These teams will all feature in the Wildcard Round of the Playoffs, and will face seeds two, three, and four - all wildcard teams will be on the road for these games.ĭon't miss a minute of the action with our 2022 NFL Playoffs schedule. NFL Wildcards are given to the three teams from each conference with the best records behind the division winners. The first seed from each conference gets a bye and home-field all the way to the Super Bowl. Seeding also impacts home advantage - the highest seed will always play the lowest seed possible and the higher seed always gets home advantage. Before last season, both the first and second seed would get a bye into the Divisional Round, but the extra wildcard place attributed to each conference means now only the first seed gets a bye. The wildcard teams are always seeded fifth, sixth, and seventh the fifth seed goes to the wildcard team with the best record.Įach team's seeding has a direct impact on every Playoff game. The NFL playoffs seeding system is simple: the division winner with the best record is given the top seed, the team with the second-best record is given the second seed, and so on.

Three wildcard teams will now qualify alongside the division winners, meaning seven will qualify from both the AFC and the NFC. Prior to the regular season schedule changes, the NFL announced that 14 teams will now qualify for the Playoffs. These teams are the 4 AFC divisional winners, 3 AFC wildcards, 4 NFC divisional winners and 3 NFC wildcards. A total of 14 teams compete over 4 weeks, playing 17 games each in a bid to reach the Super Bowl final. The NFL playoffs happen every January following the end of the regular NFL season. The Playoffs officially start on the Saturday, January 15 the final games of the 2021 NFL regular season will be on Sunday, January 9. This year, the AFC teams will get home advantage for the 17th game, but this will alternate each season.

Each team now plays 17 games following the addition of an extra interconference game. The NFL regular season schedule saw some major changes at the start of the 2021 season. With 32 teams split across the AFC and NFC, and each competing directly against three other teams in their division, qualification for the Playoffs is the absolute priority from week one. NFL Playoffs Qualification, Seeding, and Wildcards

Nfl playoff grids