When Does the NFL Postseason Start?
Find out when the NFL postseason starts so you can make sure you don’t miss a single game.
Introduction
The NFL postseason is a highly anticipated time for football fans across the country. The playoffs leading up to the Super Bowl are filled with intense competition and exciting games. While the regular season is important, the postseason is when things really heat up and teams battle it out for a chance to be crowned champion.
So when does the NFL postseason start? The answer may surprise you.
The Regular Season
The National Football League (NFL) regular season begins the weekend after Labor Day in early September and ends in December or early January. After the regular season, six teams from each of the league’s two conferences advance to the playoffs, a single-elimination tournament culminating in the Super Bowl, which is usually held in the first Sunday in February and is played between the champions of the NFC and AFC.
The Postseason
The NFL postseason is a single-elimination tournament held after the end of the National Football League’s (NFL) regular season to determine the NFL champion. Six teams from each of the league’s two conferences qualify for the playoffs based on regular season records, and a sequence of playoff games ends when the Super Bowl, the league’s championship game, is played between the two conference champions.
The postseason consists of four rounds of play. In the first round, dubbed the Wild Card playoffs or Wild Card weekend, four teams play in two games, with each team hosting one game. The winners of those games advance to the next round, called the Divisional playoffs. In that round, the remaining two division champions from each conference are given a bye to advance to their conference’s respective Championship game, while four more teams from each conference are seeded so as to play in two other matches; these four unseeded teams are referred to as “wild card” teams and they face each other in two Replacement level matches. The winners of those games then advance to their respective conference’s Championship game.
Finally, the last remaining team from each conference compete in the Super Bowl, which is considered by many fans and commentators to be one of American television’s biggest annual events.
Conclusion
December is when the NFL regular season typically ends. This is also when the majority of NFL teams clinch playoff spots. The final few weeks of the season (Weeks 14-17) are known as the NFL playoffs. The NFL playoffs start with four Wild Card games on Saturday, January 4 and Sunday, January 5, 2020. Wild Card weekend is followed byDivisional Playoffs on Saturday, January 11 and Sunday, January 12, 2020. The Championship games will be held on Sunday, January 19, 2020. The 52nd Super Bowl will be held on Sunday, February 2, 2020 at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida.
