How the NFL Playoffs Work
Updated November 9, 2026. Rules are based on the 2026 NFL rulebook.
After 18 weeks of the regular season, 14 of the NFL's 32 teams move on to a single-elimination tournament. Lose once and the season is over. The winner of the final game, the Super Bowl, is the league champion.
How the league is organized
The NFL has two conferences, the AFC and the NFC. Each conference has four divisions (North, South, East and West) of four teams each. Seven teams from each conference reach the playoffs.
Who qualifies
- Four division winners. The team with the best record in each division gets in automatically.
- Three wild cards. The three teams with the best records among those that did not win their division.
How the seeds work
Division winners always get seeds 1 through 4, ordered by record. Wild cards get seeds 5 through 7. That creates a quirk fans argue about every year: a division winner with a losing record would still host a playoff game against a wild card with a far better one.
The bracket
| Round | When | Matchups in each conference |
|---|---|---|
| Wild Card | Mid-January | 2 hosts 7, 3 hosts 6, 4 hosts 5. The 1 seed has a bye. |
| Divisional | A week later | The 1 seed hosts the lowest remaining seed; the other two teams meet, with the better seed at home |
| Conference Championship | Late January | The two winners meet, with the better seed at home |
| Super Bowl | February | AFC champion vs. NFC champion at a site chosen in advance |
The bracket is reseeded after the first round, so the pairings depend on who actually won. The top seed always gets the weakest team left.
Why the 1 seed matters so much
The top seed gets two big advantages. It skips the first round, which means one fewer game to win and an extra week of rest. It also hosts every game it plays until the Super Bowl, which is held at a predetermined site.
Tiebreakers
With only 17 games, teams often finish with identical records. The NFL resolves those ties with an ordered list, moving to the next step only if the previous one fails to separate the teams.
Two teams in the same division:
- Head-to-head record
- Record in division games
- Record in common games
- Record in conference games
- Strength of victory
- Strength of schedule
- Combined ranking in points scored and allowed among conference teams
- Combined ranking in points scored and allowed among all teams
- Net points in common games
- Net points in all games
- Net touchdowns in all games
- Coin toss
Two teams from different divisions, competing for a wild card:
- Head-to-head record, if they played
- Record in conference games
- Record in common games (minimum of four)
- Strength of victory
- Strength of schedule
- Combined ranking in points scored and allowed among conference teams
- Combined ranking in points scored and allowed among all teams
- Net points in conference games
- Net points in all games
- Net touchdowns in all games
- Coin toss
Strength of victory is the combined winning percentage of the teams a club has beaten. Strength of schedule is the combined winning percentage of all its opponents.
Playoff overtime is different
Regular-season games can end in a tie, but playoff games cannot. See how overtime changes in the postseason, and learn how the regular season sets up this bracket.