begins in early March. Teams are allowed to start negotiating with players on other teams starting on the first Monday of the new league year. However, a player cannot officially sign with his new team until 4 p.m. ET on the first Wednesday of the league year.

During free agency, teams can release players, which is called “cutting” them. They can also trade players to other teams. Some players become free agents because their contract has expired and they have not been signed by their team to a new contract. Other players become free agents because they have been “released” by their team before their contract has expired.