What’s the Wildcard in the NFL?

If you’re a football fan, you know that the NFL playoffs are in full swing. But what’s the wildcard in the NFL? We’ll take a look at what it is and how it affects the playoffs.

The NFC

The NFC is the favorite to win the Super Bowl this season. They have the best record in the NFL and have home field advantage throughout the playoffs. The NFC has been the better conference this season and has more talented teams.

The Seattle Seahawks

The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle, Washington. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league’s National Football Conference (NFC) West division. They joined the NFL in 1976 as an expansion team, along with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Seahawks are owned by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen and are currently coached by Pete Carroll. Since 2002, the Seahawks have played their home games at CenturyLink Field, located south of downtown Seattle. The Seahawks previously played home games in the Kingdome (1976–1999) and Husky Stadium (1994, 2000–2001).

Seahawks fans have been referred to collectively as the “12th Man”, “12th Fan”, or “12s”. Largent, Warner, Browner, and Cliff Avril have been selected to represent Seattle in the Pro Bowl.

The Green Bay Packers

GB is 4-0-1, with their only blemish coming from a tie with the Minnesota Vikings in Week 2. The Packers are currently atop the NFC North standings, and have looked like one of the best teams in the NFL through the first six weeks of the season.

The Packers have been led by their star quarterback, Aaron Rodgers, who is having another MVP caliber season. Rodgers has thrown for 1,602 yards and 13 touchdowns through six games, and has only thrown one interception. He also has a 103.1 quarterback rating, which is the second highest in the NFL behind only Drew Brees of the New Orleans Saints.

The Packers also have one of the best offenses in the NFL, as they are currently averaging 27.8 points per game, which is good for fifth in the league. They are also averaging 385.2 yards per game, which is good for seventh in the league. The Packers offense is truly a well-oiled machine, and they have shown that they can put up points against any team in the league.

The Packers defense has also been playing at a high level this season, as they are currently allowing just 20.2 points per game, which is good for seventh in the NFL. They are also holding opponents to just 304 yards per game, which is good for fourth in the league. The Packers defense has been extremely opportunistic this season as well, as they have forced 16 turnovers through six games, which is good for second in the NFL behind only

The Dallas Cowboys

As the saying goes, “America’s Team” is America’s Most Valuable Sports Franchise according to Forbes. The NFC has long been considered the weaker side of the NFL playoff picture. In fact, since the NFC-AFC merge in 1970, only 13 of 47 Super Bowls have been won by an NFC team. Out of those 13 wins, the Dallas Cowboys have accounted for five of them. So what makes the Cowboys so special?

There are a few things that make the Cowboys stand out from other NFC teams. First and foremost, they have one of the most loyal and passionate fan bases in all of sports. No matter how good or bad the team is playing, their fans are always behind them. Additionally, the Cowboys have a rich history and tradition that dates back to their founding in 1960. They are also one of only two teams (the other being the Green Bay Packers) that have never moved from their original city.

The AFC

The AFC looks to be the wildcard in the NFL this season. They have a lot of teams that could make a run at the title, but there are also a lot of teams that could miss the playoffs entirely. It’s going to be a wild ride!

The Denver Broncos

The Broncos began play in 1960 as a charter member of the American Football League (AFL). The team is owned by Pat Bowlen, who has held the position since 1984. The Broncos have played their home games at Sports Authority Field at Mile High since 2001. The Broncos were barely competitive during their 10-year run in the AFL, winning only 39 percent of their games. They did not have a winning record in their first five years in the league, nor did they ever win more than seven games in a season. Nevertheless, it was still a successful run by AFL standards.

The New England Patriots

The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston region. The Patriots compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league’s American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The team plays its home games at Gillette Stadium in the town of Foxborough, Massachusetts, which is located 28 miles (45 km) southwest of downtown Boston.

The Patriots are also headquartered at Gillette Stadium. An original member of the American Football League (AFL), the Patriots joined the NFL in the AFL–NFL merger in 1970. The team changed its name from the original Boston Patriots after relocating to Foxborough in 1971. The Patriots played their home games at Foxboro Stadium from 1971 to 2001, then moved to Gillette Stadium at the start of the 2002 season. The Patriots’ rivalry with the New York Jets is considered one of the most bitter rivalries in the NFL.

Bill Belichick has been head coach since 2000, making him the longest-tenured head coach in NFL history. The team owns the record for most Super Bowl appearances (nine), winning six of them; this is tied with both Dallas and Pittsburgh for second place behind Green Bay’s record 11 Super Bowl appearances and victories (tied with New England for most Super Bowl losses at five). The franchise has amassed an overall regular season record of486–385–9, with a playoff record of 37–20 entering 2020. Their accomplishments include thirty-one playoff appearances (second only to Pittsburgh’s thirty-four), eighteen division titles (also second only to Pittsburgh’s nineteen), thirteen conference championships (tied for second place behind Green Bay’s thirteen).

The Indianapolis Colts

The current AFC wildcard structure is 4 teams. The AFC has 16 teams total, so 4 teams make the playoffs as wildcards. The way it works is that each conference’s divisional winners are seeded 1-4 (based on record) and the two remaining highest-seeded teams in each conference are given wild card spots. These two teams are seeded 5 and 6 based on record. In the first round of the playoffs, the 3 seed hosts the 6 seed and the 4 seed hosts the 5 seed. The winners of those games then proceed to play each other in the second round.

The Wildcard

The NFL Wildcard is a single-elimination playoff tournament consisting of six teams. The three division winners with the best record and three wildcard teams with the next-best records from each conference compete in the tournament. The Wildcard round is played on the first weekend of the playoffs, with the divisional round played the following week. The conference championship games are then played on the third weekend, followed by the Super Bowl on the fourth weekend.

The San Francisco 49ers

In the NFL, the Wildcard is the name given to the four teams that make the playoffs each year, but don’t win their division.

The term “Wildcard” came into use in the NFL in 1967 when the league expanded from 12 teams to 14. The new playoff format allowed for two additional teams to make the postseason, but they were not given automatic berths. Instead, they had to duke it out with the other non-division-winning clubs for a spot in the playoffs.

Today, there are eight teams in each conference (16 total in the league) and four division winners in each conference advance to the playoffs automatically. That leaves four “Wildcard” spots up for grabs (two in each conference).

The Wildcard round of the playoffs is a single-elimination tournament where each Wildcard team faces off against a division winner. The higher seed (the team with a better record) hosts the game.

The winners of those four Wildcard games then advance to the Divisional round of the playoffs where they will face off against one of the top two seeds in their conference. Again, the higher seed will host each game.

From there, it’s on to the Conference Championships and then finally, Super Bowl Sunday.

The Philadelphia Eagles

The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league’s National Football Conference (NFC) East division. In the 2017 season, the team won Super Bowl LII, their first Super Bowl win in franchise history and their fourth NFL title overall, after winning the Championship Game in 1948, 1949, and 1960.

The franchise was established in 1933 as a replacement for the bankrupt Frankford Yellow Jackets, when a group led by Bert Bell secured the rights to an NFL expansion team in Philadelphia. Bell, Chuck Bednarik, Bob Brown, Brian Westbrook, and Reggie White are just a few of the Eagles who have been inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

The Arizona Cardinals

The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in Glendale, Arizona. They are members of the National Football League (NFL) and currently compete in the NFC West division. The Cardinals were founded as the Morgan Athletic Club in 1898, and are the oldest continuously run professional football franchise in the United States. The team was established in Chicago in 1920 as a charter member of the American Professional Football Association (now the NFL) before moving to St. Louis in 1960 and then to their current home in Glendale in 1988.