The NFL playoff format is a single-elimination tournament held after the end of the regular season to determine the NFL champion. The tournament consists of six rounds, with each round featuring two teams playing against each other. The team that wins advances to the next round, while the loser is eliminated from the tournament.
The NFL playoff format may seem confusing at first, but it’s actually quite simple. There are four rounds of playoffs: the Wild Card round, the Divisional round, the Conference Championships, and the Super Bowl. In each round, six teams play against each other.
The four division winners from each conference automatically qualify for the Divisional round, while the two Wild Card teams from each conference play in the Wild Card round. The team with the best record in each conference automatically qualifies for the Conference Championship game. The winner of that game goes on to play in the Super Bowl.
How the NFL playoff picture works | Road to the Super Bowl
How Does the Nfl Playoff Format Work This Year?
The 2016 NFL playoffs begin Saturday, Jan. 9 with the wild-card round. The top two seeds in each conference get a bye through the opening weekend.
In the AFC, the New England Patriots are the No. 1 seed and will host either the Houston Texans, Kansas City Chiefs or Pittsburgh Steelers in the divisional round on Jan. 16 or 17.
The Denver Broncos are seeded second and will play either the Texans, Chiefs or Miami Dolphins in their divisional matchup.
In the NFC, it’s a similar story as the Carolina Panthers are seeded first and will host either the Seattle Seahawks, Green Bay Packers or Minnesota Vikings in their divisional game on Jan. 16 or 17. The Arizona Cardinals are seeded second and will take on either those same three teams depending on who wins this weekend’s games.
The four divisional winners advance to Conference Championships Sunday, Jan. 24 with times and broadcast information to be determined at a later date by NFL officials. The AFC Championship game will be played at 3:05 p.m., followed bythe NFC Championship at 6:40 p.m., both on FOX SportsGo .
Finally, Super Bowl 50 is set for Sunday, Feb 7 at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California with kickoff slated for 3:30 p.m EST on CBS TV .
What are the Rules in Nfl Playoffs?
In the NFL, the playoffs are a single-elimination tournament held after the end of the regular season to determine the champion. The postseason consists of four rounds: wild-card weekend, divisional playoff weekend, conference championship weekend, and Super Bowl Sunday. The top two teams in each conference (NFC and AFC) earn a first-round bye while four other clubs enter the opening round of playoffs as wild card teams.
The NFL’s playoff format is simple: win and you keep playing, lose and you go home. There are no second chances in the playoffs; it’s do or die starting with Wild Card Weekend.
Wild Card Weekend features four games on Saturday and Sunday, with two more games on each day in Divisional Playoff Weekend.
The winners advance to their respective conference’s Championship Game with a trip to Super Bowl LIII on the line.
The Conference Championship Games take place on Sunday, January 20th this year (2019), with kickoff times at 3:05pm ET (AFC game) and 6:40pm ET (NFC game). The losing teams head home while the winners advance to Super Bowl LIII which will be played one week later on February 3rd at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia.
Super Bowl LIII will have kickoff at 6:30 pm EST / 5:30 pm CST just like last year’s big game did. As always, CBS has broadcast rights to America’s most popular sporting event so that is where you’ll be able to watch allthe action unfold live on TV if you don’t have a ticket to see it in person inside Mercedez Benz Stadium .
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Nfl Playoff Format 2023
The NFL playoffs are a single-elimination tournament held after the regular season to determine the NFL champion. From 1933 to 1966, the NFL playoff game was the championship game of the league, pitting the winners of the Eastern and Western conferences or divisions. The NFL was never truly a national game until 1958 when NBC began broadcasting American Football League games on a regional basis; prior to that point, professional football had been mostly confined to Midwestern industrial cities.[1][2]
The AFL–NFL World Championship Game was played periodically from January 15, 1967 (Super Bowl I) until January 12, 1970 (Super Bowl IV), when it became known as simply the Super Bowl and permanently rotated between AFC and NFC teams. Following merging of the two leagues in 1970, an additional round of playoffs was created with four teams joining each conference’s pre-existing three qualifiers for a total of fourteen participants,[3][4] ten of which qualified automatically by winning their division while four entered as wild cards—the term used for non-division champions with better records than at least one team in their own division.
Conclusion
The NFL playoff format is a bit complicated, but essentially it works like this: the top six teams in each conference (based on regular season record) make the playoffs, and are seeded according to their record. The first round is a single elimination game, played at the home of the higher seed. The second round is also a single elimination game, but played at a neutral site.
The third round, aka the Conference Championship game, is again played at a neutral site. Finally, the Super Bowl is played between the two Conference Champions at a pre-determined location.