What Is a Wild Card Game?

A wild-card game is a National Football League playoff game that pits a wild-card team against one of the division winners. Major League Baseball has wild-card teams in its playoffs, but does not refer to the games as wild-card games.

  1. Wild-Card History

    • The NFL has used wild-card teams in its playoffs since 1970. Wild-card teams qualify for the playoffs by having the best records among the teams that did not win one of the divisions. There was one wild-card team per conference from 1970 to 1978, two wild-card teams from 1978 to 1990, three wild-card teams from 1990 to 2002 and two wild-card teams since 2002.

    Current Format

    • Since 2002, when the NFL expanded to four divisions per conference, the two wild-card teams in each conference have been slotted to play the two division winners in their conference with the worst records. The wild-card games are played on the opening weekend of the playoffs. The winners of the games advance to play the next weekend against one of the conference's top two seeds, who received byes and do not participate in wild-card games.

    History

    • Participating in the wild-card game is viewed as a competitive disadvantage because it requires participants to win one additional game in order to navigate the playoffs and reach the Super Bowl. The wild-card games have witnessed some memorable contests. In 2010, the NFL Network named the 1992 wild-card game between the Buffalo Bills and the Houston Oilers, which the Bills rallied from 32 points down to win 41-38 in overtime, as the best wild-card game in NFL history.