What Week Is It For The NFL?
It’s NFL Week 3! Here’s a look at the schedule, plus some analysis of the big games and what to watch for.
Introduction
The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league consisting of 32 teams, divided equally between the National Football Conference (NFC) and the American Football Conference (AFC). The NFL is one of the four major professional sports leagues in North America, and the highest professional level of American football in the world. NFL games are divided into weeks, with most teams playing 16 games each. The regular season runs from September to December, with each team playing 16 games. There are four preseason games for each team, and four weeks of playoffs at the end of the season culminating in the Super Bowl, which is usually held in early February.
The NFL’s Regular Season
The NFL’s regular season typically runs from the week after Labor Day to the week after Christmas. However, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 regular season is set to begin on September 10 and end on January 3, 2021.
During the regular season, each of the NFL’s 32 teams play 16 games over a 17-week period. Each team has one bye week, meaning that they do not play during that specific week.
The regular season is followed by the playoffs, which is a single-elimination tournament that culminates with the Super Bowl. The 2020 playoffs are scheduled to begin on January 9, 2021 and end with the Super Bowl on February 7, 2021.
The NFL’s Postseason
The NFL’s postseason is a single-elimination tournament held after the end of the regular season to determine the NFL champion. From the league’s origins in 1920 until 1932, and again from that year through 1966, it consisted of four teams: the Eastern, Western, Central and American winners. The latter two were renamed in 1967 as the Capitol and Coastal divisions respectively; since then division winners have qualified for the playoffs regardless of whether their teams had winning or losing records. Currently, four divisional winners and two wild card teams from each conference advance to the playoffs; this number will increase to six teams per conference in 2020. Prior to that year, five teams per conference qualified (four division winners and one wild card team).
Conclusion
So, there you have it. A complete guide to understanding what week it is for the NFL. Now you’ll never be confused again when your friends are talking about their fantasy football team or the big game on Sunday.
