How the New NFL Playoff Format Will Work
Every Monday night, Hank Williams Jr. asked us one question: “Are you ready to play football?” After the year that we had, the answer is definitely yes.
And better buddy, because the NFL playoffs are coming in January 2021. This season’s finale will be presented in a new format, even against the backdrop of familiar scenes of big men wrestling, wrestling, running and jumping on their way to postseason glory. Following a new collective agreement between the league and the NFL Players’ Association this season, a revised format will feature 14 teams instead of the 12 that have fought in the playoffs since 1990.
That’s not all, so let’s demystify the new format so you can watch the 2020 playoffs and really get a sense of what’s going on.
More teams involved
More teams – more football. Hallelujah. The move from 12 to 14 teams means there will be two more games on the wild card weekend, of which a total of six will be played on the weekend of January 9-10. This means that an additional team from both AFC and NFC will qualify for the postseason – seven from each conference.
The top seed from both divisions will receive prior to the first week of the playoffs, rather than the top two teams as in all previous playoff iterations since 1990.
The Wild card weekend is going to be crazy with only two teams resting. As NBC Sports explains, “Seed # 2 will contain sevens, seed # 3 will contain 6, and seed # 4 will contain 5.”
The best seedlings will have the home field advantage throughout the playoffs because they have undeniably been better than the other teams during the regular season.
How does the wild card distribution work?
According to a long-standing tradition, the four first-place winners in each division compete for four places. Seeds five through seven are Wild cards and will be ranked in order according to their regular season records. It’s pretty simple and works similar to the previous format, but with three wild cards from each division, as opposed to the traditional two.
How do I watch the NFL playoffs?
Fair question if you’re hoping to see this new postseason match on the soccer field. Except for two additional wildcard games aired on NBC and CBS, not much will be different.
NBC’s wildcard map will air on January 10 at 8:15 PM ET, while CBS will air a different game on the same day at 4:40 PM ET. For more information on every possible way to legally watch the NFL, check out the league’s list of broadcast providers.