How Many Games Is The NFL Season?

The NFL regular season is 16 games long.
This means that, out of the 256 games that are played, each team plays 16.
The 16 game schedule is divided into a 4 preseason games and a 12 game regular season.

How Many Games Are In The NFL Season?

The National Football League (NFL) regular season typically starts in September and ends in December or early January. Each team plays 16 games during the regular season.

Preseason games are exhibition games that take place before the regular season starts. These are used as a warm-up for the players and to help decide which players will make the team’s final roster.

The NFL postseason is a single-elimination tournament held after the conclusion of the regular season to determine the NFL champion. Six teams from each conference (NFC and AFC) qualify for the playoffs. The four division winners from each conference are seeded 1-4 based on their record, with the two wild card teams seeded 5 and 6.

How Does The NFL Season Work?

The NFL regular season is made up of 16 games. Each team plays 16 games during the season, which starts on the first Sunday of September and typically ends on the first Sunday of January. The NFL playoffs start in January and crown a champion in February at the Super Bowl. Learn more about how the NFL season works below.

The Regular Season

The National Football League regular season begins on the weekend following the Labor Day holiday (i.e. the weekend between September 5 and September 7). Each team plays 16 games during the regular season, which consists of 17 weeks.

During each of the first 16 weeks, each team plays one opponent from each of the other three divisions in their own conference. For example, during week one of the 2020 NFL season, the New York Jets will play an opponent from the AFC East, AFC North, and AFC South. The 32 teams are divided into two conferences — the American Football Conference (AFC) and National Football Conference (NFC).

In addition to playing all four teams in their own division, each team also plays two opponents from another division in their conference. These games are based on a rotating schedule that ensures each team plays every other team in their conference at least once every three years.

Finally, each team also plays one opponent from a division in the other conference. These games are also scheduled on a rotating basis, ensuring that each team plays every other team in the NFL at least once every four years.

The Playoffs

Consisting of six rounds of single-elimination tournament play, the NFL Playoffs crown a league champion each year. The NFL Playoff structure is as follows: four teams from each conference (the two conferences are the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC)) qualify for the playoffs based on regular season records; these teams are seeded one through four based on those records, with the top seed from each conference receiving a first-round bye; each subsequent round sees two higher-seeded teams pitted against each other and two lower-seeded teams pitted against each other; all playoff games are single elimination, meaning that a team’s season ends when it loses a playoff game.

What Is The NFL Season Schedule?

The NFL season is seventeen weeks long, with sixteen games and one bye week for each team. The regular season starts on the Thursday night of the week in which Labor Day falls and runs for fifteen weeks until late December or early January. The season ends with the playing of the conference championships, followed by the Pro Bowl and then the Super Bowl.

The Preseason

The National Football League preseason is the period each year during which NFL teams play several not-for-the-record exhibition games before the official start of the regular season.

Preseason games are typically played between mid-August and early September, with locations and times varying each year. Although ticketed, these games are generally not well attended, as most fans prefer to watch from home rather than risk injuries to key players in what is effectively a meaningless game.

The Regular Season

The NFL regular season typically runs from the last week of September through the first week of December, with each team playing 16 games. The playoffs follow, culminating in the Feb. 2 Super Bowl.

The NFL schedule is not static. While each team now plays 16 games, the number of games played per season has varied throughout NFL history. The league began with just 10 games in 1920 before settling on 12 games in 1921. That number remained in place until 1932 when NFL teams began playing a 14-game schedule.

In 1961, the league expanded to a 16-game schedule, where it has remained ever since. In 1978, however, two preseason games were added to the slate (bringing the total number of exhibition contests to six), and four more preseason tilts were tacked on in 1992.

While most teams play four preseason contests these days, there are exceptions. In 2008 and 2009, for example, the NFL held five exhibitions per club because of delays caused by Collective Bargaining Agreement negotiations between the league and its players union.

The Playoffs

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 conference (NFC and AFC) qualify for the playoffs. The four division winners are seeded 1-4 based on their overall record, with the top two seeds receiving a bye week in the first round. The remaining two wild card teams are seeded 5-6.

The first round of the playoffs, known as the Wild Card round, is played on Wild Card weekend (the weekend after the regular season ends). The 4 division winners play host to the 4 wild card teams in games on Saturday and Sunday. The winners of those games advance to the Divisional round, where they will face off against the top two seeds in their conference. The Divisional round is played on either Saturday or Sunday (depending on what time slot NBC chooses for their broadcast).

The Conference championships are then played on Sunday, with the AFC Championship game being broadcast on CBS and the NFC Championship game being broadcast on FOX. The winners of those games advance to Super Bowl Sunday, where they will compete for the Lombardi Trophy and a chance to be crowned NFL champions!