How Do The NFL Playoffs Work?
Contents
How do the NFL playoffs work? The NFL playoffs are a single-elimination tournament held after the end of the regular season to determine the NFL champion.
Introduction
The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league consisting of 32 teams, divided equally between the National Football Conference (NFC) and the American Football Conference (AFC). The NFL is one of the four major professional sports leagues in North America, and the highest professional level of American football in the world.
The NFL was formed in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association (APFA) before renaming itself the National Football League for the 1922 season. The NFL agreed to merge with the American Football League (AFL) in 1966, and the first Super Bowl was held at the end of that season; the merger was completed in 1970. Today, the NFL has the highest average attendance (67,591) of any professional sports league in the world and is the most popular sports league in the United States.
How the NFL Playoffs Work
The NFL playoffs are a single-elimination tournament held after the end of the National Football League (NFL) regular season to determine the NFL champion. A playoff game is played between two teams, each with a chance to win the Super Bowl, the league’s championship game.
The Wild Card Round
The NFL playoffs are a single-elimination tournament held after the end of the National Football League (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 a fourth batch of six teams earns their playoff berths through a single-game elimination round known as the Wild Card round. The tournament culminates in the Super Bowl, the league’s championship game.
The Divisional Round
In the divisional round, the four division winners from each conference play each other in two games, with the winners advancing to their respective conference’s championship game. The divisional round is always played on the weekend following wild card weekend, over a three-day span.
For example, in 2020, wild card weekend is January 4-5. The divisional round games will be played on January 11-12. The conference championships are then played a week later on January 19.
The NFL does not reseed teams for the divisional round. Instead, it uses a fixed scheduling formula in which the host team is always the lower-seeded team (according to their record) with the better record and playing against the higher-seeded team with the worse record. This means that if both teams in a given matchup have identical records, then seeding will be used to determine who hosts the game.
The fixed scheduling formula has been in place since 1975 (when the NFL expanded to a 16-team format), and has resulted in some interesting matchups over the years. In 2009, for instance, two 12-4 teams (the San Diego Chargers and Indianapolis Colts) met in San Diego because Indy had beaten out San Diego for the AFC’s second overall seed behind 13-3 Cincinnati due to a better conference record.
The Conference Championships
The NFL Conference Championships are the two annual championship games of the National Football League (NFL). The American Football Conference (AFC) champions play the National Football Conference (NFC) champions to determine the league champion for the NFL’s Super Bowl.
The AFC and NFC were created after the NFL merged with the American Football League (AFL) in 1970. Since 1971, each winner of the AFC Championship Game has faced off against their counterpart from the NFC in the Super Bowl. The winners of those games advance to face each other in the Super Bowl.
The Conference Championships take place on Sunday, two weeks after the conclusion of the regular season. The AFC Championship game is played at noon EST, while the NFC Championship game is played at 3:00pm EST.
The Super Bowl
The Super Bowl is the biggest and most important game in the NFL, and it is the final game of the NFL playoffs. The winning team of the Super Bowl is crowned the NFL champion for that year.
The Super Bowl is played between the winners of the NFC (National Football Conference) and AFC (American Football Conference) playoffs. The NFC and AFC championship games are played on the Sunday before the Super Bowl, and the winners of those games advance to the Super Bowl.
The date of the Super Bowl is chosen several months in advance, usually in late January or early February. The game is played on a Sunday, and it is usually scheduled to start at 6:30pm ET.
The location of the Super Bowl is also chosen several months in advance. The game is rotated between different cities around the country, and it is usually played in a warm-weather city or a city with a domed stadium.
The halftime show of the Super Bowl is one of the most-watched events on television, and it features some of the biggest music stars in the world. The halftime show is usually about 12 minutes long, and it takes place between the second and third quarters of the game.
Conclusion
The NFL playoffs are a single-elimination tournament held after the regular season to determine the NFL champion. From 1933 to 1966, the NFL postseason generally only consisted of the NFL Championship Game, pitting the league’s two division winners (barring any one-game playoff ties). The NFL playoffs then expanded in 1967, when four teams qualified for the tournament. When the league merged with the American Football League in 1970, they introduced a four-team playoff system when each league would send its two division winners to postseason play. The tournament expanded again in 1978 and 1990, when it became a six-team affair. In 2002, it expanded to eight teams and finally in 2010 to ten teams.
