NFL playoffs are a single elimination tournament held after the regular National Football League (NFL) season to determine the NFL champions. Six teams from each of the two league conferences qualify for the playoffs based on regular season records, and the tie-breaking procedure exists in the same record case. The tournament ends with the Super Bowl, a league championship match, which matches the two champions of the conference.
NFL postseason history can be traced to the first NFL Championship Game in 1933, although in the early years, the qualification for the game was based only on regular season records. From 1933 to 1966, the NFL postseason generally consisted only of the NFL Championship Game, pitting the league's second division champions (waiting for the one-match playoff game to be held to break ties in the division standings). The NFL playoff was then extended in 1967, when four teams qualified for the tournament. When the league joined the American Football League (AFL) in 1970, the playoffs were expanded to eight teams. Playoffs expanded to 10 teams in 1978 and 12 teams since 1990.
The NFL is the only one of the four major professional sports leagues in the United States that use a single elimination tournament in all four of its playoff rounds; Major League Baseball (MLB), National Basketball Association (NBA), and National Hockey League (NHL) all use the "best-of" series format.
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The 32-team National Football League is divided into two conferences, the American Football Conference (AFC) and National Football Conference (NFC), each with 16 teams. Since 2002, each conference has been subdivided into four divisions of four teams each. The tournament bet is made up of six teams from each of the two league conferences, after the end of the regular season. Qualifying to the playoffs works as follows:
- 4th Division champions from each conference (teams in each division with the best overall record), ranked 1 to 4 based on their overall win-lose-bound record.
- Two wild-card qualifications from each conference (two teams with the best overall record of all teams remaining at the conference), seeded 5 and 6.
The names of the first two playoffs date back to the postseason format which was first used in 1978, when the league added a second wildcard team to each conference. The first round of the playoffs was dubbed the wild-card playoff (or wild-card ending ). In this round, the third division winner is the sixth wild card host, and the fifth seed of the fifth host. There is no limit on teams from the same division that match in every round. The 1 and 2 seeds of each conference received a bye in the first half, giving the team the right to progress automatically to the second round, playoff division , where they face a wild-card final survivor. Seed 1 has a field advantage throughout the playoffs. The NFL does not use a fixed playoff bracket system. Seed No. 1 will host the worst surviving seed of the first round (seeds 4, 5 or 6), while seed number 2 will play another team (seeds 3, 4 or 5). The two surviving teams from each of the conference division playoff contests then meet in each AFC and NFC game battleship (hosted by higher seed), with the winners of the contest that will face each other in Super Bowl. Only twice since 1990 that did not have the number one seeded team or the number two seeded team that hosted the conference championships (in the 2006 AFC Championship, the # 3 Indianapolis Colts # 4 seeded New England Patriots with the Colts won 38-34 and the Championship NFC 2008 with # 4 Arizona Cardinals to host the # 6 flagship of the Philadelphia Eagles with Cardinals winning 32-25).
If the team is tied (having the same win-lose record-same season), playoff seedling is determined by a set of tie-breaking rules.
One potential drawback is that both teams with the best record in the conference can play each other before the conference championship if they are in the same division. The better team will be # 1, while the lower team will be # 5 as the top wildcard team, and as shown in the diagram, it is possible for the # 1 division winner to play the top wildcard team in the division round. (See also "Modifications proposals" section below .)
The New York Giants and the New York Jets have shared the same home stadium since 1984 (the first Giants Stadium from 1984 to 2009, and the MetLife Stadium since 2010). Thus, if both teams need to hold a playoff game on the same weekend, they are always asked to play on separate days, even during the Conference Championship round. The only time such a scheduling conflict has occurred was during a wild-card weekend in 1985, when only 10 teams qualified for postseason and there were only two wild-card games (See the "History" section below) : Instead of playing both wild-card games on the same day, as when the 10-team system was used from 1978 to 1989, the New England Patriots defeated the Jets, 26-14, on Saturday, 28 December before the Giants defeated the San Francisco 49ers , 17-3, on the following day.
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Disconnecting
Often, teams will finish the season with identical notes. Therefore, it is necessary to devise a means to break this relationship, either to determine which team will qualify for the playoffs, or to determine seeding in the playoff tournament. The rules below are applied in order until the ties are broken. If three teams are tied for one playoff spot and the third team is eliminated at each step, the tie breaker returns to step one for the two remaining teams. If multiple playoff spots are at stake, the rules are applied to allow the first team to qualify, then the process begins again for the remaining team.
The rules of breaking the tie have changed over the years, with recent changes made in 2002 to accommodate a league rearrangement into eight four-team divisions; Record vs opponent general and most other criteria involving winning and losing rise higher in the tie-breaking list, while those involving statistics that are compiled like points for and against are moved down.
The current Tiebreak is as follows, with the coin toss used if all the criteria fail:
Overtime rules
The NFL introduced overtime for every division tiebreak game beginning in 1940, and for championship games started in 1946. The first postseason game played under this rule was the 1958 NFL Championship Game between the Baltimore Colts and the New York Giants (called "The Greatest Game Never Played "). Overtime in the original format is a sudden death, the first team to score will be declared the winner.
In March 2010, the NFL changed its rules for postseason overtime, with regulations extended to regular season March 2012. If the team scores, or if the security defense score on the first ownership, it is declared the winner. If it scores a field goal on first possession, however, it then begins to the opposing team, which has a chance to score; if the score is tied again after the ownership, the rules of sudden death apply and whoever gets the next score will win.
Since postseason games can not end in a series, unlike the pre-season or regular season, additional overtime periods are played as necessary until the winner is determined. Furthermore, all clock rules apply as if a game has started. Therefore, if the first overtime period ends with the score still bound, the team replaces the end of the field before doubling overtime. If the match is still tied with two minutes to go in double overtime, there will be a two-minute warning (but not during the first time extension period as in the regular season). And if it is still tied to the end of double overtime hours, there will be a kickoff to start three overtime. Although the contest can theoretically take place indefinitely, or some recent overtime period like some postseason National Hockey League matches, no NFL playoff matches ever go into triple-overtime. The longest NFL game played to date is 82 minutes, 40 seconds: Miami Dolphins Garo Yepremian's kick made a winning 37-yard field goal after 7:40 overtime to defeat Kansas City Chief 27-24 in 1971-72 NFL playoffs on 25 December 1971.
Playoff and championship history
The NFL method of determining its champions has changed over the years.
Initial years
From the league establishment in 1920 to 1932, there was no scheduled championship game. From 1920-1923, the championship was awarded to a team by a team owner vote at the annual owner's meeting. From 1924-1932, teams that had the best percentage of winning were awarded championships (the de facto standard owners had used). Because each team plays a different number of games, simply counting the winnings and losses will not be enough. In addition, tie matches are not counted in the standings in calculating the percentage of winnings (under modern rules, ties are counted as ½ wins and ½ losses). There is a head-to-head tiebreak, which is also weighed towards the end of the season: for two teams playing each other twice, each winning once, the team that won the second game was determined to be the champion (the criteria used to decide 1921 titles).
1932 playoff game
In 1932, the Chicago Bears (6-1-6) and Portsmouth Spartans (6-1-4) tied at the end of the season with an identical winning percentage of 0.857 (Green Bay Packers (10-3- 1) had more wins, but a percentage lower winnings (.769) calculated according to the rules of the day, which removes the bond). Additional games are needed to determine the champion. It was agreed that the game would be played in Chicago at Wrigley Field, but severe winter weather and fear of low voters forced the game to be moved indoors to the Chicago Stadium. The game is played under modified rules on an abbreviated 80 yard field, and the Bears win by a final score of 9-0. As a result of the game, the Bears have a better winning percentage (.875) and won the league title. The loss gave Spartan a final win percentage of 0.750, and moved them to third place behind the Packers. While there is no consensus that this game is a real "championship" game (or even a playoff game), it aroused great interest and led to the creation of the official NFL Championship Game in 1933.
Before the Super Bowl
Given the interest of an impromptu "championship game", and the league's desire to create a fairer way of deciding champions, the league is divided into two conferences starting in 1933. The winners of each conference (first team at the conference) meet in the NFL Championship Game after the season this. There is no tie-breaker system; every tie in the final standings of one of the conferences resulted in playoffs being played in 1941, 1943, 1947, two games in 1950, and respectively in 1952, 1957, 1958, and 1965. Since the places and dates of championship games were often not known until the last game of the season is played, this playoff game sometimes results in a week-end delay for a week.
The playoff structure used from 1933 to 1966 was deemed unfair by some for failing to match teams with two of the best records of the championship matches, as only conference winners would qualify for a playoff dispute. Four times between 1950 and 1966 (in 1951, 1956, 1960, and 1963) the team with the second best winning record did not qualify for the playoffs while the team with the best record at other conferences, but only the third-best in the league, would be progress to the championship game.
For the 1967 NFL season, the NFL developed into 16 teams, and split the two conferences into two divisions each, with four teams in each division. The four division champions will advance to the NFL playoffs, and to stay on schedule, the tie-breaker system is introduced. The first round of the playoffs determines the champions of the conference and its representatives in the NFL Championship Game, played the following week. Thus, 1967 is the first season there is a playoff tournament scheduled to decide which team to play for the NFL Championship.
For three years (1967-69) that the playoff structure was in effect, there was one use of the tie-breaker system. In 1967, the Los Angeles Rams and the Baltimore Colts ended the season being tied on 11-1-2 to take the lead in the Coastal Division. The Colts came into the final game of the unbeaten season, but were beaten by the Rams. Although the Colts shared the best win/lose record in the NFL that year, they failed to advance to the playoffs while three other teams with poor records won their division. The show went into a decision in 1970 to include the wild-card team in the playoff tournament after the AFL-NFL merger.
During the 1960s, the third-place playoff game was played in Miami, called the Playoff Bowl. It was contested in early January after the 1960-69 season. Despite the official playoff game at the time they were played, the NFL now officially classifies these ten games (and stats) as exhibits, not as playoff games.
Playoff AFL and AAFC
Because it will eventually join the NFL, the history of the AFL playoff system provides some explanation. For the 1960-68 season, the AFL used an identical two-divisional format with the NFL to determine its champion. There was no tie-breaker system in place, so the relationship above the East Division final standings in 1963 and the Western Division in 1968 required a playoff to determine the representation of each division in the championship.
For the 1969 season, the first half was added where each division winner played the second second team of the other division. The winners of these games meet in the AFL Championship Game. In the only year of this format, the AFL Kansas City Chief is the second-place team in the Western division. The Chiefs then won the Super Bowl IV that season, becoming the first non-division winner to win the Super Bowl.
During its short history, AAFC, which will join the NFL for the 1950 season, used an identical playoff format with the NFL from 1946 to 1948. In 1949 (last year), AAFC will combine two conferences when one of its teams is folded, and uses a system playoff four teams. In 1948, the above mentioned issue of playoff inequality occurred when the San Francisco 49ers would miss the playoffs with a 12-2 record; they are at the same conference with Cleveland Browns 14-0, who will continue to win the Western Conference and then the AAFC championship game against 7-7 Buffalo Bills (AAFC).
Super Bowl and merger
The Super Bowl began as an inter-league league game between the AFL and the NFL, an idea first proposed by Kansas City Chiefs owner Lamar Hunt. This compromise is the result of the AFL pressure just beginning to be placed on the older NFL. The success of a rival league will ultimately lead to a full merger of two leagues.
From the 1966 season to the 1969 season (Super Bowl I-IV), the game featured AFL and NFL champions. Since the 1970 season, the game features champions of the National Football Conference (NFC) and the American Football Conference (AFC).
When the leagues joined in 1970, the new NFL (with 26 teams) reorganized into two conferences from three divisions each. From the 1970 to the 1977 season, four teams from each conference (with a total of eight teams) qualify for the playoffs each year. These four teams include third division champions, and the fourth wild card team.
Initially, the home side in the playoffs was decided on an annual rotation basis. From 1970 to 1974, the division playoff rounds of which the third division champions will have home advantage, with the wild-card teams and teams they will face in the division playoff game will never have any field advantage throughout the playoffs. Beginning in 1970, the division playoffs consisted of AFC Central champions and NFC West champions who played their matches on the road. Then in 1971 it was played to the AFC East champions and the NFC East champions playing their game on the road. In the 1972 division playoff game, AFC West champions and NFC Central champions were the visitors. And in 1973, it will all start with AFC Central and NFC West again, and so on.
The rotation system causes some playoff injustices, such as:
- In 1971, the team with the two best records in each conference met in the division round.
- In 1972, the Dolphins had to take their perfect record to Three Rivers Stadium to face Pittsburgh Steelers, who became 11-3, in the AFC championship game.
- In 1973, the Cowboys completed 10-4 but hosted two 12-2 teams, Los Angeles Rams and Minnesota.
The league did not institute a nursery system for the playoffs until 1975, where a surviving club with higher seeds created the home side for each playoff round. Thus, the top division winners play the wild-card team, and the remaining two division winners play at the better seed house stadium (which means that the winner of the lowest seed division should open the postseason on the road). However, two teams from the same division can not meet before the conference championship game. Thus, there will be times when the pair in the division playoffs will be 1 seed versus 3 seeds and 2 vs 4.
Expansion
After a regular season expansion of 14 to 16 games in the 1978 season, the league added another wild-card team to each conference. Two wild-card teams played a week before the division winners. The winner of this game plays the winner of the top seed division as it did from 1970-1977. The League continues to ban inter-division games in the division round, but allows such contests in the wild-card round. This ten-team playoff format was used during the 1989 season. Under this system, Oakland Raiders became the first wild-card team to win the Super Bowl after the 1980 season.
During the 1982 strike-short season, only nine regular-season games were played, and the modified playoff format was instituted. Division divisions are ignored (there are some cases where division rivals have both games wiped out by strikes, though each division eventually sends at least one team to the playoffs), and the top eight teams from each conference (based on WLT records) are advancing to playoff round. As a result, this became the first time a team with a losing record qualified for the playoffs: 4-5 Cleveland Browns and 4-5 Detroit Lions.
Several times between 1978-89, two wild-card games must be played on different days. Usually both will be held on Sunday. In 1983 and 1988, the game was split between Saturday and Monday because Sunday was Christmas, and the NFL had avoided playing on that day at the time. In 1984, both matches were played in the Pacific Time Zone, so they had to be played on Saturdays and Sundays to accommodate the time difference. In 1985, both the New York Giants and the Jets hosted a wild-card game. Since they have shared the home stadium since 1984, the match must be played on different days.
For the 1990 season, the third wild card team for each conference was added, extending the playoffs to the current twelve teams. The winner of the lowest seed division was then "downgraded" to a wild-card weekend. Also, the intra-divisional game restrictions during the division round have been removed.
The 2001 season became the first playoff game to be played at prime time. Thus, the league no longer has the same restrictions as in 1984 when it had to schedule matches in the Pacific Time Zone.
The 1990 format continued until 2002's expansion and reorganization into eight divisions. In the current format, as described above, the winners of division 4 and 2 wild cards are seeded 1-6, with the top 2 seeds receiving the bye, and the highest seed in each round guaranteed to play the lowest seed. Also, the seed determines the home-field advantage.
Proposal modification
There are some limitations in the current 12-team playoff system. Since being a divisional winner is a guaranteed playoff spot, there are many cases where teams that win the "weak" division have almost no winning record or have a 0,500 or a record loss altogether (like the 2010 Seattle Seahawks). At the same time, as division winners are superior to wild cards, non-divisional winners may end up playing street games over the Wild Card weekend against teams with inferior notes, or perhaps losing playoffs immediately. And going on the road during the first postseason round does not guarantee success: the first time that the four road teams win over the weekend the Wild Card happens during the 2015-16 season.
This issue has become more common since the 2002 rearrangement mentioned earlier. There are three important examples where division winners with 0,500 or sub-0,500 end up winning playoffs against teams with superior notes:
- In the 2008-09 season, the San Diego Chargers snatched AFC West with only a record of 8-8, and hosted 12-4 Indianapolis Colts in wild-card rounds, while the New England Patriots failed to secure a wild-card spot in 11-5. The Chargers then went on to beat the Colts in the playoff game.
- In the 2010-11 season, Seahawks 2010 won NFC West with a 7-9 record, hosted and beat 11-5 New Orleans Saints. Failed to make the playoffs are the New York Giants and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, both with a 10-6 record, due to the tiebreak loss for the sixth seed to the Green Bay Packers, which became the first sixth seed team of the NFC to win the Super Bowl. Seahawks 2010 is the first team in NFL history to win the division championship and playoff matches with a losing regular season record. They currently have the lowest winning percentage of any team that ever made the playoffs.
- In the 2014-15 season, the Carolina Panthers won the NFC South with a 7-8-1 record. At the 16th week, no team in the division could finish more than seven wins. The Panthers then defeated the Atlanta Falcons, who were 6-9 and undefeated in the division that entered the game, to the division title. They host and beat the 11-5 Arizona Cardinals in a wild card round. The best team to miss the playoffs of the year is the Philadelphia Eagles, who finished 10-6. For now, Panthers 2014 and Seahawks 2010 are the two division winning teams, and the playoffs, with the record losing.
As a result of these breeding issues, calls are often made to modify the playoff format even further. One proposal has expanded the playoff to 14 teams. Supporters of the expansion recorded an increase in revenue that can be obtained from two additional playoff matches. They also noted that the 12-team playoff system was implemented when the league had only 28 teams and six divisions (each 4-5 teams). Opposition to such a move notes that the playoff expansion will "ease" the field by granting access to low caliber teams. Opponents for further expansion lead to NBA playoffs and NHL playoffs where more than half of teams qualify for postseason, and there is often a decrease in emphasis on regular season performance as a result.
After the 2007 playoffs saw two wild-card teams with better records (Jacksonville Jaguars and finally Super Bowl XLII champion New York Giants) went on the road to defeat the division winners (Pittsburgh Steelers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, respectively) over the wild weekend -card, the NFL explores other proposals to change the playoffs so a team with a better record will host matches, even if it means division winners go on the road. The NFL Competition Committee drew the request then offseason, with Atlanta Falcons president Rich McKay mentioning that they wanted the idea to just go for a discussion. New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft is a strong contender of the rule change, believing that "if you win the division, it's good for your fans to know that you'll have a home game."
Just before the 2010-11 play Seahawks-Saints playoffs, McKay wanted to revisit previous proposals to send back the team over a wild-card weekend. However, sports writer Peter King writes that he believes league owners are still hesitant to implement such changes at this time due to the pending suspension of work 2011, proposals to extend the regular season from 16 to 18 matches and how it will impact postseason, and fact simple that not enough teams have been seriously harmed by the current format.
In October 2013, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell announced plans to revisit the idea of ​​extending the playoff to the 14 teams, with increased revenues earned from two additional postseason games used to offset plans to shorten preseason. Two additional Wild Card games can also be scheduled for the weekend, making triple-headers on Saturday and Sunday. Goodell then suggested that they might be played on Friday and/or Monday, which could ultimately lead to scheduling conflicts with the new Playoff Football College game.
The 14-team playoff proposal remains to be submitted until December 2014, when no team at NFC South can finish better than 0,500; Goodell declares that the league will select it at the March 2015 Owner Meeting. A proposed 14-club system includes providing a first-round bye for the team with the best record at each conference, two division champions at each conference receiving a home game, and the remaining eight teams will be featured by a win-lose record. In February 2015, however, the Washington Post reported that support among team owners had been eroded, and league leaders expressed reluctance to make changes to a one-year extension with CBS to broadcast a video of <<> Thursday Night Football ends at the end of the 2015 season. The proposal loses all interest; today, has never been raised. It is likely that no movement will be made to expand the playoffs or regular seasons until at least 2020, when the current collective agreement ends.
NFL playoff appearance
True on the 2017-18 NFL playoffs
* Tiebreaker playoff appearance based on team with newer playoff appearance.
Appearance by active team
See also
- An active NFL playoff appearance line
- List of NFL playoff games
- National Football League Championship
- NFL lore
- NFL playoff results
- The NFL starts a quarterback play-play record
References
Further reading
- 2006 NFL Record and Fact Book . Time Inc. Home Entertainment. ISBN: 1-933405-32-5.
- Total Football II: National Football League Official Encyclopedia . Harper Collins. ISBN: 1-933405-32-5.
- The Complete Sporting News Super Bowl Book 1995 . ISBNÃ, 0-89204-523-X. Ã,
External links
- Super Bowl history
- Pro-Football-Reference.com - Large online databases and NFL statistics. Many scores and game records in this article can be found there.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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