How Will the NFL Playoffs Work This Year?

How will the NFL playoffs work this year?
The NFL playoffs are a single-elimination tournament held after the regular season to determine the NFL champion. Wild Card weekend is when the playoffs begin.

Introduction

The 2020 NFL playoffs are upon us, and with so much up in the air due to the coronavirus pandemic, there’s bound to be some confusion about how everything will work. Here’s a primer on the new playoff format and what to expect from this year’s postseason.

In short, the playoffs will look a lot different this year. For starters, there will be only seven teams in each conference instead of the usual 12, meaning that just 14 teams out of the league’s 32 will make the playoffs. Additionally, there will be only one bye week for each conference’s top seed instead of the usual two, and all playoff games will take place at neutral sites.

Here’s a more detailed breakdown of how everything will work:

The seven teams in each conference with the best records will qualify for the playoffs. This is something that has been done before, most recently in 2016 when just six teams made the playoffs in each conference due to an odd number of qualifying teams.

The top seed in each conference will earn a first-round bye, as usual. However, there will only be one bye week for each conference instead of two. That means that just four teams (two from eachconference) will have a week off before their first playoff game.

All playoff games will be played at neutral sites. There had been talk of playing some games at home stadiums, but that idea was ultimately scrapped due to concerns about the coronavirus.

So far, no specific locations have been announced for any of the playoff games. It’s possible that they could all be played at a single location (similar to what is being done with this year’s World Series), but nothing has been decided yet.

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. The playoffs begin with four wild-card teams playing in two games. The winners of those games advance to the divisional playoffs, where they play the top two seeds in each conference. The divisional winners then advance to the conference championships, and the winners of those games advance to the Super Bowl.

The Wild Card Round

In the Wild Card Round, the third seed plays at home against the sixth seed and the fourth seed hosts the fifth. The top two seeds in each conference earn a first-round bye and automatically advance to the Divisional Round.

The Divisional Round

In the NFL’s Divisional Round, the top seed in each conference is matched up against the lowest remaining seed. The second and third seeds also face off. These games are played at the home stadium of the higher-seeded team.

The winners of these four games advance to the Conference Championships, where they will compete for a spot in the Super Bowl. The losing teams head home for the offseason.

The Conference Championships

The Conference Championships are the penultimate round of the NFL playoffs. The four teams remaining (the division winners from each conference) compete in two head-to-head match-ups, with the winners advancing to the Super Bowl.

In the AFC, the #1 seed will host the #2 seed, while in the NFC, the #1 seed will host the #3 seed. The higher seed will have home-field advantage, meaning they’ll get to play in front of their own fans.

These are typically high-scoring affairs, as the league’s best offenses and defenses go head-to-head. In recent years, we’ve seen some thrilling comebacks and last-second finishes in the Conference Championships.

The Super Bowl

The Super Bowl is the biggest and most important game in the NFL season. It is played between the winning teams from the NFC and AFC conferences. The game is usually played in February, and the location is determined by a vote of NFL team owners. The Super Bowl is one of the most watched television events in America, and it is also a major event for betting on sports.

How This Year’s NFL Playoffs Will Be Different

In a typical year, the NFL playoffs start in early January and end with the Super Bowl in early February. But this year, things will be a bit different. The NFL has expanded the playoffs to include 14 teams instead of the usual 12. This means that there will be more games and more chances for your favorite team to make it to the Super Bowl. Here’s a breakdown of how the NFL playoffs will work this year.

The Wild Card Round

In the Wild Card Round, there will be six games played on Saturday, January 9 and six games played on Sunday, January 10. The four division winners with the best records in each conference will earn a bye and advance to the Divisional Round. The schedule for the Wild Card Round is as follows:

Saturday, January 9
– AFC: No. 6 seed at No. 3 seed (time TBD)
– AFC: No. 5 seed at No. 4 seed (time TBD)
– NFC: No. 6 seed at No. 3 seed (time TBD)
– NFC: No. 5 seed at No. 4 seed (time TBD)

Sunday, January 10
– AFC: No. 6 seed at No. 3 seed (time TBD)
– AFC: No. 5 seed at No. 4 seed (time TBD)
– NFC: No. 6 seed at No. 3 seed (time TBD)
– NFC: No. 5 seed at No. 4 seed (time TBD)

The Divisional Round

In the Divisional Round, the four surviving clubs with the best regular-season records in each conference will play each other in two games on Saturday, January 16 and Sunday, January 17. The specific matchups will be:

AFC:
1. Baltimore Ravens (A1) vs. Tennessee Titans (A4)
2. Kansas City Chiefs (A2) vs. Cleveland Browns (A3)

NFC:
1. Green Bay Packers (N1) vs. Los Angeles Rams (N4)
2. New Orleans Saints (N2) vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (N3)

The Conference Championships

In a typical year, the NFL Conference Championships are played on the first Sunday in February. But this season, things will look a little different. Here’s what you need to know about how the NFL playoffs will work in 2021.

The Conference Championships will be played on Sunday, February 7th. The AFC Championship game will be played at 3:05pm ET, and the NFC Championship game will be played at 6:40pm ET.

This year’s Conference Championships will be different from previous years in a few ways. First, there will be no bye week for the teams that advance to the Conference Championships. In other words, all four teams that make it to the Conference Championships will have played two games in two weeks.

Second, the Conference Championships will be played at neutral sites. The AFC Championship game will be played at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona (home of the Arizona Cardinals), and the NFC Championship game will be played at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin (home of the Green Bay Packers).

Finally, there are no fans allowed at either of this year’s Conference Championship games due to COVID-19 restrictions.

The winners of this year’s Conference Championships will advance to Super Bowl 55, which is scheduled for Sunday, February 14th at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida.

The Super Bowl

The Super Bowl is the biggest event in American football. It is the annual championship game of the National Football League (NFL). The game is played between the winners of the NFC and AFC championship games. The Super Bowl is one of the most watched television events in the United States. It is also one of the most expensive commercials times on television.

This year’s NFL playoffs will be different due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The NFL has made several changes to how the playoffs will work this year.

First, there will be only seven teams in each conference, instead of the usual 12, qualifying for the playoffs. This means that only 14 teams out of the 32 in the NFL will make it to the playoffs.

Second, there will be only three rounds of playoffs instead of four. The first round will be a single game between the two wild card teams in each conference. The second round will be a single game between the top seed in each conference and the winner of the first round game. The third round will be the Super Bowl.

Third, all playoff games will be played at neutral sites. This means that any team could potentially play any other team in any round of playoffs, regardless of their regular season records or where they are seeded.

The NFL has not yet announced where these neutral site games will be played, but they are expected to be announced soon.

Conclusion

The NFL playoffs this year will be different than in years past, but the end goal is still the same: to crown a Super Bowl champion.

The biggest change is that there will be only seven teams in each conference qualifying for the playoffs instead of the usual six. That means that there will be only three wild card teams in each conference, as opposed to the four we’ve become accustomed to seeing.

The first round of the playoffs will feature the wild card teams playing each other, with the winners moving on to face the top seed in each conference. From there, things will proceed as normal, with the winners of those games moving on to face each other in the Conference Championships, and then finally the Super Bowl.

So while there may be less teams involved this year, the stakes are still high and we can expect an exciting playoff race leading up to an exciting conclusion.