After 18 weeks and 17 games, the NFL regular season has come to an end. Now the postseason begins, but the path to the Super Bowl can be confusing if you’re following along for the first time.
Although a couple of top contenders from last season are noticeably absent (where’d the Rams go?), many familiar faces and franchises are back to battle for the Lombardi Trophy.
But how many teams qualify for the postseason? How did they get here? How did the league determine the seeds and where the games will be played?
If you’re looking for answers to all of the above or if you just need a refresher before the final few weeks of the NFL season, we’ve got you covered.
How many teams make the playoffs?
Fourteen of the league’s 32 teams qualified for the postseason: seven from the American Football Conference and seven from the National Football Conference.
Before the 2020 regular season, 12 teams made the postseason. Team owners voted to expand the playoffs to 14 in March 2020.
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How do teams qualify for the playoffs?
The first four playoff spots in each conference are awarded to the teams that finish with the best record in each division (North, South, East and West).
The remaining six spots (three from the AFC and three from the NFC) are given to the teams with the best record who did not win their division.
How are teams seeded at the beginning of the postseason?
The division champions are seeded in order of win percentages. The No. 1 seed in each conference not only earns the top spot but also home-field advantage up to the Super Bowl. The second seed would then go to whichever of the division champions has the next-best record. The assignment of No. 3 and No. 4 seeds follow the same process.
The 5, 6 and 7 seeds are assigned to the three teams that have the next highest win percentages in each conference regardless of divisions.
If there are ties that prevent determining outright division champions or ties in win percentages between wild-card teams, the NFL has tiebreaking procedures in place that can go on multiple steps to determine seeding including the last tie-breaker, a coin flip.
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Are the teams reseeded after each round?
If a team earns a No. 1 seed after the regular season it will remain No. 1 until it is eliminated. That top-seeded team will face the lowest-seeded remaining team in its conference as it advances through the postseason. Additionally, the right to host games for each round in the playoffs (outside of the Super Bowl) will be awarded to the higher-seeded team.
If a higher seed is upset by a lower-seeded team, the highest remaining seed that advances will become the top seed in its conference.
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How do the playoffs work?
The NFL postseason consists of three single-elimination rounds that determine which two teams meet in the Super Bowl.
The first round is known as the wild-card round (six total games with three in each conference), followed by the divisional round (four total matchups with two in each conference) and then the two conference championship games. The winners of the AFC and NFC conference championship games go on to face each other in the Super Bowl.
The No. 1 seed in the AFC and the No. 1 seed in the NFC are given first-round byes. They face the lowest-seeded team in their conference after the wild-card round.
What does the NFL playoff picture look like?
Teams from the AFC are on one side while NFC teams are on the other.
The wild-card matchups on the AFC side are No. 4 Jaguars versus No. 5 Chargers, No. 3 Bengals versus No. 6 Ravens and No. 2 Bills versus No. 7 Dolphins.
On the NFC side, the first-round games include No. 4 Buccaneers versus No. 5 Cowboys, no. 3 Vikings versus No. 6 Giants and no. 2 49ers versus no. 7 Seahawks.
The Chiefs (AFC) and the Eagles (NFC) have already earned a spot in their respective divisional rounds.
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Why the AFC Championship Game could be played at a neutral site this year
The AFC Championship Game will be played at a neutral site if the participating teams played an unequal number of games and both could have been the No. 1 seed had all AFC clubs play a full 17-game regular season.
NFL owners approved this resolution after the cancellation of the Week 17 Bills–Bengals game, in which Buffalo safety Damar Hamlin suffered cardiac arrest and collapsed. A Buffalo versus Kansas City AFC Championship Game would be played at a neutral site.
The potential site will likely be chosen after the wild-card round, if necessary.
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What about the teams that failed to qualify for the playoffs?
The 18 other teams in the league, including the defending Super Bowl champion Los Angeles Rams, were eliminated from postseason contention and will not play again until the preseason begins in August.
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(Photo: Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
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