How Are The Playoffs Determined In The NFL?
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How are the NFL playoffs determined? What are the rules for seeding? Find out everything you need to know about the NFL playoffs here.
How the NFL Playoffs Work
The NFL playoffs are a single-elimination tournament held after the regular season to determine the NFL champion. As of 2020, there are four rounds of playoffs. The first round is the Wild Card round, followed by the Divisional round, the Conference Championships, and finally the Super Bowl. Let’s take a more in-depth look at how each round works.
The NFL regular season
The National Football League (NFL) regular season typically runs from the last Thursday in August to the first Sunday in January, and each team plays 16 games. At the end of the regular season, six teams from each conference (the NFL is divided into two conferences — the American Football Conference and National Football Conference) qualify for the playoffs.
The playoffs are a single-elimination tournament that culminates with the conference championship games, which are held on the first Sunday in February. The winners of those games advance to the Super Bowl, which is typically held on the first Sunday in February (but can be later if the first Sunday falls on February 1 or February 2).
In order to determine which teams make the playoffs, a number of factors come into play. First, each conference is divided into four divisions (North, South, East, and West), and each team plays all of the other teams in its own division twice during the regular season (once at home and once on the road). In addition, each team plays four “inter-conference” games — meaning they play two games against teams from another conference that finished in the same place as they did in their own divisional standings (e.g., if a team finishes first in its division, it would play two other teams that also finished first in their respective divisions).
The playoff field is then determined by taking the four division winners from each conference plus two “wild card” teams from each conference — these are usually (but not always) the two best non-division-winning teams from each conference. These 12 teams are seeded according to their won-lost records, with division winners getting automatically seeded into positions 1-4 and wild card teams getting seeded into positions 5-12.
The NFL playoff system
The NFL playoff system is a single-elimination tournament held after the end of the regular season to determine the NFL champion. Each year, 12 teams qualify for the playoffs. The four division winners in each conference (the NFC and AFC) earn a first-round bye, which means they automatically advance to the second round of the playoffs. The other eight teams play in the first round, with the four winners advancing to the second round to face the division winners. From there, each subsequent round (the conference championships and Super Bowl) is single-elimination until a champion is crowned.
How Are The Playoffs Determined In The NFL?
The NFL playoffs are a single-elimination tournament held after the regular season to determine the NFL champion. As of 2020, there are four rounds of playoffs. The first three rounds are known as the Wild Card playoffs, and the final round is the Super Bowl.
The four teams that make the playoffs
In the NFL, the team that wins each division is almost always assured of a playoff spot. That’s because there are four divisions in each conference, and since 2012, there have been four teams from each conference that make the playoffs. That means that in any given year, at least half of the 12 playoff spots are taken up by division winners.
The other four spots are “wild card” berths, which go to the two teams with the best record in each conference who did not win their division. In most years, that means there will be some really good teams who don’t make the playoffs simply because they had the misfortune of being in a tough division.
The two teams that receive first-round byes
The NFL playoffs are a single-elimination tournament held after the end of the 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 a tie-breaking procedure exists in the case of equal records. The tournament culminates in the Super Bowl, played between the champions of the NFC and AFC.
The Lombardi Trophy is presented to the winning team at the conclusion of each Super Bowl. The National Football League (NFL) was founded in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association (APFA) before renaming itself the National Football League for 1922. In 1932, following multiple professional football leagues, it became clear that a structure was needed to ensure some stability in booking championship games. As a result, NFL officials formulated a plan that divided original league into two divisions: an American Conference and a National Conference.
In each conference, there were three division winners and one Wild Card team (the team with best record among remaining 4 teams). These four teams would then compete in two semi-final playoff games with winners advancing to play for conference championship. Finally, conference champions would play each other in ultimate game to decide NFL Championship.
The four wild-card teams
The four wild-card teams are seeded fifth through eighth in the NFL playoffs. The first round of the playoffs is known as the wild-card round or wild-card weekend. It is a single-elimination tournament that features two games on Saturday and two games on Sunday, with the top seed hosting each game.
The winners of those four games advance to the divisional round, which is held the following weekend. The divisional round is also a single-elimination tournament, featuring two games on Saturday and two games on Sunday. The winners of those games advance to the conference championships, which are held the following weekend.
The conference championships are also a single-elimination tournament, featuring two games on Sunday. The winners of those games advance to the Super Bowl, which is held the following weekend.
The seeding of the playoff teams
In the NFL, the team with the best record in each conference is seeded first overall. The next three seeds are awarded to the teams with the next-best records, regardless of conference. These four teams are referred to as the divisional leaders.
The two divisional leaders with the best records receive a first-round bye, while the other two divisional leaders are seeded fifth and sixth overall. The fifth and sixth seeds host the seventh and eighth seed Wild Card teams in the first round of the playoffs.
The top seed then hosts the lowest remaining seed in the divisional round, while the other divisional leader hosts the other remaining team. In the conference championships, the lower remaining seed visits the higher remaining seed. The winners of each conference championship game advance to Super Bowl LIII, where they will compete for the Lombardi Trophy.
How The NFL Playoff Schedule Is Determined
The NFL playoffs are determined by a team’s regular season record. The teams with the best record in each conference are seeded first and play the teams seeded fourth and fifth. The two teams with the next best records in each conference are seeded second and play the teams seeded third.
The NFL playoff schedule
The NFL playoff schedule is determined by a number of factors, including the standings of each team in the league, the seedings of each team, the location of each team’s game, and the time of year.
The NFL’s television partners
The NFL’s television partners are a big factor in how the playoff schedule is determined. ESPN pays the most money to the NFL of all the networks, so they get first dibs on which games they want to air. CBS and Fox also pay a lot of money for the rights to broadcast NFL games, so they also have a say in which games are played when.
How The NFL Playoff Bracket Is Determined
The NFL playoffs are determined by a bracket system. The top six teams in each conference (AFC and NFC) make the playoffs. The four division winners are seeded one through four based on their record, with the top seed getting a bye. The two wild card teams are seeded five and six.
The NFL playoff bracket
The NFL playoff bracket is determined by a number of factors, including win-loss record, strength of schedule, and divisional standings. The top six teams in each conference (the NFC and AFC) make the playoffs, with the four division winners receiving a first-round bye. The remaining two teams in each conference are seeded based on their win-loss record, with the higher seed hosting the lower seed in the Wild Card round. From there, the playoffs progress to the Divisional round, followed by the Conference Championships, and finally the Super Bowl.
The NFL’s television partners
The NFL’s television partners are a major factor in how the playoff bracket is determined. CBS, NBC, and FOX televise NFL games on Sunday afternoons during the regular season, while ESPN airs games on Monday nights. The NFL also has a contract with DirecTV to air games on Sunday nights.
The NFL’s television partners play a large role in how the playoff bracket is determined. CBS, NBC, and FOX all televise NFL games on Sunday afternoons during the regular season, while ESPN airs games on Monday nights. The NFL also has a contract with DirecTV to air Sunday night games.
In addition to the four main broadcast partners, the NFL also has a number of other television deals in place. The league has a contract with CBS for its Thursday Night Football package, as well as a separate contract with NBC for its Sunday Night Football package. Both of these packages are aired on cable channels (CBS Sports Network and NBC Sports Network, respectively). The NFL also has deals in place with Amazon Prime Video and BuzzFeed News to stream some of its game content online.
