What Is The Schedule For The Nfl Playoffs?

Find out when and where to watch the NFL playoffs this season.

Introduction

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 (since 1967, four teams have qualified for the tournament). In 1967, the league expanded to four teams with the addition of the Los Angeles Rams, and then to eight teams in 1970 with the addition of three more division winners and a wild card team.

The NFL Playoff Schedule

The NFL Playoff schedule has been released, and it’s time to start planning your viewing parties. The first round of the playoffs will begin on Saturday, January 5th with the wild card games. The divisional games will be played on January 12th and the conference championships will be on January 19th. Super Bowl LIII will be played on February 3rd.

The Wild Card Round

The NFL Playoff schedule for the Wild Card Round is as follows:

Saturday, January 4th
AFC: 4:35pm ET – (6) Indianapolis Colts at (3) Houston Texans – ESPN/ABC
NFC: 8:15pm ET – (6) Seattle Seahawks at (3) Dallas Cowboys – FOX

Sunday, January 5th
AFC: 1:05pm ET – (5) Los Angeles Chargers at (4) Baltimore Ravens – CBS
NFC: 4:40pm ET – (5) Chicago Bears at (4) Philadelphia Eagles – NBC

The Divisional Round

The NFL Playoff Schedule for the Divisional Round is as follows:

Saturday, January 12th
-AFC: Baltimore Ravens at Buffalo Bills (8:15pm ET on NBC)
-NFC: Los Angeles Rams at Green Bay Packers (4:35pm ET on FOX)

Sunday, January 13th
-AFC: Cleveland Browns at Kansas City Chiefs (3:05pm ET on CBS)
-NFC: Tampa Bay Buccaneers at New Orleans Saints (6:40pm ET on FOX)

The Conference Championships

The conference championships are the penultimate round of the NFL playoffs. The four divisional winners from each conference (the two winners from each division in each conference) compete in this round. The two winners advance to the Super Bowl.

The conference championships are typically played on the first Sunday in January (or the last Sunday in December, if January 1 falls on a Sunday). This year, they will be played on January 19.

The exact schedule for the conference championships will be announced after the wild-card round is complete. However, we do know that the NFC championship game will be played at 3:05 p.m. ET on Fox, and that the AFC championship game will be played at 6:40 p.m. ET on CBS.

The Super Bowl

The Super Bowl is the biggest and most important game of the NFL season. It is the annual championship game of the National Football League (NFL). The winning team receives the Vince Lombardi Trophy, which is named after the legendary NFL head coach who won the first two Super Bowls. The game is played between the champions of the NFC (National Football Conference) and AFC (American Football Conference).

Conclusion

The NFL playoffs are a single-elimination tournament held after the regular season to determine the NFL champion. From 1947 to 1966, the NFL championship game was held in early December, with the exception of 1955, when it was moved to January 2. 1967 saw the first season where both conferences played their championship games on the same date: January 1. The most recent exceptions were made in 2013 and 2020, when the conference championships were played on January 19 and 20 due to conflicts with Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Inauguration Day (the conference championship games were moved to the weekend following these holidays in 2014).

There are four rounds of play in the NFL playoffs: Wild Card weekend (the opening round), Divisional Playoff weekend, Conference Championship weekend, and Super Bowl Sunday. The teams that win each round advance to the next until only two teams remain. The losing teams are eliminated from contention.