How NFL playoffs 2026 will work?
The NFL Playoffs is a single-elimination tournament played annually in January to February begin with the Wild-Card Round then the winners play for the Divisional Round then the Conference championship games and finally end after the Super Bowl game.
How NFL playoffs do work?
The National Football League has 32-team divided equally into two AFC and NFC conferences and also each conference divided into 4 division of four teams each. As of 2025, 7-team 1 through 7 are seeded based on their overall record, will qualify into the playoffs from each conference. The NFL wild-card weekend has six-game slate, divisional round has four-game, conference championships two-game and Super bowl total 13 games are scheduled to be played in the postseason.
Excluding the Super Bowl host location every Playoff game’s host city are set according to 1 through 7 seed. No 1 seed will earn 1st round bye and home field advantage in the divisional round and play against the winner of the lowest seed from the wild-card Round. The 2nd seed will host the game against the 7th seed, 3rd will host 6th and 4th will host 5th seed in the wild-card weekend.
NFL playoffs picture:
According to the NFL playoff format, there are seven teams from each AFC, and NFC conference will make the playoffs come up after the NFL regular season. Here is the NFL playoff picture.
AFC Conference:
- (First-round bye)
- TBA
- TBA
- TBA
- TBA
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NFC Conference:
- (First-round bye)
- TBA
- TBA
- TBA
- TBA
- TBA
- TBA
Who is the most recent Super Bowl champion?
The Philadelphia Eagles beats the Kansas City Chiefs on February 9, 2025 by 40–22 at Caesars Superdome.
Future Dates of the NFL Playoffs
| Season | 2026 | 2027 |
| Wild Card | Jan 10–12 | Jan 16-18 |
| Divisional | Jan 17-18 | Jan 23-24 |
| Conference Final | Jan 25 | Jan 31 |
| Super Bowl | LX (Feb 8) | LXI (Feb 14) |
NFL playoff appearances by active teams
| Team | Appearances |
| Green Bay Packers | 37 |
| Dallas Cowboys | 36 |
| Pittsburgh Steelers | 35 |
| Cleveland / St. Louis / Los Angeles Rams | 33 |
| New York Giants | 33 |
| Minnesota Vikings | 32 |
| Philadelphia Eagles | 31 |
| Baltimore / Indianapolis Colts | 29 |
| San Francisco 49ers | 29 |
| Boston / New England Patriots | 28 |
| Chicago Bears | 27 |
| Kansas City Chiefs | 27 |
| Cleveland Browns | 26 |
| Washington Redskins / Football Team / Commanders | 26 |
| Houston Oilers / Tennessee Titans | 25 |
| Miami Dolphins | 25 |
| Buffalo Bills | 24 |
| Denver Broncos | 23 |
| Oakland / Los Angeles / Las Vegas Raiders | 23 |
| San Diego / Los Angeles Chargers | 21 |
| Seattle Seahawks | 20 |
| Detroit Lions | 20 |
| Baltimore Ravens | 16 |
| Cincinnati Bengals | 16 |
| Tampa Bay Buccaneers | 15 |
| Atlanta Falcons | 14 |
| New Orleans Saints | 14 |
| New York Jets | 14 |
| Chicago / St. Louis / Arizona Cardinals | 11 |
| Carolina Panthers | 8 |
| Houston Texans | 8 |
| Jacksonville Jaguars | 8 |