Among the four major professional sports leagues in the United States, the NFL postseason is the only one to use a single-elimination tournament in all of its rounds. Major League Baseball (MLB) has traditionally used "best-of" series formats, though its Wild Card postseason round, initiated in 2012, was a single game until 2022, when it was replaced with a best-of-three series. Both the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the National Hockey League (NHL) continue to use "best-of" series formats.
NFL Wild Card Round
The names of the first two playoff rounds date back to the postseason format that was first used in 1978, when the league added a second wild-card team to each conference. The first round of the playoffs is dubbed the wild-card round (or super wild-card weekend). In this round, the second-seeded division winner hosts the seventh-seeded wild-card, the third hosts the sixth, and the fourth hosts the fifth. There are no restrictions regarding teams from the same division matching up in any round. The division winner with the best record from each conference receives a first round bye, automatically advancing them to the second round, dubbed the divisional round and hosts the lowest-remaining seed from the first round. The other two winners from the wild-card round play each other with the higher seeds hosting.[4] The two surviving teams from each conference's divisional-round playoff games then meet in the respective AFC and NFC Conference Championship games, hosted by the higher-seeded team. The winners of those contests go on to face one another in the Super Bowl which is played at a pre-determined neutral site.
The New York Giants and New York Jets have shared the same home stadium since 1984 (Giants Stadium from 1984 to 2009, and MetLife Stadium since 2010). Thus, if both teams need to host playoff games on the same weekend, they are required to play on separate days, even during the Conference Championship round when both games are normally scheduled the same day. The only time such a scheduling conflict has occurred was during Wild Card weekend in 1985, when only 10 teams qualified for the postseason and there were only two wild-card games. Instead of playing both Wild Card games on the same day, as was the case when the 10-team system was used from 1978 to 1989, the Jets hosted their game Saturday, December 28, before the Giants hosted their game on Sunday, December 29. This same scheduling conflict could occur for the Los Angeles Chargers and Los Angeles Rams, who began sharing SoFi Stadium in 2020.
If three or four teams in one division are tied for the division title and/or division runner-up, and also if after breaking ties within divisions three or four teams in different divisions are tied, then should the one or two team(s) be qualified or eliminated at any step the tie breaker reverts to step one for the remaining two or three teams. If multiple playoff spots are at stake, the rules are applied in order until the first team(s) qualify(ies) or is eliminated, then the process is started again for the remaining teams. Finally, once ties are broken between three or more teams qualifying for the playoffs, the relative positions of the seeds determined will not change regardless of wild card and divisional round results - for example, if division winners were to tie for the second, third and fourth seeds in a conference and the third and fourth seeds subsequently advanced to the conference championship game, the team that was originally awarded the third seed would host that game even if it would have lost a head-to-head tiebreaker against the fourth seed.
In 1967, the NFL expanded to 16 teams and split its two conferences into two divisions of four teams each. The four division champions advanced to the playoffs, and to remain on schedule, a tie-breaker system was introduced. The first round determined the conference's champion and its representative in the NFL Championship Game, played the following week. This was the first scheduled playoff tournament to determine the teams to play for the NFL Championship.[20]
For 1969, the final season before its merger with the NFL, the AFL added a first round whereby each division winner played the second-place team from the other division. The winners of these games met in the AFL Championship Game.[20] In the only year of this format, the AFL champion Kansas City Chiefs were the second-place team in the Western division and played both games on the road. They won Super Bowl IV in January and became the first division runner-up to win a Super Bowl.[22]
When the leagues merged in 1970, the new NFL (with 26 teams) reorganized into two conferences of three divisions each. From the 1970 season to the 1977 season, four teams from each conference (for a total of eight teams) qualified for the playoffs each year. These four teams included the three division champions, and a fourth wild-card team.[23]
Originally, the home teams in the playoffs were decided based on a yearly rotation.[24] From 1970 to 1974, the divisional playoff round rotated which of the three division champions have home-field advantage, with the wild-card teams and their opponents they faced in the divisional playoff game will never get it. Starting in 1970, the divisional playoff games consisted of the AFC Central champions and the NFC West champions playing their games on the road. Then in 1971 it rotated to the AFC East champions and the NFC East champions playing their games on the road. In the 1972 divisional playoff games, the AFC West champions and the NFC Central champions were the visiting teams. And 1973 it would start all over with the AFC Central and NFC West again, and so on.
The league instituted a seeding system for the playoffs in 1975, where the surviving clubs with the higher seeds were made the home teams for each playoff round.[17] Thus, the top seeded division winner played the wild-card team, and the remaining two division winners played at the home stadium of the better seed, forcing the worst-ranked division winner to open the postseason on the road. However, two teams from the same division could not meet prior to the conference championship game.[25] Thus, there would be times when the pairing in the divisional playoff round would be the 1 seed vs. the 3 seed and 2 vs. 4.
For the 1990 season, a third wild-card team for each conference was added, expanding the playoffs to twelve teams. The lowest-seeded division winner was then "demoted" to the wild-card weekend. Also, the restrictions on intra-divisional games during the divisional playoffs were removed.[29]
Chiefs vs. Eagles, 6:30 p.m. ET (Fox, stream on fuboTV). This biggest early storyline in this game will revolve around Andy Reid. The Chiefs coach spent the first 14 seasons of his coaching career in Philadelphia before being fired in 2012. Reid then got hired by the Chiefs in 2013, and now, in his 10th season, he'll get to a chance to exact some revenge on his old team. Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce will also get a chance to go up against his brother, Eagles center Jason Kelce. The Eagles have been the best team in the NFL all season, but the Chiefs defintely have the talent to take them down.
This will also mark the third time these two have faced in the postseason. The Chiefs won in the wild-card round back in 1993, while the Steelers took the W in the divisional round of the 2016 playoffs.
The AFC East rivalry between the Bills and Patriots took an interesting turn this season. The Patriots won round one in Week 13 by a 14-10 score where starting quarterback Mac Jones threw just three passes. Round two belonged to the Bills in Week 16 when Buffalo won 33-21. Jones threw 32 passes in that one.
While the top-seeded Eagles sit and wait for the divisional round, the NFC (and AFC, for that matter) will line up three regular-season rematches on Wild Card weekend. What will be the most important matchup in deciding those games?
Martindale tried to adapt his game plan for Jefferson by playing more zone and less man, even while blitzing. New York ended up watching Jefferson and tight end T.J. Hockenson (13 catches, 109 yards, 2 TDs) run wild.
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