When Do the NFL Playoffs Start This Year?

The NFL playoffs start Saturday, January 4th. Find out who’s playing and when, and make sure you’re there to catch all the action!

Introduction

The National Football League (NFL) playoffs are a single-elimination tournament held after the regular season to determine the NFL champion. From 1933 to 1966, the NFL playoff structure was different from the current system. In 1967, the NFL expanded from fifteen teams to sixteen teams. Each conference was split into two divisions, and four teams from each division qualified for the playoffs. The four division champions would meet in the NFL’s conference championship games, with the winners advancing to the NFL Championship Game (also known as the Super Bowl).

What are the NFL Playoffs?

The NFL playoffs are a single-elimination tournament held each year to determine the champion of the National Football League (NFL). The playoffs, which have been held every year since 1933, consist of six rounds: four wild-card playoff games (which include two new “play-in” games added for the 2020 season), four divisional playoff games, two conference championship games, and finally the Super Bowl, the league’s biggest game and most prestigious event.

In each round, teams are seeded based on their regular-season record. The higher-seeded team will have home-field advantage during that round. In the wild-card and divisional rounds, if two teams have the same regular-season record, ties are broken by a number of different tiebreakers. The conference championships are played at pre-determined sites (either at the higher seed’s stadium or at a neutral site), while the Super Bowl is always played at a neutral site selected several years in advance.

How Do the NFL Playoffs Work?

The NFL playoffs are a single-elimination tournament held after the end of the National Football League’s 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). In 1967, four teams were added to the NFL playoffs system, and two more teams were added in each subsequent year through 1971, bringing the total number of participating teams up to sixteen.

The four division winners are seeded 1 through 4 based on their overall won-lost-tied record, and the top two seeds receive byes into the divisional round. The first round of the playoffs is referred to as the wild-card round or wild-card weekend. During this round, which is held on either Saturday or Sunday, depending on when it falls on the calendar (the weekend after Christmas Day), each of the four lowest seeds competes against each other. The two winners from those games then face off against each other in the second round, or divisional round.

The divisional round takes place on either Saturday or Sunday, again depending on when it falls on the calendar (the weekend after New Year’s Day), and matchup according to seed — with seed 1 hosting seed 4 and seed 2 hosting seed 3 — with those winners then advancing to face each other in the conference championship games. The conference championship games are always held on either Sunday or Monday (depending on when they fall on the calendar) immediately following that particular conference’s respective divisional round matchups.

The two conference champions then face off in Super Bowl Sunday, which is always held exactly seven days after the last conference championship game is played.

Who Qualifies for the NFL Playoffs?

In order to qualify for the NFL playoffs, a team must have either won their divisional championship, or have amassed a high enough Wild Card spot. There are four divisional champions and two Wild Card teams from both the AFC and NFC conferences who make it to the playoffs each year. The divisional champions are seeded one through four based on their regular season records, with the top seed going to the team with the best record and so on. The two Wild Card teams are then seeded based on their records as well.

How Many Teams are in the NFL Playoffs?

There are a total of 12 teams in the NFL playoffs. The six teams that win their respective divisional playoffs games will advance to the conference championships, where they will compete for a spot in the Super Bowl. The four teams that lose their divisional playoff games will be eliminated from the playoffs.

What is the NFL Playoff Schedule?

The NFL playoff schedule is here! The games begin on Saturday, January 4th and will end with the Super Bowl on Sunday, February 2nd. Here is the full schedule for the NFL playoffs.

Saturday, January 4th
AFC Wild Card Game: Baltimore Ravens vs. Los Angeles Chargers, 4:35 PM ET (ABC/ESPN)
NFC Wild Card Game: Dallas Cowboys vs. Seattle Seahawks, 8:15 PM ET (FOX)

Sunday, January 5th
AFC Wild Card Game: Indianapolis Colts vs. Houston Texans, 1:05 PM ET (CBS)
NFC Wild Card Game: Chicago Bears vs. Philadelphia Eagles, 4:40 PM ET (NBC)

Divisional Playoffs
Saturday, January 11th
AFC Divisional Playoff Game #1: Los Angeles Chargers/Baltimore Ravens vs. New England Patriots, 4:35 PM ET (CBS)
NFC Divisional Playoff Game #1: Dallas Cowboys/Seattle Seahawks vs. Los Angeles Rams, 8:15 PM ET (FOX)

Sunday, January 12th
AFC Divisional Playoff Game #2: Houston Texans/Indianapolis Colts vs. Kansas City Chiefs, 1:05 PM ET (CBS)
NFC Divisional Playoff Game #2: Philadelphia Eagles/Chicago Bears vs. New Orleans Saints, 4:40 PM ET (FOX)

What is the NFL Playoff Format?

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 take place).

The NFL expanded its playoffs to four teams in 1967, adding a second wild-card team and two additional divisional playoff games. The four-team format continued until 1978, when the league added a fifth team (a second wild-card squad) and split its regular season into a 16-game schedule. In 1990, the NFL increased its playoffs to six teams by adding a third wild-card team and reworking its divisional playoff format; as a result of this expansion, the NFC was born.

The current NFL playoff format consists of seven teams from each conference: four division winners and three wild card qualifiers. The top seed in each conference receives a bye in the first round while the remaining six seeds are entered into the Wild Card round – two games which take place on Wild Card weekend. The winners of those two games advance to play the top seed in each conference during Divisional Playoff weekend, with those winners then going on to contest the Conference Championships. Finally, the winners of each Conference Championship game face off in the Super Bowl – considered by many to be American sport’s biggest annual event.

What are the NFL Playoff Brackets?

The NFL playoffs are a single-elimination tournament held after the regular season to determine the champion of the National Football League (NFL). The tournament brackets are made up of six teams from each of the league’s two conferences: the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC).

The four divisional winners from each conference (the team with the best record in each division) automatically qualify for the playoffs, as do the two wild card teams from each conference (the two teams with the next best records after the divisional winners). These teams are seeded according to their regular season records, with the divisional winners being given the higher seeds.

The playoffs are typically held in January, with the AFC and NFC Championship Games being played in early February. The Super Bowl, which is the championship game of the NFL, is then played a week or two later.

What is the NFL Playoff Seeding?

The NFL Playoff Seeding is the process by which teams are positioned in the playoffs. Here is everything you need to know about seeding and how it works.

In order to determine who makes the playoffs and where they will be seeded, NFL teams first compete in a 16-game regular season. At the end of the regular season, the team with the best record in each conference (NFC and AFC) earns a spot in the playoffs, as do the next two teams in each conference with the best records. These are known as wildcard teams.

Once the field is set, each team is ranked according to their record, with the team with the best record being seeded No. 1. The remaining teams are then seeded based on their record, with seed Nos. 2-5 being determined by divisional standings (whether a team won or lost their division), and seed Nos. 6-8 being determined by conference standings (whether a team won or lost their conference).

The NFL playoff seeding process can seem confusing, but it’s actually quite simple. Just remember that the four divisional winners and two wildcard teams from each conference earn a spot in the playoffs, and they are seeded according to their regular season records.

How Do the NFL Playoffs Affect the Super Bowl?

The Super Bowl is the biggest annual sporting event in the United States. It is the championship game of the National Football League (NFL), and is played between the champions of the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC).

The NFC champion Philadelphia Eagles defeated the AFC champion New England Patriots, 41-33, in Super Bowl LII, played on February 4, 2018 at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The game was televised nationally by NBC.

The NFC has won 27 of 52 Super Bowls (52%), while the AFC has won 25. The Denver Broncos (AFC) and New England Patriots (NFC) have each won five times, more than any other team.

Conclusion

The NFL playoffs are a single-elimination tournament held after the regular season to determine the NFL champion. From there, the winning team goes on to compete in the Super Bowl.

In order to make it to the playoffs, teams must first earn a spot by having one of the best records in their respective conferences. There are typically four teams from each conference that make it to the playoffs, but this can vary depending on circumstances such as tiebreakers.

Once the playoffs start, each game is played at a neutral site. The higher seed always hosts each game up until the Super Bowl.

So when do the NFL playoffs start this year? The answer is that they will begin on Saturday, January 4th, 2020 and Sunday, January 5th, 2020.