How NFL Playoff Seeding Works
How NFL Playoff Seeding Works, in simple terms. The NFL playoffs are not based on conference standings, but rather on a set of rules that seed the teams.
How 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. Wild Card Weekend, Divisional Playoffs, the Conference Championships, and finally the Super Bowl make up the NFL playoffs. Let’s take a more detailed look into how NFL playoff seeding works.
The NFL playoff system
The NFL playoff system is 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 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 winning team receives the Vince Lombardi Trophy, named after Green Bay Packers head coach Vince Lombardi, who led his team to victory in the first two Super Bowls.
How teams are seeded in the playoffs
The National Football League (NFL) playoffs are a single-elimination tournament held after the regular season to determine the NFL champion. Six teams from each of the league’s two conferences qualify for the playoffs. Seeds 1 through 6 receive a bye to the second round. The first round, or Wild Card Weekend, consists of three games: Seed 6 hosts Seed 3, Seed 5 hosts Seed 4, and Seed 2 hosts whichever team is left of the three that did not receive a bye (Seeds 7-9 in NFC, Seeds 7-10 in AFC).
How the NFL Playoff Seeding Works
If you’re new to the NFL, or just don’t understand how the playoff seeding works, you’re not alone. Playoff seeding can be a confusing topic, but we’re here to help. In this article, we’ll explain how the NFL playoff seeding works and how it affects the teams in the playoffs.
The four divisional winners are seeded 1-4 based on their record
In the NFL, the team with the best record in each conference is awarded a first-round bye, while the remaining teams are seeded based on their records. The four divisional winners are seeded 1-4 based on their record, with the top seed receiving home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. The two wild card teams are seeded 5 and 6, and they play each other in the first round.
The two wild card teams are seeded 5 and 6 based on their record
The National Football League (NFL) playoffs are a single-elimination tournament held after the conclusion of the regular season to determine the NFL champion. Wild Card weekend (Round 1) begins with 4 games on Saturday and Sunday. The winners of those games advance to Divisional Weekend (Round 2) to play the 1 and 2 seeds respectively. The winners of those games advance to Championship Sunday (Round 3), where the AFC and NFC champions are determined in two separate games. The victors of Championship Sunday then advance to Super Bowl Sunday (Round 4), the final game of the NFL season and the most watched American television broadcast of the year, to play for the Lombardi Trophy and a chance at immortality.
In order to ensure that each conference has two representatives in Championship Sunday, regardless of whether or not each conference has a team with a better record than a team in the other conference, the NFL uses a somewhat convoluted playoff seeding system. The four division winners in each conference are seeded 1-4 based on their record, with the best record receiving seeds 1 and 2 and so on. The two wild card teams are seeded 5 and 6 based on their record.
How the NFL Playoff Bracket Works
The NFL playoff bracket is a single-elimination tournament held after the conclusion of the regular season to determine the NFL champion. The bracket consists of six teams, four from the NFC and four from the AFC. The four divisional winners from each conference are seeded one through four based on their record, with the four wild card teams being seeded fifth through eighth.
The divisional round
The divisional round is where the playoff field is whittled down from eight to four teams. The divisional round consists of four games, all played on Saturday and Sunday. The first game on Saturday features the No. 1 seed hosting the lowest-seeded Wild Card team (No. 6), while the second game that day has the No. 2 seed hosting the other Wild Card team (No. 5). On Sunday, it’s the two remaining division winners with byes in the first round that host — the No. 3 seed hosts the No. 4 seed in one game, and the top seed in each conference hosts the No. 2 seed in the other game.
The conference championships
The conference championships are the penultimate step in the NFL playoffs. The winners of this round advance to the Super Bowl, the biggest game in American professional sports.
In the conference championships, each conference’s top two seeds (the team with the best record and the team with the second-best record) face off against each other. The winners of those games advance to the Super Bowl.
The conference championship games are usually held on the first Sunday in January. This year, they will be held on January 24, 2021.
The higher seed (the team with the better record) is given home-field advantage in each conference championship game. This means that if both conference championship games are played at neutral sites, the higher seed will still have home-field advantage.
The NFC championship game will be played at 3:05 PM ET on Fox, while the AFC championship game will be played at 6:40 PM ET on CBS.
The Super Bowl
The Super Bowl is the biggest and most important American football game of the year. It is the annual championship game of the National Football League (NFL). The game is played between the champions of the NFL’s two conferences, the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The winner of the Super Bowl receives the Vince Lombardi Trophy, named after the head coach of the Green Bay Packers, who won the first two Super Bowls.
