NFL Playoff Rules and the Home Field

How it Begins

• Now that both the NFC and AFC conferences have four divisions each: North, South, East and West, the playoffs have a fairly standard format. Each division has a champion based on the team record. Those eight teams, four from each conference, play each other along with two other teams known as the “wild cards.”

Wild Cards Chosen

• The wild card teams, two from each conference, are chosen based on overall conference record. If multiple teams have the same record, the winner of individual match ups between those teams will advance. If teams with identical records did not play each other during the regular season, the NFL has a series of ways to break the tie such as strength of wins, difficulty of schedule and best won-lost-tied percentage.

First Week

• The first week of the playoffs is a bye, otherwise known as off, week for the first- and second-place team of each conference. The third-place team will play the sixth-place team, and the fourth-place team will play the fifth-place team. These are known as the “wild card games,” as each game has one wild card team in the running.

Following Weeks

• The next week of the playoffs pits the winner in each conference of the fourth- and fifth-place game against the second-place conference team, and the winner of the third- and sixth-place game against the first-place team. The winners of these games advance to the conference championship game. The winners of the championship games meet in the Super Bowl.

Home Field Advantage

• Home field advantage throughout the playoffs is determined by win-loss record. The team with the best record gets the home field advantage. There are several tie-breaking rules, which include the head-to-head match ups, won-lost-tied percentage and strength of victory. Ultimately, there are 12 ways to break a tie.