When Did the NFL Playoffs Start?
The NFL playoffs start on Saturday, January 4th. The first game is the Indianapolis Colts vs the Houston Texans.
NFL Playoffs Basics
The NFL playoffs are a single-elimination tournament held after the end of the National Football League (NFL) 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 (the winners of the Eastern and Western Divisions) against each other.
How the NFL Playoffs Work
The National Football League (NFL) playoffs are a single-elimination tournament held after the end of 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 (who boast the best records in the league) against each other. Occasionally, a team with a losing record would qualify for the championship game; this most notably occurred in 1934, when an admirable 7–5 Pittsburgh Steelers squad narrowly missed out on first place in their division but still qualified for and won the title game.
In 1967, the NFL expanded from 15 to 16 teams with the creation of both the AFC and NFC, and instituted a four-team playoff system. The four division winners would meet in their respective conferences’ playoff games, with the winners advancing to face each other in what became known as the Super Bowl. This format remained intact until 2002; from 1978 to 2001, six teams from each conference qualified for the playoffs each year (four division winners and two “wild card” teams with better records than non-playoff qualifiers).
NFL Playoff Seeding
Each conference is divided into two divisions, the East and West. Within each division, the four teams with the best records compete for their division title and a chance to advance to the playoffs.
The four division winners from each conference automatically qualify for the playoffs. These eight teams are seeded according to their overall record, with the division champion carrying the highest seed. The next four teams with the best overall records, regardless of division, also qualify for the playoff tournament. These “wild card” teams are seeded fifth through eighth according to their Overall record.
NFL Playoff History
The National Football League (NFL) playoffs are a single-elimination tournament held after the end of 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 (barring any one-game playoff matches that needed to be held because of ties in the standings).
The First NFL Playoffs
In 1933, the NFL implemented a playoff system to determine its champion. The system–which included two playoff games and was eventually replaced by the modern system–became known as the “Baugh-Papke” playoff system, named after Washington Redskins quarterback Sammy Baugh and Chicago Bears quarterback Johnny “the Giant Killer” Papke. The first NFL playoff game was played on December 9, 1934, between the New York Giants and the Chicago Bears. The Giants won, 30-13.
The First Super Bowl
The first Super Bowl was played on January 15, 1967. The Green Bay Packers defeated the Kansas City Chiefs 35-10.
The First AFC-NFC Championship Game
The first AFC-NFC Championship Game was played on January 12, 1969, at the Orange Bowl in Miami. The game featured the NFL’s two best teams that season, the Baltimore Colts and the Los Angeles Rams. The Rams were the defending NFL champions, having won the title in 1968. The Colts, led by quarterback Johnny Unitas, were making their first appearance in the championship game since 1959.
The Rams were favored to win the game, but the Colts jumped out to an early lead and never relinquished it. They went on to win the game by a score of 34-10. The victory earned them a trip to Super Bowl III, where they would face off against the AFL’s New York Jets.
Recent NFL Playoff History
The National Football League (NFL) playoffs are a single-elimination tournament held after the end of the regular season to determine the champion of the NFL. This tournament was created after the 1970 AFL-NFL merger.
The Last 10 NFL Playoff Champions
In the last ten years, the NFL playoffs have been dominated by a handful of teams. The New England Patriots have won five times, the Seattle Seahawks have won twice, and the Baltimore Ravens, Green Bay Packers, and New York Giants have each won once.
The Patriots are far and away the most dominant team of the last decade, winning three Super Bowls and appearing in two more. The Seahawks are the only other team to make multiple Super Bowl appearances in the last ten years, winning once and losing once. The Giants are the only team to upset the Patriots in a Super Bowl during this time period, winning in both 2007 and 2011.
The Ravens are the only team not mentioned above to make it to a Super Bowl in the last ten years, losing to the Patriots in 2013. The Packers were a dominant force in the early part of the decade, winning a Super Bowl in 2010, but they have not made it back to football’s biggest stage since then.
The Last 5 Super Bowl Champions
In the last 5 years, the Super Bowl Champions have been the Broncos (2015), the Patriots (2014), the Ravens (2013), the Giants (2012), and the Packers (2011).
NFL Playoff Future
The NFL playoffs are a single-elimination tournament held after the end of the National Football League’s (NFL) regular season to determine the NFL champion. As of 2020, the playoffs have expanded to fourteen teams with seven teams in each conference: the four division winners and three wild card teams.
The Next 10 Years of NFL Playoffs
The NFL has undergone a few changes in recent years, with perhaps the biggest being the addition of a seventh team to the playoffs in each conference. The playoff format has remained relatively unchanged since its inception in 1933, but that could all change in the next decade.
Here’s a look at a few possible changes that could be made to the NFL playoff format in the next 10 years:
1. Adding an extra bye week for division winners: This would give the top team in each division an extra week of rest and would likely result in fewer divisional playoff games being played on wild-card weekend.
2. Seedings based on record, not divisional standings: This would mean that divisional standings would no longer play a role in determining who makes the playoffs and where teams are seeded. This would likely lead to more competitive divisional races and could also result in more inter-conference matchups in the playoffs.
3. Expanding the playoffs to 14 teams: This would add two more teams to the mix and would likely lead to more competitive wild-card games. It’s possible that this change could be made in conjunction with seedings being based on record, as opposed to divisional standings.
4. Changing the first-round bye structure: Currently, only the top seed in each conference gets a bye in the first round of the playoffs. However, it’s possible that this could be changed to seedings 2 through 5 getting byes, which would add an element of excitement to wild-card weekend.
5. Doing away with divisions altogether: This is a long shot, but it’s possible that divisions could be done away with entirely and replaced by a 16-team playoff field, where seedings are based on records regardless of conference affiliation. This would create some truly unique playoff matchups and could shake up the NFL landscape quite significantly.
The Next 5 Super Bowl Champions
The NFL playoffs are a single-elimination tournament held after the regular season to determine the NFL champion. As of 2020, 12 teams qualify for the playoffs each year: six from each of the league’s two conferences. These teams consist of the four division winners and two “wild card” teams (the two remaining teams with the best records among all non-division winners). seedings are used to decide which team plays which in the opening round. In the first round, dubbed the wild-card playoffs or wild-card weekend, the third seed hosts the sixth seed, and the fourth seed hosts the fifth seed. There are no restrictions on intra-division matchups in any round. During each playoff game, a coin toss is used to determine which team will possess first choice of possession or wherekickoffs will goRanking Potential 2019–20 NFL Playoff Teams
