You have to know a little about the National Football League (NFL) in order to function in American society. And if you really want to impress people, you should know something about the NFL playoffs, which, of course, culminate in the Super Bowl. How do the NFL playoffs work? Here’s a simple breakdown.
The Basics
The game of American football became a thing in the late 1800s when Yale graduate, Walter Camp, helped turn a rugby-like game into the entity we know so well today. In 1920, the American Professional Football Association (later the National Football League) was founded in Canton, Ohio, and during the late 1960s, that National Football League merged with the upstart American Football League to form the current NFL.
Today’s NFL is the wealthiest sports league in the world, generating annual revenue in the range of $16 billion during usual times, and the Super Bowl is regularly the most-watched television event in the US, attracting around 100 million viewers.
To get to that big game, some work needs to be done. The league has 32 teams divided into two 16-team conferences, namely the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). These conferences are further subdivided into four divisions of four teams each.
During the regular season, every team plays a total of 17 games. In each conference, the four division winners qualify for the playoffs and are seeded from one to four based on record. The next three best teams based on record (regardless of division) earn what are called wildcard births to the playoffs and are seeded from five to seven. A complex set of tiebreakers are available to help determine seeding if two or more teams have the same record. (Doing the math, a total of 14 teams—43.75 percent of the league—make the postseason.)
Each conference subsequently holds a single-elimination tournament in which games are played at the home stadium of the higher seed. The number one seed automatically qualifies for the second round, with first-round matchups pitting two vs. seven, three vs. six, and four vs. five. In the second round, the one seed plays the worst remaining team, and the other two teams face each other. That leads to the third round, also known as the AFC Championship Game and NFC Championship Game.
Ultimately, the winner of the AFC faces the winner of the NFC at a predetermined neutral site in the final game (the Super Bowl).
Some Numbers
You know I love the numbers, so here are a few to make you look smart in front of…well, probably no one.
13
The total number of NFL playoff games per season, including the Super Bowl.
150 million
The additional revenue in US dollars generated when the NFL expanded the playoffs in 2020, moving from a total of 12 teams to the current 14, thus moving the total number of playoff games from 11 to the above 13.
48
The estimated number of hours spent at ComposeMD watching those 13 games in 2021. Don’t judge.
86 million
A ballpark estimate of the combined number of television viewers for the 2021 AFC and NFC championship games.
6
The most Super Bowls won by a single franchise—the honor is shared by the New England Patriots and Pittsburgh Steelers. Here’s a more complete list.
0
The number of Super Bowls won by 12 of the league’s 32 franchises. At least four of the 12 are in the Rust Belt, but we don’t need to talk about that.
4.3 billion
One estimate in US dollars of the amount wagered (legally) on the Super Bowl in 2021.
Now you might be thinking that this is great and all, but how do the NFL playoffs really work? Let’s just say that you sit on the couch, watch TV, eat chicken wings, and drink some beers—for a few weekends in a row. If that’s not self-help, then what is?
