2022 14-Team NFL Playoff Format

Introduced in 2020 and continuing for a third-consecutive season, a total of 14 teams -- seven each from the AFC and the NFC -- will make the NFL postseason.

Three Wild Card teams from each conference will qualify for the postseason, with the top seed in each conference receiving a bye in the Wild Card round.

The remaining division champions in each conference with the best records will be seeded 2, 3, and 4, followed by the next three teams per conference with the best records seeded 5, 6, and 7.

AFC and NFC Wild Card games will feature the 2 seed hosting the 7 seed, the 3 seed hosting the 6 seed and the 4 seed hosting the 5 seed. Super Wild Card Weekend for the 2022 season will feature six games, starting on Saturday, January 14.

Super Wild Card Weekend winners join the top seeds in each conference in the Divisional Playoffs on Saturday and Sunday, January 21-22. The AFC and NFC Championship Games will be played on Sunday, January 29. The winners meet two weeks later on Sunday, February 12, in Super Bowl LVII at Arizona’s State Farm Stadium (FOX), marking the first time the league’s final game is played in Arizona since Super Bowl XLIX following the 2014 season.

Since 1990 -- a streak of 32 consecutive seasons -- at least four new teams have qualified for the playoffs that missed the postseason the year before, including seven of the 14 playoff teams in 2021.

The 2021 Postseason Was One Of The Most Exciting and Dramatic in NFL History.

The Los Angeles Rams won Super Bowl LVI and for a 17th consecutive season, the NFL has a new Super Bowl champion, extending the longest streak without a repeat winner in league history.

From the Divisional Playoffs through Super Bowl LVI, six of the seven games were decided by exactly three points. The only game that wasn’t was Kansas City and Buffalo in the AFC Divisional Playoffs, which was decided by an overtime touchdown.

All seven games were decided by a game-winning score in the final two minutes of regulation or in overtime. Five games were decided by a game-winning score on the final play.

The total margin of victory across the final seven playoff games (Super Bowl LVI, Conference Championship and Divisional Playoffs) was 24 points (3.4 points per game).

Both Conference Championship games were decided by three or fewer points for the second time ever (2011).

For the first time ever, all four Divisional Round games were decided by a game-winning score on the final play, the most such games in a single postseason all-time.

Three road teams won in the Divisional Round for third time in NFL history (2008 and 1971).

NFL 2022 Playoff Format Creates Excitement