National Football League playoffs

The National Football League (NFL) playoffs are a single-elimination tournament held after the end of the regular season to determine the NFL champion. Six teams from each of the league's two conferences qualify for the playoffs based on regular season records, and a tie-breaking procedure exists in the case of equal records. The tournament ends with the Super Bowl, the league's championship game, which matches the two conference champions.

NFL postseason history can be traced to the first NFL Championship Game in 1933, though in the early years, qualification for the game was based solely on regular season records. From 1933 to 1966, the NFL postseason generally only consisted of the NFL Championship Game, pitting the league's two division winners (pending any one-game playoff matches that needed to be held to break ties in the division standings). The NFL playoffs then expanded in 1967, when four teams qualified for the tournament. When the league merged with the American Football League (AFL) in 1970, the playoffs expanded to eight teams. The playoffs were expanded to 10 teams in 1978 and 12 teams since 1990.

1958 NFL playoffs

The 1958 National Football League season resulted in a tie for the Eastern Conference championship between the Cleveland Browns and New York Giants. The conference championship game was played on December 21, 1958 at Yankee Stadium. The winner of that game would host the Baltimore Colts on December 28.

Tournament bracket

Eastern Conference championship

at Yankee Stadium in The Bronx, New York City

NFL Championship game

References

2002–03 NFL playoffs

The National Football League playoffs for the 2002 season began on January 4, 2003. The postseason tournament concluded with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers defeating the Oakland Raiders in Super Bowl XXXVII, 48–21, on January 26, at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, California.

Prior to the 2002–03 season, the league realigned its teams into eight divisions (four in each conference). Thus, the 12-team playoff format was modified. The league still abides by this updated system today:

As a result, a wild card team can no longer host a playoff game during the opening Wild Card round. Prior to the 2002–03 playoffs, a team could finish second in its division and host a playoff game by claiming the # 4 seed as a wild card team. The new rules meant that the #4 seed would be rewarded to a division champion and not a wild card team (non-division champion). Under the new system, a wild card team can host a playoff game only if the #5 and #6 seeds in one conference advance to a Conference Championship Game, in which case a #5 seed would host the game.