Summary
This year’s NFL (American football) playoffs are just kicking off, and it’s a daunting sport to understand coming into it. So, here is your beginners guide to the basics of the playoffs.
This year’s NFL (American football) playoffs are just kicking off, and it’s a daunting sport to understand. Here is your beginners guide to the basics of the playoffs.
Playoff Format
The NFL playoffs are a knockout format, so if a team loses a game they are out. The first round is known as ‘Wild Card Weekend’, and the winners from that round advance to the Divisional Round. During this round, the lowest seed remaining will play the number one seed, and the other two teams will play each other. The next stage is the Conference Championship, where the two remaining teams will battle each other for the title of AFC/NFC Champions and the chance to play in the Superbowl.
The Superbowl is played in a neutral stadium (decided years in advance) and is played between the NFC Champions and the AFC Champions. This season’s Super Bowl (Super Bowl LIX) will be played in Caesars Superdome in New Orleans. This is the only game in the playoffs where a team plays someone outside of their conference, and it is impossible to play someone within your conference. The winner of the Super Bowl is awarded the Lombardi Trophy, named after Vince Lombardi, the head coach who won the first two Super Bowls in the 1960s with the Green Bay Packers.
The NFL has 32 teams, split equally into two conferences – the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The conferences then have four divisions – eight in total. These are named after the compass points, for example, the AFC North, NFC East etc. During the regular season, teams play teams from both conferences, but once the playoffs start they only play teams in their conference.
Seven teams make the playoffs from each conference, so there are 14 total playoff teams. Each division winner makes the playoffs, and there are three other teams from each conference that make the playoffs, known as Wild Card teams. The division winners are then ranked from 1st seed to 4th seed depending on their record.
The number one seed gets a first round bye, meaning they automatically advance to the second round of the playoffs, and get a week of recovery. The Wild Card teams take up seeds 5 to 7, and then play the three other division winners. The 7th seed plays the 2nd seed, 6th plays 3rd, and 5th plays 4th.
The team with the highest seeding gets home field advantage, so the number one seed will always play at their home stadium. Additionally, in the first round all the division winners will play at home. This can become a key advantage especially if a team is playing in very cold or windy conditions that their opponents aren’t as used to.
This Season’s Playoffs
This season, the NFC has been a bit of a blood bath, whereas the AFC has been somewhat less competitive, with many of their division winners clinching spots weeks before the season ended. A team can clinch a division title once there is no scenario in which another team in that division could end with a better record than them. For example, the Kansas City Chiefs, clinched their division – the AFC West – in week 14 (out of 18). On the other hand, the Detroit Lions clinched their division – the NFC North – in week 18 with a win over their divisional rival Minnesota Vikings. However, if the Vikings had beaten the Lions, they would have won the NFC North.
The Kansas City Chiefs sit atop the AFC as the number one seed, earning a bye week and home field advantage throughout the playoffs. The NFC’s number one seed is the Detroit Lions, who have never in their history been number one seeds.
Key Stories
Understanding the logistics of a sport is crucial, but understanding the personalities behind it is arguably just as important. The biggest story line in this season’s playoffs is if the Kansas City Chiefs will ‘three-peat’. The Chiefs are widely considered the best team in the NFL right now, and they have the chance to make history this year. The Chiefs have won the past two Super Bowls, and no team has ever won three in a row, meaning if the Chiefs win the Super Bowl this year, they will be the first team to three-peat.
Image Credit: FOX Sports
Student journalist and Sports Editor for Brig Newspaper
