NFL playoffs facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

Quick facts for kids
NFL playoffs

Sport	American football
Founded	1933
No. of teams	14
Most recent champion(s)	Kansas City Chiefs (3rd title)
Most titles	Green Bay Packers (13 titles)
TV partner(s)	United States: Broadcast CBS Fox NBC ABC/ESPN/ESPN2 NFL Network Telemundo/Universo (Spanish audio/broadcast) ESPN Deportes (Spanish audio/broadcast) Fox Deportes (Spanish audio/broadcast) Live streaming Peacock ESPN+ Amazon Prime Video NFL+ NFL Sunday Ticket International: Broadcasters

The National Football League (NFL) playoffs are special games played after the regular season. These games are a single-elimination tournament, which means if a team loses, they are out! The playoffs decide the champion of the league.

Right now, seven teams from each of the NFL's two big groups, called conferences, get to play in the playoffs. If teams have the same record, there are special rules to decide who gets in or who gets a better spot. The whole tournament ends with the Super Bowl. This is the championship game where the best team from each conference plays to become the NFL champion!

The NFL postseason started with the first NFL Championship Game in 1933. Back then, only the best teams from each division played in that one championship game. Over the years, the playoffs grew. In 1967, four teams played. After the NFL joined with the American Football League (AFL) in 1970, eight teams made it. The number of playoff teams kept growing to ten in 1978, twelve in 1990, and finally fourteen in 2020.

The NFL playoffs are unique among major sports leagues in the United States. They are the only ones where every game is a single-elimination game. In other sports like baseball (MLB), basketball (NBA), and hockey (NHL), teams usually play "best-of" series, where they have to win multiple games to advance.

How do the NFL playoffs work?

Schedule for the NFL playoffs
Season	2024–25 (Previous)	2025–26	2026–27 (Tentative)	2027–28 (Tentative)
Wild Card	Jan 11–13	Jan 10–12	Jan 16–18	Jan 15–17
Divisional	Jan 18–19	Jan 17–18	Jan 23–24	Jan 22–23
Conference	Jan 26	Jan 25	Jan 31	Jan 30
Super Bowl	LIX Feb 9	LX Feb 8	LXI Feb 14	LXII Feb 13

The NFL has 32 teams, split into two conferences: the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). Each conference has 16 teams, divided into four smaller groups called divisions. Each division has four teams.

Here's how teams qualify for the playoffs since 2020:

The four teams that win their divisions in each conference (they have the best record in their division) are ranked from 1 to 4. This ranking is called "seeding."
Three other teams from each conference, called "wild-card" teams, also make it. These are the three teams with the best records that didn't win their division. They are ranked 5, 6, and 7.

If teams have the same record, special tie-breaking rules are used to decide their playoff spot.

The Playoff Rounds

The NFL playoffs have a few exciting rounds:

Wild-Card Round: This is the first round. The second-ranked division winner plays against the seventh-ranked wild-card team. The third-ranked team plays the sixth, and the fourth-ranked team plays the fifth. The team with the better ranking gets to play at home.
First-Round Bye: The very best team in each conference (the number 1 seed) gets a special break. They don't have to play in the Wild-Card Round and automatically move on to the next round.
Divisional Round: In this round, the number 1 seed plays the lowest-ranked team that won its Wild-Card game. The other two winners from the Wild-Card Round play each other. Again, the higher-ranked team hosts the game.
Conference Championship Games: The two teams that win their Divisional Round games in each conference then play in the AFC and NFC Championship games. The team with the better ranking hosts this game.
Super Bowl: The winners of the AFC and NFC Championship games face off in the Super Bowl. This big game is played at a place chosen before the season starts.

Sometimes, two teams share the same stadium, like the New York Giants and New York Jets. If both teams need to host playoff games on the same weekend, they have to play on different days to avoid conflicts. This also applies to the Los Angeles Chargers and Los Angeles Rams who share SoFi Stadium.

(Day) – #3 Seed Hosts

(Day) – 2nd Highest Seed Hosts

Wild Card #2

Division Winner #3

2nd Lowest Seed

(Day) – Higher Seed Hosts

(Day) – #2 Seed Hosts

2nd Highest Seed

See Re-seeding below

Wild Card #3

Lower Seed

(Day) – #1 Seed Hosts

Division Winner #2

Higher Seed

AFC Championship

(Day) – #4 Seed Hosts

Lowest Seed

Division Winner #1

Wild Card #1

Divisional playoffs

(Day) – Neutral Site

Division Winner #4

Wild Card playoffs

AFC Champion

(Day) – #3 Seed Hosts

(Day) – 2nd Highest Seed Hosts

NFC Champion

Super Bowl

Wild Card #2

Division Winner #3

2nd Lowest Seed

(Day) – Higher Seed Hosts

(Day) – #2 Seed Hosts

2nd Highest Seed

See Re-seeding below

Wild Card #3

Lower Seed

(Day) – #1 Seed Hosts

Division Winner #2

Higher Seed

NFC Championship

(Day) – #4 Seed Hosts

Lowest Seed

Division Winner #1

Wild Card #1

Division Winner #4

Re-seeding: Home field is determined by seeding number, not position on the bracket. The NFL does not use a fixed bracket system; the outcome of the Wild Card games determine the matchups of the Divisional playoffs games, with the lowest remaining seed in each conference traveling to the first seed, and the second-lowest remaining seed traveling to the second-highest remaining seed.

How are ties broken?

Sometimes, teams finish the season with the exact same record (wins, losses, and ties). When this happens, the NFL has special rules to decide which team gets into the playoffs or gets a better seed. These rules are applied step-by-step until the tie is broken.

First, ties within a division are broken. This means we figure out the winner of each division before comparing teams from different divisions.

The rules for breaking ties have changed over the years. The most recent changes happened in 2002 when the league reorganized into eight divisions. Rules about how teams played against common opponents or within their conference became more important.

Here are the main tie-breaking rules. If all these fail, a coin toss is used!

Divisional tiebreakers	Conference tiebreakers
Head-to-head: Which team won more games when they played each other? Division Record: Which team had a better record in games played only within their division? Common Games: Which team had a better record in games played against the same opponents? Conference Record: Which team had a better record in games played only within their conference? Strength of Victory: How good were the teams that a club defeated? (A team that beat stronger opponents ranks higher). Strength of Schedule: How good were all the teams that a club played against? (A team that played a tougher schedule ranks higher). Points Scored/Allowed: A combination of how many points a team scored and how many they allowed. Net Points in Common Games: The difference between points scored and allowed in games against common opponents. Net Points in All Games: The difference between points scored and allowed in all games. Net Touchdowns: The difference between touchdowns scored and allowed in all games.	Division Winners First: First, use the division tie-breakers to find the best team in each division. Head-to-head: If teams played each other, who won? (This is only used if one team beat all the others in the tie, or lost to all of them). Conference Record: Which team had a better record in games played only within their conference? Common Games: Which team had a better record in games played against at least four common opponents? Strength of Victory: How good were the teams they defeated that season? Strength of Schedule: How good were all the teams they played that season? Points Scored/Allowed: A combination of how many points a team scored and how many they allowed within their conference. Net Points in Conference Games: The difference between points scored and allowed in conference games. Net Points in All Games: The difference between points scored and allowed in all games. Net Touchdowns: The difference between touchdowns scored and allowed in all games.

What happens in overtime?

Overtime rules are used in NFL playoff games because there must be a winner; games cannot end in a tie.

The NFL first used overtime for championship games in 1946. The most famous early overtime game was the 1958 NFL Championship Game. In this game, the first team to score won, which is called "sudden death."

In 2010, the NFL changed its overtime rules for the playoffs. If a team scores a touchdown or a safety on its first turn with the ball, they win right away. But if they only score a field goal on their first turn, the other team gets a chance to score too. If the score is still tied after both teams have had a chance, then it goes back to "sudden death" rules, where the next score wins.

The rules changed again in 2022 for postseason games. Now, both teams are guaranteed to get at least one chance with the ball, even if the first team scores a touchdown. This makes sure both teams have a fair shot.

Multiple Overtime Periods

Since playoff games can't end in a tie, if the score is still tied after the first overtime period, they keep playing more overtime periods until someone wins. All the normal game rules, like the clock, reset for each new overtime period.

No NFL playoff game has ever gone past two overtime periods. The longest NFL overtime game ever was 82 minutes and 40 seconds long! It happened on December 25, 1971, when the Miami Dolphins beat the Kansas City Chiefs with a field goal in the second overtime.

Playoff games that went into at least two overtimes
Length of game	Date	Away team	Score	Home team	Winning score
82:40	December 25, 1971	Miami Dolphins	27–24	Kansas City Chiefs	Garo Yepremian 37-yard field goal
77:54†	December 23, 1962	Dallas Texans	20–17	Houston Oilers	Tommy Brooker 25-yard field goal
77:02	January 3, 1987	New York Jets	20–23	Cleveland Browns	Mark Moseley 27-yard field goal
76:42	January 12, 2013	Baltimore Ravens	38–35	Denver Broncos	Justin Tucker 47-yard field goal
75:43	December 24, 1977	Oakland Raiders	37–31	Baltimore Colts	Dave Casper 10-yard touchdown pass from Ken Stabler
75:10	January 10, 2004	Carolina Panthers	29–23	St. Louis Rams	Steve Smith 69-yard touchdown pass from Jake Delhomme
† AFL game prior to the AFL–NFL merger.

History of NFL playoffs and championships

The way the NFL decides its champions has changed a lot over the years.

The Early Years (Before 1933)

From 1920 to 1932, there wasn't a planned championship game. The championship was usually given to the team with the best winning percentage at the end of the season. Teams played different numbers of games, so winning percentage was the fairest way to compare them.

The 1932 Playoff Game

In 1932, the Chicago Bears and the Portsmouth Spartans ended the season tied for the best record. They needed an extra game to decide the champion. This game was played indoors in Chicago because of bad winter weather. The Bears won 9–0. This exciting game showed the NFL that fans loved championship matchups, which led to the creation of an official championship game in 1933.

Before the Super Bowl (1933-1966)

Starting in 1933, the NFL split into two conferences. The winners of each conference would play in the NFL Championship Game. If there was a tie in the standings, they would play an extra playoff game to decide the conference winner. This sometimes delayed the championship game.

This system wasn't always fair. Sometimes, a team with a really good record would miss the playoffs because they were in the same conference as an even better team. Only the conference winners got to play for the championship.

In 1967, the NFL expanded to 16 teams and created divisions within each conference. The four division champions went to the playoffs. A tie-breaker system was introduced to make sure the playoffs stayed on schedule.

The AFL Playoffs (Before Merger)

The American Football League (AFL) also had its own playoff system before it merged with the NFL. From 1960 to 1968, the AFL used a similar two-division format. In 1969, the AFL added a new first round where division winners played second-place teams from the other division. The winners then played in the AFL Championship. In that year, the Kansas City Chiefs were a second-place team, but they won the AFL Championship and then went on to win Super Bowl IV. They were the first team that didn't win their division to win a Super Bowl!

The Super Bowl and Merger (1966-1977)

The Super Bowl started as a championship game between the AFL and NFL. This idea came from Kansas City Chiefs owner Lamar Hunt. The success of the AFL eventually led to the two leagues joining together.

From 1966 to 1969, the Super Bowl was played between the AFL and NFL champions. Since 1970, it has featured the champions of the National Football Conference (NFC) and the American Football Conference (AFC).

When the leagues merged in 1970, the NFL had 26 teams. Four teams from each conference (eight teams total) made the playoffs. These included the three division champions and one wild-card team.

At first, the home teams in the playoffs were decided by a yearly rotation, which sometimes led to unfair situations. For example, a team with a perfect record might have to play an away game. In 1975, the league started using a seeding system. This meant that the higher-ranked teams would always get to play at home.

Playoff Expansion (1978-Present)

After the regular season grew from 14 to 16 games in 1978, the NFL added another wild-card team for each conference. This made it a ten-team playoff format. The Oakland Raiders became the first wild-card team to win a Super Bowl in 1980.

In the 1982 season, a player strike shortened the season. The league used a special playoff format where the top eight teams from each conference made it, regardless of their division. This was the first time teams with losing records qualified for the playoffs.

For the 1990 season, a third wild-card team was added for each conference, making it twelve teams in the playoffs. The rules also changed so that teams from the same division could play each other in earlier playoff rounds.

The playoff format stayed mostly the same until the 2002 expansion, when the league reorganized into eight divisions. In this format, the four division winners and two wild cards in each conference were seeded 1–6. The top two seeds got a bye (didn't play in the first round), and the highest seed always hosted the lowest seed in each round.

There were talks about expanding the playoffs to 14 teams for many years to create more exciting games and revenue. Some worried it would let in "lower-caliber" teams. However, the league eventually decided to go ahead with the expansion.

The NFL finally added the 14-team playoff format in 2020. This added a third wild-card team to each conference and gave only the top seed a bye, making the Wild-Card Round even bigger!

NFL playoff appearances

This section shows how many times active NFL teams have made it to the playoffs. This information is correct as of the end of the 2023 regular season.

Appearances by active teams

Team	Appearances
Dallas Cowboys	36
Green Bay Packers	36
Pittsburgh Steelers	34
New York Giants	33
Cleveland / St. Louis / Los Angeles Rams	32
Minnesota Vikings	31
Philadelphia Eagles	30
San Francisco 49ers	30
Baltimore / Indianapolis Colts	29
Boston / New England Patriots	28
Chicago Bears	27
Cleveland Browns	25
Houston Oilers / Tennessee Titans	25
Boston / Washington Redskins / Washington Football Team / Washington Commanders	25
Kansas City Chiefs	25
Miami Dolphins	25
Oakland / Los Angeles / Las Vegas Raiders	23
Denver Broncos	22
Buffalo Bills	22
San Diego / Los Angeles Chargers	20
Seattle Seahawks	20
Detroit Lions	18
Cincinnati Bengals	16
Baltimore Ravens	15
Atlanta Falcons	14
New Orleans Saints	14
New York Jets	14
Tampa Bay Buccaneers	13
Chicago / St. Louis / Arizona Cardinals	11
Carolina Panthers	8
Jacksonville Jaguars	8
Houston Texans	7

Current playoff appearance streaks

This table shows how many years in a row teams have made it to the playoffs.

Bold italics means it's the team's longest-ever streak!

Current consecutive Playoff appearances
Seasons	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024
9	Kansas City Chiefs' longest streak
				5	Buffalo Bills
					4	Tampa Bay Buccaneers
						3	San Francisco 49ers
						3	Dallas Cowboys
						3	Philadelphia Eagles
							2	Baltimore Ravens
							2	Miami Dolphins
								1	Detroit
								1	Cleveland
								1	LA Rams
								1	Houston
								1	Pittsburgh
								1	Green Bay
Seasons	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024

Playoff Teams by Division (2023 Season)

2023 season
Division	AFC	Seasons	NFC	Seasons
East	Buffalo Bills Miami Dolphins	5 2	Dallas Cowboys Philadelphia Eagles	3 3
North	Baltimore Ravens Cleveland Browns Pittsburgh Steelers	2 1 1	Detriot Lions Green Bay Packers	1 1
South	Houston Texans	1	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	4
West	Kansas City Chiefs	9	San Francisco 49ers Los Angeles Rams	3 1

All-time Playoff Streaks

Here are some notable streaks for teams making it to the playoffs or winning playoff games. The regular season has changed length over the years (14 games, 16 games, and now 17 games).

Most consecutive playoff appearances all time

Italics means the streak is still happening as of the 2023 NFL season.

Streak Length	Teams
11	Patriots
9	Cowboys · Colts · Chiefs
8	49ers · Packers · Rams · Steelers
7	Oilers (Titans)
6	Bills · Browns · Raiders · Vikings
5	Dolphins (x 3) · Seahawks (x 2) · Bears · Bengals · Broncos · Eagles · Ravens
4	Buccaneers (x 2) · Chargers · Giants · Jaguars · Redskins (Commanders) · Saints
3	Lions (x 2) · Falcons · Panthers
2	Jets (x 5) · Cardinals (x 4) · Texans (x 3)

Timeline for each teams' longest streak.

Teams' longest consecutive playoff appearances all time
1940s					1950s							1960s			1970s										1980s										1990s
5	6	7	8	9	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0	1	2	3	4	5
		Chi. Cards 2					Detroit Lions 3						NY Jets 2						St. L. Cards 2							NY Jets 2				NY Jets 2			Buffalo Bills 6
					Cleveland Browns 6											Washington Redskins 4				Dallas Cowboys 9												Houston Oilers 7
																	Pittsburgh Steelers 8
																		Los Angeles Rams 8										San Francisco 49ers 8
																	Oakland Raiders 6
																		Minnesota Vikings 6						S. D. Chargers 4					Chicago Bears 5									Detroit Lions 3
															Miami Dolphins 5											Miami Dolphins 5

Bold and light blue is an Active Streak

Teams' longest consecutive playoff appearances all time
1990s				2000s										2010s										2020s
6	7	8	9	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0	1	2	3	4	5
						Indianapolis Colts 9									Cincinnati Bengals 5
Jacksonville Jaguars 4				Philadelphia Eagles 5					New York Giants 4				Green Bay Packers 8
			Tampa Bay Bucs 4										New England Patriots 11											Tampa Bay Bucs 4
										San Diego Chargers 4									Kansas City Chiefs 9
	Miami Dolphins 5											Baltimore Ravens 5					Carolina Panthers 3
					NY Jets 2								NY Jets 2		Denver Broncos 5
												Arizona Cards 2		Atlanta Falcons 3				Arizona Cards 2
							Seattle Seahawks 5									Seattle Seahawks 5					New Orleans Saints 4
															Houston Texans 2				Houston Texans 2			Houston Texans 2

Longest consecutive streak with a playoff win

This table shows the longest streaks of teams winning at least one playoff game in a row.

Streak Length	Teams
8	Patriots
6	Cowboys · Chiefs
5	Eagles · Packers · Raiders · Ravens · Seahawks
4	Bills (x 2) · Steelers · Vikings
3	49ers (x 4) · Chargers · Dolphins (x 2) · Giants · Rams · Washington
2	Bears (x 2) · Bengals · Broncos (x 2) · Browns (x 3) · Buccaneers · Cardinals · Colts (x 4) · Falcons · Jaguars · Jets · Lions · Panthers · Saints · Texans · Titans (Oilers) (x 4)