NFL playoffs
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The National Football League (NFL) playoffs is a single-elimination tournament held at the end of the 16-game regular season to determine the NFL champion. Throughout the years, the format has changed to include more teams into the tournament. Currently, the NFL playoffs consist of 12 teams (6 from each of the league's two conferences) and ends with the Super Bowl, the league's championship game. Regular season records and the tie-breakers determine qualification into the tournament.Contents |
[edit] Current playoff system
The tournament brackets are made up of six teams from each of the league's two conferences, the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC), following the end of the 16-game regular season:
- The four division champions from each conference (the team in each division with the best regular season won-lost-tied record), which are seeded 1 through 4 based on their regular season won-lost-tied record.
- Two wild card qualifiers (those non-division champions with the conference's best winning percentages), which are seeded 5 and 6.
The 3 and the 6 seeded teams, and the 4 and the 5 seeds, face each other during the first round of the playoffs, dubbed the Wild Card Playoffs (the league in recent years has also used the term Wild Card Weekend). The 1 and the 2 seeds from each conference receive a bye in the first round, which entitles these teams to automatically advance to the second round, the Divisional Playoff games, to face the Wild Card survivors. In any given playoff round, the highest surviving seed always plays the lowest surviving seed . And in any given playoff game, whoever has the higher seed gets the home field advantage (i.e. the game is held at the higher seed's home field).
The two surviving teams from the Divisional Playoff games meet in Conference Championship games, with the winners of those contests going on to face one another in the Super Bowl.
If teams are tied (having the same regular season won-lost-tied record), the playoff seeding is determined by a set of tiebreaking rules.<ref name=tie>NFL Tiebreakers, NFL.com, March 20, 2002</ref> (In selecting teams for the playoffs, the division winners are selected, and the remaining teams, including any which tied for 1st place in their division and lost the division championship by a tiebreaker, are then considered for the wild-card spots. It is possible for a team to tie for 1st in its division and not make the playoffs.)
A major disadvantage that critics cite in the current system is that a divisional winner could host a playoff game against a wild card team that earned a better regular season record. For example, the Jacksonville Jaguars finished the 2005 regular season with a 12-4 record, but only qualified as a wild card team (the AFC South title was claimed by the 14-2 Indianapolis Colts) and thus had to face the New England Patriots, the AFC East division champions with a record of 10-6, at Gillette Stadium, in Foxborough, Massachusetts. <ref>2005 Season in Review, Pro Football Reference.com</ref>
Since the 2002 expansion to 8 divisions, there have been calls to expand the playoffs to 14 or even 16 teams. Proponents of expansion note the increased revenue that could be gained from 2 or even 4 more playoff games. They also note that the 12-team playoff system was implemented when the league only had 28 teams. With expansion to 32 teams, there has been an effective loss of access to the playoff structure. The opposition to such a move notes that an expansion of the playoffs would "water down" the field by giving access to lower-caliber teams. One can point to the NBA Playoffs and the NHL Playoffs where 16 teams qualify for the post season, and there is often decreased emphasis on regular season performance. <ref> Weisman, Larry "Expanding playoffs, instant replay on NFL owners' agenda", USATODAY.com, March 22, 2006</ref><ref>Clayton, John "Playoff format is matter of integrity", ESPN.com, December 30, 2005</ref>
[edit] Breaking ties
Often, teams will finish a season with identical records. It becomes necessary, therefore, to devise means to break these ties, either to determine which teams will qualify for the playoffs, or to determine seeding in the playoff tournament. The rules below are applied in order until the tie is broken. If three teams are tied for one playoff spot, the rules are applied only until the first team qualifies. If multiple playoff spots are at stake, the rules are applied in order until the first team qualifies, then the process is started again for the remaining teams. <ref name=tie>NFL Tiebreakers, NFL.com, March 20, 2002</ref>
- Head-to-head (team with the best record in all games played between the teams tied)
- Best won-lost-tied percentage in games played within the division. (This is for determining Division Champion; also, if there is a tie for a wild-card berth, this is used for breaking ties within a division.)
- Best won-lost-tied percentage in games played within the conference.
- Best won-lost-tied percentage in common games (only applicable with a minimum of 4 common opponents)
- Strength of victory (points scored minus points allowed calculated over the whole season)
- Strength of schedule (cumulative W-L-T records of all opponents).
- Best combined ranking among conference teams in points scored and points allowed. (That is, the "strength of victory" for all opponents from the same conference.)
- Best combined ranking among all teams in points scored and points allowed (That is, the "strength of victory" for all opponents.)
- Best net points in common games
- Best net points in all games
- Best net touchdowns in all games
- Coin flip. (This is always the last resort, but is unlikely to be used because of all the tie-breakers ranked ahead of it. It is non-competitive, and thus considered distasteful. There was a close call in 1970, when if the New York Giants won their last regular-season game, the tie-breakers in use at the time would have led to a coin-flip between Dallas and Detroit to decide the wild-card berth in the NFC.)
The tiebreaking rules have changed over the years, with the most recent changes being made in 2002; record vs. common opponents and most of the other criteria involving wins and losses were moved up higher in the tiebreaking list, while those involving compiled stats such as points for and against were moved to the bottom.
A completely different set of tiebreaking rules are used to determine the order in which teams pick in the NFL draft.
[edit] Tiebreaking tutorial
The Bears, Cowboys, and Rams all have 10-6 records, and none is their division champion. Since there are two available wildcard spots, we apply these rules. Suppose the Bears beat the Cowboys, the Cowboys beat the Rams, and the Rams beat the Bears. The first criterion cannot apply (since there is no clearcut head-to-head winner). Since this is a wild-card tiebreaker (and not all the teams are from the same division), we skip criterion 2. Let's say they all had identical 8-4 records in the NFC, so criterion 3 is not sufficient. Finally, we see that the Bears had a 3-1 record versus common opponents (criterion 4), while the Rams had a 2-2 record, and the Cowboys a 1-3 record. This would cause the Bears and Cowboys to advance, since:
- The Bears qualified on the common-opponents rule
- The Cowboys and Rams tie is broken separately, so we return to the head-to-head rule, meaning the Cowboys advance. The fact that the Rams had a better record against common opponents is irrelevant because this is a lower criterion.
[edit] Playoff and Championship History
- Further information: National Football League championships
- For playoff games of the American Football League prior to the AFL-NFL merger, see AFL playoffs.
The NFL's method for determining its champions has changed over the years.
[edit] Early years
From the leagues founding in 1920 until 1932, there was no scheduled championship game. From 1920-1923, the championship was awarded to a team by a vote of team owners at the annual owners meeting. From 1924-1932, the team having the best winning percentage was awarded the championship. As each team played a different number of games, simply counting wins and losses would have been insufficient. Additionally, tie games were counted as 0 wins and 0 losses in the standings (under modern rules, ties count as 1/2 win and 1/2 loss).<ref name=NFLhist> NFL History, NFL.com </ref> <ref name=hickhist>NFL Playoff and Championship History, HickokSports.com</ref>
[edit] The 1932 playoff game
- Further information: NFL Playoff Game, 1932
In 1932, two teams, The Chicago Bears (6-1-6) and the Portsmouth Spartans (6-1-4) were tied at the end of the season with identical winning percentage of .857. (a third team, the Green Bay Packers had more wins(10), but a lower winning percentage (.769) as calculated under the rules of the day). An additional game was therefore needed to determine a champion. It was agreed that the game would be played in Chicago at Wrigley Field, but winter weather and fear of a low turnout forced the game to be moved indoors to Chicago Stadium. The game was played under modified rules on a shortened 80-yard field, and the Bears won with a final score of 9-0. <ref name=NFLhist> NFL History, NFL.com </ref><ref name=hick32>Hickok, Ralph, "The 1932 NFL Championship Game", HickokSports.com, November 19, 2004</ref> As a result of the game the Bears had the better winning percentage (.875) and won the league title. The loss gave the Spartans a final winning percentage of .750, and moved them back to third place behind the Packers. While there is no consensus that this game was a real "championship" game, or even a playoff game, it generated enough interest to lead to the creation of the official NFL Championship Game in 1933.<ref name=hick32>Hickok, Ralph, "The 1932 NFL Championship Game", HickokSports.com, November 19, 2004</ref>
[edit] Before the Super Bowl
- Further information: List of NFL champions
Given the interest of the impromptu "championship game", and the desire of the league to create a more equitable means of determining a champion, the league divided into two divisions beginning in 1933. From 1933-1966, the winners of each division played in the NFL Championship Game. Following the 1967 expansion to 16 teams, and until the 1970 AFL-NFL Merger the NFL was divided into 4 divisions in 2 conferences. The division winners would play a playoff game to determine the conference representative in the NFL Championship Game. Thus, 1967 was the first year there was a proper "playoff" qualifying tournament to determine the teams to play for the Championship.<ref name=hickhist>NFL Playoff and Championship History, HickokSports.com</ref>
[edit] NFL playoff results 1967-1969
- NFL Championship winner in bold, who then faced the AFL champion in the AFL-NFL World Championship Game (later to be known as the Super Bowl)
| Eastern Conference Championship | Western Conference Championship | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Playoffs | Champion | Runner-up | Score | Champion | Runner-up | Score |
| 1967 | Dallas Cowboys | Cleveland Browns | 52-14 | Green Bay Packers | Los Angeles Rams | 28-7 |
| 1968 | Cleveland Browns | Dallas Cowboys | 31-20 | Baltimore Colts | Minnesota Vikings | 24-14 |
| 1969 | Cleveland Browns | Dallas Cowboys | 38-14 | Minnesota Vikings | Los Angeles Rams | 23-20 |
[edit] AFL playoffs
Since it would eventually merge with the NFL, the AFL playoff history bears some explanation. From 1960-1967 seasons, the AFL used the two-divisional format identical to the NFL to determine its champion. For the 1968 season, a tie in the Western Division created the need for a special playoff game. For the 1969 season, a second round was added whereby the each division winner played the second place team from the other division. The winners of this game met in the AFL Championship Game.<ref name=hickhist>NFL Playoff and Championship History, HickokSports.com</ref> In the only year of this format, the AFL Champion Kansas City Chiefs were actually the second place team in the Western division. Thus they were the first non-division winner to win a Super Bowl (the Chiefs would go on to win Super Bowl IV that season). <ref>1969 Season in Review, Pro Football Reference.com</ref>
[edit] The Super Bowl Era
The Super Bowl began as an interleague championship game between the AFL and NFL. This compromise was the result of pressures the upstart AFL was placing on the older NFL. The success of the junior league would eventually lead to a full merger of the two leagues.
From the 1966 season to the 1969 season (Super Bowls I-IV) the game featured the champions of the AFL and NFL. Since the 1970 season, the game has featured the winners of the National Football Conference(NFC) and the American Football Conference(AFC).
When the leagues merged in 1970, the new NFL (with 26 teams) reorganized into two conferences of three divisions each. From the 1970 season to the 1977 season, four teams from each conference (for a total of eight teams) qualified for the playoffs each year. These four teams included the three division champions, and a fourth Wild Card team.<ref name=hickhist>NFL Playoff and Championship History, HickockSports.com</ref> Originally, the home teams in the playoffs were decided based on a yearly rotation.<ref>NFL.com - Chasing perfection: 2005 Colts vs. '72 Dolphins</ref> The league did not institute a seeding system for the playoffs until 1975, where the surviving clubs with the higher seeds were made the home teams for each playoff round.<ref>NFL.com - NFL History: 1971-1980</ref> Thus, the top seeded division winner would play the wild card team, and the remaining two division winners would play at the home stadium of the better seed. However, two teams from the same division could not meet prior to the conference championship game.<ref name="1975Standings">NFL.com - 1975 NFL Standings</ref> Thus, there would be times when the pairing in the Divisional Playoff Round would be the 1 seed vs. the 3 seed and 2 vs. 4.
Following an expansion of the regular season from 14 to 16 games in the 1978 season, the league added one more wild card team for each conference. The two wild card teams would play the week before the division winners. The winner of this game would play the top seeded division winner as was done from 1970-1977. The league continued to prohibit intra-divisional games in the Divisional Playoffs, but allowed such contests in the Wild Card Round.<ref>NFL.com - 1983 NFL Standings</ref> This ten-team playoff format was used through the 1989 season.<ref name=hickhist>NFL Playoff and Championship History, HickokSports.com</ref> Under this system, the Oakland Raiders became the first Wild Card team to win a Super Bowl following the 1980 season.<ref>1980 Season in Review, Pro Football Reference.com</ref>
During the strike-shortened 1982 season only nine regular season games were played, and a modified playoff format was instituted. Divisional play was ignored, and the top eight teams from each conference (based on W-L-T record) were advanced to the playoffs. This was the only year that teams with losing records qualified for the playoffs, the 4-5 Cleveland Browns and the 4-5 Detroit Lions. <ref>1982 Season in Review, Pro Football Reference.com</ref>
For the 1990 season, a third wild card team for each conference was added, expanding the playoffs to twelve teams. The lowest-seeded division winner was then "demoted" to the wild card week. Also, the restrictions on intra-divisional games during the Divisional Playoffs were removed.<ref name="1975Standings"/> From 1990 until the 1995 expansion, the NFL had two 4-team divisions, thus for that time period it was technically possible for an entire division to make the playoffs. This never did happen. This format continued until the 2002 expansion and reorganization into eight divisions. The modern system (see above) dates from that year.<ref name=hickhist>NFL Playoff and Championship History, HickokSports.com</ref>
[edit] NFL conference championship results 1970-2006
- Note: Since the AFL-NFL Merger, the playoffs have generally been held over two calendar years. For example, the Pittsburgh Steelers are regarded the 2005 NFL Champions although the Super Bowl was in February 2006.
- Super Bowl winner in bold. For a list of Super Bowl games, see List of Super Bowl champions
[edit] All-Time Playoff Records(NFL/AFL)
[edit] Trivia
- After the 1970 AFL-NFL merger and the emergence of the Super Bowl, all AFL and NFL league championship games prior to merger are listed along with the AFC and NFC conference championship games, respectively, in the NFL's official records.
[edit] References
<references />
[edit] Further information
- http://www.superbowl.com/history
- 2006 NFL Record and Fact Book. Time Inc. Home Entertainment. ISBN 1-933405-32-5.
- Total Football II: The Official Encyclopedia of the National Football League. Harper Collins. ISBN 1-933405-32-5.
- The Sporting News Complete Super Bowl Book 1995. ISBN 0-89204-523-X.
- http://www.pro-football-reference.com - Large online database of NFL data and statistics. Many of the game scores and records in this article can be found there.
- The NFL History Network - includes a large database of historic NFL box scores
