While it’s not exclusive to sports in the US, it’s a common factor that each of the country’s significant leagues conclude with playoffs to decide an overall champion. They’re called the playoffs in basketball, while in baseball, it’s the World Series. For the NFL, they are sometimes called the post-season, and they always culminate in the year’s biggest single sporting event, the Super Bowl.
The road there is relatively straightforward for the teams that eventually make it through to compete for the Vince Lombardi Trophy. Still, the intricacies of the playoffs can be a little complicated for anyone unfamiliar with the NFL rules.
Hopefully, what follows will make everything a little more transparent, and for anyone starting to study the NFL odds for the playoffs, this should also give some context on what to expect from the teams involved.
A brief history of the playoffs
The history of the post-season playoffs began in 1933 when the first NFL Championship game was held in which the Chicago Bears beat the New York Giants 23-21 on their home ground of Wrigley Field. The two teams from each division with the best regular season records met in the early days.
This format lasted until 1966, when the Super Bowl was played for the first time. This was competed for by the winners of the National Football League, the Green Bay Packers, and their counterparts from the American Football League, the Kansas City Chiefs, with the former enjoying a decisive 35-10 victory.
Over time, more teams have been admitted to the playoffs leading up to the final Super Bowl appearance. In 1967, four division winners were included. Following the 1970 official National and American Football League merger, it was expanded to eight teams. In 1978 this increased to ten. Six more were added into the mix in 1982 before being reduced to ten once more in 1983, increased to twelve in 1990 and fourteen in 2020 – the number remains in force today.
The format of the playoffs
Unlike the basketball and baseball playoffs, the NFL features a single elimination tournament.
This means that the 14 teams that start the playoffs are reduced to the final winners in just four rounds.
But who are the 14 teams that go into them?
The answer is as follows.
The AFC and NFC conferences contain 16 teams divided into four divisions (North, East, South, and West) with four teams. The winner of each division is automatically entitled to enter the playoffs, adding up to eight teams.
These are joined by six “wild card” entries, three from each conference. These are selected based on the best-performing three in each conference, regardless of their division.
Seeding from one to seven is carried out for each team from each conference. The conference winners are number one, with others placed according to the season’s results.
Wild Card Round
This is the first round, where the wild card teams play the seeds two to four in their respective conference. The number one seeds are given a bye and automatically move to the second round.
Regarding which team plays which, the number seven seed plays the number two, number six plays seed three, and five plays four. The nature of the seeding process means there have been frequent upsets in this round, with many weaker teams overcoming opposition who, on paper, should have significantly outclassed them.
Divisional Round
The elimination of six teams means that eight remain. These are still divided by their conference, and the draw is determined to ensure that the second lowest seed still in the playoffs plays the second highest and lowest seed plays the remaining team with the best record in their conference. This round reduces the number of teams to four.
Conference Championship
The two remaining teams in the playoffs for each conference compete to see which will become the overall conference champions.
Super Bowl
The final round is the main event – the Super Bowl. This sees the team that has made it through from each conference meet in America’s biggest sporting event that attracts record-breaking numbers of viewers keen not just to see the teams compete, but also to enjoy the legendary half-time show.
This year, the Kansas City Chiefs will aim to achieve a hat trick of three wins in as many seasons as possible. But they face stiff competition from other teams like the Detroit Lions and the Philadelphia Eagles.
As to who will emerge victorious, having navigated these four punishing rounds, we’ll have to wait until Sunday, February 9, to discover.