Who Plays in the NFL Playoffs?

The NFL playoffs are underway, and there are some great matchups on tap. Who do you think will win?

Introduction

In the NFL, the team that wins the most games in a season is said to have had a “good season.” But for some teams, just winning enough games to make the playoffs is an accomplishment. The NFL playoffs are a single-elimination tournament held after the end of the regular season to determine the NFL champion. A total of 12 teams, six from each conference, qualify for the playoffs based on their regular-season records.

What is the NFL Playoffs?

The NFL playoffs are a single-elimination tournament held after the end of the National Football League’s (NFL) regular season to determine the league’s champion. The tournament was created in 1933 when the NFL renamed itself from the American Professional Football Association (APFA). The playoffs consist of six teams from each of the league’s two conferences, the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC), with four teams from each conference receiving a bye in the first round.

How do teams qualify for the playoffs?

In order to qualify for the playoffs, a team must have a winning record. The number of teams that make the playoffs varies from year to year, but it is generally between six and eight teams from each conference. The teams with the best records from each conference earn a spot in the playoffs, as well as any team that has a Wild Card berth.

What is the 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. Six teams from each of the league’s two conferences qualify for the playoffs based on regular season records, and a seeding system is used to bracket the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds. The four conference champions advance to the Super Bowl, the league’s championship game.

Format
During the regular season, each team plays 16 games over a 17-week schedule. Normally, within each conference, division winners and two wild card teams (the two remaining teams with the best records) qualify for the playoffs. The NFL does not use a fixed bracket playoff system for its post-season, like every other major professional sports league in North America does (the National Hockey League has used a fixed bracket since 1993). Instead, it tries to match up divisional opponents in the opening round, second round, and third round of its playoff tournament.

In each conference’s quarterfinals (known as the Wild Card Playoffs), either four or five teams enter: if there are four Wild Card teams then each team is matched up against a division winner outside of their own conference; if there are five Wild Card teams then one team is matched up against an intra-conference opponent (a team from within its own conference). While division winners and better seeded teams have an easier path during this single-elimination tournament leading to the Super Bowl, they must still play all games on the road until reaching the NFL’s championship game.

Who are the teams in the playoffs?

The NFL playoffs are a single-elimination tournament held after the regular season to determine the NFL champion. Each conference (American Football Conference (AFC) and National Football Conference (NFC)) has four divisional champions, and each conference champion is seeded 1–4 based on their overall won-lost-tied record.

AFC

The American Football Conference (AFC) is one of the two conferences of the National Football League (NFL), the highest professional level of American football in the world. This conference and its counterpart, the National Football Conference (NFC), currently contain 16 teams each, making up a total of 32 teams in the NFL. Both conferences are made up of four divisions: North, South, East, and West.

In NFL playoffs, 12 teams make it in: The four division winners from each conference (the team with the best record in their respective division), and two wild card teams (the two teams with the next best records regardless of division).

NFC

The National Football Conference (NFC) is one of the two conferences of the National Football League (NFL), the American Football Conference (AFC) being the other. Prior to 1970, there were two separate professional football leagues, the National Football League and the American Football League (AFL). In 1970, the AFL merged with the NFL. As part of the merger, the former AFL teams were all placed in the AFC. The ten former AFL teams along with three NFL teams that were absorbed by the AFL–the Baltimore Colts, Pittsburgh Steelers, and Cleveland Browns–now make up that conference.

As of 2018, there are 16 teams in the NFC:
-Arizona Cardinals
-Atlanta Falcons
-Carolina Panthers
-Chicago Bears
-Dallas Cowboys
-Detroit Lions
-Green Bay Packers
-Los Angeles Rams
-Minnesota Vikings
-New Orleans Saints -New York Giants
-Philadelphia Eagles
-San Francisco 49ers -Seattle Seahawks -Tampa Bay Buccaneers -Washington Redskins

Conclusion

The NFL playoffs are a single-elimination tournament held after the regular season to determine the NFL champion. From 1934 to 1966, only four teams qualified for the tournament. In 1967, the league expanded to eight teams, and since 1975, it has consisted of 12 teams. The four Divisional Playoff games are played on the weekend of January 16-17, and the Conference Championships are played on January 24. The Super Bowl, which is the biggest sporting event in the United States, is played on February 7.