NFL Playoffs Rules

The NFL Playoff seeding procedure is commonly debated towards the end of the regular NFL Season and during the playoffs. This is because it is possible for a team with a better winning percentage to be the visiting team during the playoffs against a team with a lessor winning percentage. This only occurs when a wildcard team which is seeded fifth or sixth in the playoffs has a better record than some of the divisional winners, seeded one through four. Part of the reason for the debate is because the seeding instead of regular season record is used to determine home teams for the playoffs.

  1. Playoff Seeding

    • The top six teams are seeded for each conference for the NFL Playoffs. The division winner which has the best record in the conference is determined to be the top seed. The remaining division winners are seeded from second through fourth from best record to lowest record among the division winners. The wild card teams are seeded fifth and sixth in the conference.

    Tie Breaking Procedures

    • If two teams tie for the same ranking in the playoff seeding, the NFL has an official tie breaking procedure in place. How the tie breaking is done depends on if the teams are in the same division. The first tie breaker in all situations compares head to head records in games played among the teams that are tied. After that if the tie is not broken the record within the division (if the tied teams are in the same division) or the record of each team against common opponents all teams involved in the tie played during the year. The next tie breaker is comparing division records of any teams remaining in the tie. This continues through 11 steps listed at the NFL Playing Seeding Chart website ties are commonly broken by strength of schedule tie breaker if it is not broken before that point.

    Divisional Opponents

    • There is not a rule that prohibits divisional opponents from playing each other in the first round of the playoffs. The matchups are determined based on the seeding and no adjustments are made if it pairs up two teams from the same division. This results in some teams playing games against each other three times in a single season.

    Re-seeding After Each Round

    • The divisional playoffs are re-seeded after each round. The team remaining after each playoff round with the highest seeding gets to play the team remaining in that conference with the lowest seeding. If the number one seed loses in the second round of the playoffs, the second seeded team plays the lowest remaining team in the playoffs instead of the team that defeated the top seeded team having that benefit.

    Home Team

    • The home team in the playoffs is the team with the highest seed. In the first round of the playoffs the top two seeds in each conference have the week off. The third and fourth seeded teams host games against the fifth and sixth seeded teams. The only time a third or fourth seeded team can host another game is in the conference championship game, and that is only if both the top two seeded teams lose in the second round. The wild card teams which are the fifth and sixth seeded teams can never host a playoff game.