How Many Teams Will Be in the NFL Playoffs in 2022?

How Many Teams Will Be in the NFL Playoffs in 2022?
The NFL is planning to expand the playoffs to 14 teams for the 2022 season.

NFL Playoff Format

In 2022, the NFL will change its playoff format from 12 teams to 14 teams. This means that there will be 7 games in the first round instead of 6. The teams that receive a bye will be the top two seeds in each conference. This is a big change for the NFL, and it will have a big impact on how the playoffs are run.

Number of teams

In 2022, the NFL will have 32 teams in the playoffs. This is the same number of teams that were in the playoffs in 2021. The NFL playoff format is as follows:

The four division winners in each conference will earn a first-round bye.

The four division winners will be seeded 1-4 based on their record, with the highest seed receiving home field advantage throughout the playoffs.

The two wild card teams in each conference will be seeded 5-6 and will play each other in the first round of the playoffs. The winner of this game will advance to play the lowest seed division winner in the second round of the playoffs.

The second round of the playoffs, or divisional round, will feature four games. The matchup for each game will be:
1) The highest seed remaining against the lowest seed remaining from the same conference
2) The second highest seed remaining against the second lowest seed remaining from the same conference.

The winners of these games will advance to play each other in their respective conference championship game.

The two conference champions will meet in the Super Bowl to determine who is crowned NFL champion for that season.

Seeding

The NFL playoff format is set up so that there are four rounds of playoffs. The first round is the Wild Card round, followed by the Divisional round, then the Conference Championship games, and finally the Super Bowl.

In each round, the team with the better record will be seeded higher and will thus have home-field advantage. As an example, let’s say that in the Wild Card round, the 6th seed has a better record than the 5th seed. In that case, the 6th seed would host the 5th seed at their stadium in the first round of playoffs.

If two teams have identical records, then a number of tiebreakers are used to determine which team gets seeded higher. For example, if two teams are tied for the 3rd seed in their conference, then whichever team has beaten the other head-to-head during the regular season would be seeded higher. If they split their season series or if they didn’t play each other at all during the regular season, then a number of other factors come into play to determine seeding.

NFL Playoff Expansion

In 2022, the NFL will have 14 teams in the playoffs. This is up from the current 12 teams. The extra two teams will come from each conference (NFC and AFC). This means that there will be more teams competing for a chance to go to the Super Bowl.

Proposed changes

In 2022, the NFL plans to expand the playoffs to include 14 teams instead of the current 12. This means that there will be 7 games in the first round instead of 4, and an additional team from each conference will make it to the postseason. The expanded playoffs will also feature a new type of game in the first round: a matchup between two wild-card teams that would be played on a Saturday or Sunday, with the winner advancing to face one of the top seed teams.

Why the change?

The NFL is expanding the playoffs to 14 teams, adding two more wild-card berths to the existing 12-team playoff field, effective with the 2022 season.

The proposal, which was approved by NFL owners at their virtual meeting Tuesday, adds one more playoff game on wild-card weekend. There will be three games on each Saturday and Sunday instead of the current two games on each day.

The expanded playoffs will include the top seed in each conference getting a bye to the divisional round. The other six wild-card teams will play in the opening weekend.

The additional playoff games will be televised on ABC/ESPN and NBC, sources said. The NFL has not finalized which networks will carry the games.

The NFL has been discussing expanding the playoffs for several years and had explored adding as many as 16 teams to the postseason field. But there was resistance from some owners who didn’t want to water down the importance of a playoff berth.

NFL Playoff Predictions

Based on the current NFL standings, it is looking like there will be 8 teams in the playoffs for the 2022 season. The teams that are looking like they will make it are the Rams, 49ers, Seahawks, Packers, Vikings, Saints, Bears, and Cowboys.

2022 NFL Playoff teams

As the 2021 NFL season comes to a close, we’re already looking ahead to next year’s playoffs. Who will be the top teams in the league?

Here are our early predictions for the 2022 NFL playoff teams:

AFC:
1. Kansas City Chiefs
2. Cleveland Browns
3. Buffalo Bills
4. Miami Dolphins
5. Baltimore Ravens
6. Indianapolis Colts
7.Tennessee Titans
8. Los Angeles Chargers

NFC:
1. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
2. Green Bay Packers
3. Seattle Seahawks
4. New Orleans Saints
5. Dallas Cowboys
6 Minnesota Vikings
7 San Francisco 49ers 8 Arizona Cardinals

Super Bowl LVI winner

The Rams are the most likely team to win the Super Bowl in 2022, according to FiveThirtyEight’s NFL predictions.

As of right now, the Rams have a 23 percent chance of winning the Super Bowl, which is the highest odds of any team. The Rams are followed by the Ravens (19 percent), Buccaneers (15 percent), Packers (12 percent) and Chiefs (10 percent).

These odds are based on each team’s projected record and how that record stacks up against the rest of the league. The projections also take into account each team’s offensive and defensive efficiency, as well as its strength of schedule.