The National Football League (NFL) playoffs is a single-elimination tournament held at the end of the 16-game regular season to determine the NFL champion. Throughout the years, the format has changed to include more teams into the tournament. Currently, the NFL playoffs consist of 12 teams and ends with the Super Bowl, the league's championship game.
Current playoff system
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 division champions from each conference (the team in each division with the best regular season won-lost-tied record), which are seeded 1 through 4 based on their regular season won-lost-tied record.
- Two wild card qualifiers (those non-division champions with the conference's best won-lost-tied percentages), which are seeded 5 and 6.
The 3 and the 6 seeded teams, and the 4 and the 5 seeds, face each other during the first round of the playoffs, dubbed the Wild Card Round. The 1 and the 2 seeds from each conference receive a bye in the first round, which entitles these teams to automatically advance to the second round, the Divisional Playoff games, to face the Wild Card survivors. In any given playoff round, the highest surviving seed always plays the lowest surviving seed . And in any given playoff game, whoever has the higher seed gets the home field advantage (i.e. the game is held at the higher seed's home field).
The two surviving teams from the Divisional Playoff games meet in Conference Championship games, with the winners of those contests going on to face one another in the Super Bowl.
If teams are tied (having the same regular season won-lost-tied record), the playoff seeding is determined by a set of tiebreaking rules. [1]
A major disadvantage that critics cite in the current system is that a divisional winner could host a playoff game against a wild card team that earned a better regular season record. For example, the Tennessee Titans finished the 2003 regular season with a 12-4 record, but only qualified as a wild card team and thus had to face the Baltimore Ravens, the AFC North division champions with a 10-6 record, in Baltimore, Maryland.
History of the playoff format
- 1932
- The Chicago Bears and the Portsmouth Spartans tie with the best regular season record, and thus play a playoff game to determine the NFL Champion.
- 1933-1966
- The NFL champion was decided by one single postseason game, called the NFL Championship Game, between the two conference winners. The home team for each championship game was determined based on a yearly conference rotation.
- 1967-1969
- With the league realigning to 4 divisions, two in each of the league's 2 conferences, the playoffs become a four-team tournament. The two division winners in each conference met in the "Conference Championships" with the winners advancing to the NFL Championship Game. Again, the home team for each playoff game was determined based on a yearly divisional or conference rotation.
- 1970-1974
- With the AFL-NFL Merger, an eight-team playoff tournament was designed, with four clubs from each conference qualifying. Along with the three division winners in each conference, one wild card team, the second place team with the best record from each conference, was added to the tournament. The first round was named the "Divisional Playoffs", while the Conference Championship games were moved to the second playoff round and the Super Bowl became the league's championship game.
- However, the home teams in the playoffs were still decided based on a yearly divisional rotation, excluding the wild card teams who would always play on the road. Also, a rule was made that two teams from the same division could not meet in the Divisional Playoffs.
- 1975-1977
- The league modifies its 1970 playoff format by instituting a seeding system for the first time. Thus, the surviving clubs with the higher seeds were made the home teams for each playoff round. The three division champions in each conference were seeded 1 through 3 based on their regular season won-lost-tied record, and the wild card qualifier in each conference became the 4 seed.
- However, the league continued to prohibit meetings between two teams from the same division in the Divisional Playoffs. Thus, there would be times when the pairing in that round would be the 1 seed vs. the 3 seed and 2 vs. 4. This is identical to the playoff system currently in use by major league baseball.
- 1978-1989
- The 1975 playoff system was expanded to a ten-team tournament, adding a second wild card team (a fifth seed) from each conference. The two wild card teams from each conference (the 4 and 5 seeds) would play each other in the first round, called the "Wild Card Playoffs". The division winners (seeds 1, 2, and 3) would then automatically advanced to the Divisional Playoffs, which became the second round of the playoffs.
- 1990-2001
- The NFL expands the playoffs to 12 teams by adding a third wild card team (a sixth seed) from each conference. This time, the restrictions on intra-division playoff games during the Divisional Playoffs were removed. However, only the top two division winners in each conference (the 1 and 2 seeds) automatically advanced to the Divisional Playoffs. The 3 seed, the division winner with the worst regular season record in each conference, would then host the 6 seed in the Wild Card Playoffs.
- 2002-present
- The 1990 12-team playoff format is modified after the league expands to 32 teams with the addition of the Houston Texans. Four division winners (the 1, 2, 3, and 4 seeds) and two wild cards (the 5 and 6 seeds) from each conference now advance to the playoffs. However, the league still maintains the names "Wild Card Playoffs", "Divisional Playoffs", and "Conference Championships" for the first, second, and third rounds of the playoffs, respectively. And the top two seeds in each conference are still the only ones that automatically advance to the Divisional Playoffs.
NFL Playoff History
- For playoff games of the American Football League, see AFL playoffs.
NFL Championship games (1933-1966)
- 1933 - Chicago Bears 23 (1-0 in NFL Championship Game), New York Giants 21 (0-1)
- 1934 - New York Giants 30 (1-1), Chicago Bears 13 (1-1) (the "Sneaker Game")
- 1935 - Detroit Lions 26 (1-0), New York Giants 7 (1-2)
- 1936 - Green Bay Packers 21 (1-0), Boston Redskins 6 (0-1)
- 1937 - Washington Redskins 28 (1-1), Chicago Bears 21 (1-2)
- 1938 - New York Giants 23 (2-2), Green Bay Packers 17 (1-1)
- 1939 - Green Bay Packers 27 (2-1), New York Giants 0 (2-3)
- 1940 - Chicago Bears 73 (2-2), Washington Redskins 0 (1-2)
- 1941 - Chicago Bears 37 (3-2), New York Giants 9 (2-4)
- 1941 West Division Playoff - Chicago Bears 33 (1-0), Green Bay 14 (0-1)
- 1942 - Washington Redskins 14 (2-2), Chicago Bears 6 (3-3)
- 1943 - Chicago Bears 41 (4-3), Washington Redskins 21 (2-3)
- 1943 West Division Playoff - Washington Redskins 28 (1-0), NY Giants 0 (0-1)
- 1944 - Green Bay Packers 14 (3-1), New York Giants 7 (2-5)
- 1945 - Cleveland Rams 15 (1-0), Washington Redskins 14 (2-4)
- 1946 - Chicago Bears 24 (5-3), New York Giants 14 (2-6)
- 1947 - Chicago Cardinals 28 (1-0), Philadelphia Eagles 21 (0-1)
- 1948 - Philadelphia Eagles 7 (1-1), Chicago Cardinals 0 (1-1)
- 1949 - Philadelphia Eagles 14 (2-1), Los Angeles Rams 0 (1-1)
- 1950 - Cleveland Browns 30 (1-0), Los Angeles Rams 28 (1-2)
- 1951 - Los Angeles Rams 24 (2-2), Cleveland Browns 17 (1-1)
- 1952 - Detroit Lions 17 (2-0), Cleveland Browns 7 (1-2)
- 1953 - Detroit Lions 17 (3-0), Cleveland Browns 16 (1-3)
- 1954 - Cleveland Browns 56 (2-3), Detroit Lions 10 (3-1)
- 1955 - Cleveland Browns 38 (3-3), Los Angeles Rams 14 (1-3)
- 1956 - New York Giants 47 (3-6), Chicago Bears 7 (5-4)
- 1957 - Detroit Lions 59 (4-1), Cleveland Browns 14 (3-4)
- 1958 - Baltimore Colts 23 (1-0), New York Giants 17 (OT) (3-7)
- 1959 - Baltimore Colts 31 (2-0), New York Giants 16 (3-8)
- 1960 - Philadelphia Eagles 17 (3-1), Green Bay Packers 13 (2-2)
- 1961 - Green Bay Packers 37 (3-2), New York Giants 0 (3-9)
- 1962 - Green Bay Packers 16 (4-2), New York Giants 7 (3-10)
- 1963 - Chicago Bears 14 (6-4), New York Giants 10 (3-11)
- 1964 - Cleveland Browns 27 (4-4), Baltimore Colts 0 (2-1)
- 1965 - Green Bay Packers 23 (5-2), Cleveland Browns 12 (4-5)
- 1966 - Green Bay Packers 34 (6-2), Dallas Cowboys 27 (0-1)
- 1967 - Green Bay Packers 21 (7-2), Dallas Cowboys 17 (0-2)
- 1968 - Baltimore Colts 34 (3-1), Cleveland Browns 0 (4-6)
- 1969 - Minnesota Vikings 27 (1-0), Cleveland Browns 7 (4-7)
Four-team tournament [NFL Semifinals] (1967-1969)
| Eastern Conference Championship | Western Conference Championship | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Playoffs | Winner | Runner-up | Score | Winner | Runner-up | Score |
| 1967 | Dallas Cowboys (1-0 in series play) | Cleveland Browns (0-1) | 52-14 | Green Bay Packers (1-0) | Los Angeles Rams (0-1) | 28-7 |
| 1968 | Cleveland Browns (1-1) | Dallas Cowboys (1-1) | 31-20 | Baltimore Colts (1-0) | Minnesota Vikings (0-1) | 24-14 |
| 1969 | Cleveland Browns (2-1) | Dallas Cowboys (1-2) | 38-14 | Minnesota Vikings (1-1) | Los Angeles Rams (0-2) | 23-20 |
Post AFL-NFL Merger (1970-present)
- Note: Since the AFL-NFL Merger, the playoffs have generally been held over two calendar years.
- Super Bowl winner in bold.
Playoff Standings (Since 1970)
Trivia
- After the 1970 AFL-NFL merger and the emergence of the Super Bowl, all AFL and NFL league championship games prior to merger are listed along with the AFC and NFC conference championship games, respectively, in the NFL's official records.
References
- http://www.superbowl.com/history
- NFL Record and Fact Book (ISBN 193299436X)
- Total Football: The Official Encyclopedia of the National Football League (ISBN 0062701746)
- The Sporting News Complete Super Bowl Book 1995 (ISBN 089204523X)
- http://www.pro-football-reference.com - Large online database of NFL data and statistics
- The NFL History Network - includes a large database of historic NFL box scores
See also
External links
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