{"id":385635,"date":"2026-01-03T13:20:38","date_gmt":"2026-01-03T13:20:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/385635\/"},"modified":"2026-01-03T13:20:38","modified_gmt":"2026-01-03T13:20:38","slug":"what-is-the-nfl-playoff-format-how-the-nfl-playoffs-work-for-the-2025-26-postseason","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/385635\/","title":{"rendered":"What is the NFL playoff format? How the NFL playoffs work for the 2025-26 postseason"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s time to get ready for the thrilling culmination of the NFL<\/a> season. In just one week, the playoffs will begin, showcasing the best teams from both conferences as they strive for this year\u2019s Super Bowl<\/a> glory.<\/p>\n

Since the 2020-21 season, the NFL has enhanced the postseason by expanding the field from 12 to 14 teams. The journey begins during wild card weekend, when 14 contenders take the field.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s everything you need to know about the NFL playoff format for this season:<\/p>\n

1 \/ 25<\/p>\n

Can’t-miss alternate and throwback uniforms of the 2025 NFL season<\/p>\n

Week 6: Washington Commanders wide receiver Chris Moore (19) celebrates with teammates after scoring a touchdown during the “Monday Night Football” game against the Chicago Bears at Northwest Stadium. The Commanders wore their all-black alternate uniforms for the game.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

1 \/ 25<\/p>\n

Can’t-miss alternate and throwback uniforms of the 2025 NFL season<\/p>\n

Week 6: Washington Commanders wide receiver Chris Moore (19) celebrates with teammates after scoring a touchdown during the “Monday Night Football” game against the Chicago Bears at Northwest Stadium. The Commanders wore their all-black alternate uniforms for the game.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

2 \/ 25<\/p>\n

Can’t-miss alternate and throwback uniforms of the 2025 NFL season<\/p>\n

Week 6: Atlanta Falcons running back Tyler Allgeier (25) carries the ball for a touchdown against the Buffalo Bills at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The Falcons played the game while sporting throwback uniforms that harken back to the team’s inaugural season of 1966.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

3 \/ 25<\/p>\n

Can’t-miss alternate and throwback uniforms of the 2025 NFL season<\/p>\n

Week 6: Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen operates at the line of scrimmage before a play against the Atlanta Falcons during a “Monday Night Football” game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The Bills wore throwback uniforms reminiscent of the team’s look from 1962-1973 during the game.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

4 \/ 25<\/p>\n

Can’t-miss alternate and throwback uniforms of the 2025 NFL season<\/p>\n

Week 6: Carolina Panthers quarterback Bryce Young looks for a receiver against the Dallas Cowboys at Bank of America Stadium. The Panthers wore this uniform combination for the first time in the 30-27 win.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

5 \/ 25<\/p>\n

Can’t-miss alternate and throwback uniforms of the 2025 NFL season\"\"<\/p>\n

6 \/ 25<\/p>\n

Can’t-miss alternate and throwback uniforms of the 2025 NFL season<\/p>\n

Week 5: Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray makes a throw during the third quarter against the Tennessee Titans at State Farm Stadium. The Cardinals wore their all-black uniforms, but were defeated 22-21.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

7 \/ 25<\/p>\n

Can’t-miss alternate and throwback uniforms of the 2025 NFL season<\/p>\n

Week 5: Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield awaits the snap against the Seattle Seahawks at Lumen Field. Both teams wore throwback uniforms in the Buccaneers’ 38-35 win. The Buccaneers and Seahawks entered the NFL together as expansion teams in 1976.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

8 \/ 25<\/p>\n

Can’t-miss alternate and throwback uniforms of the 2025 NFL season<\/p>\n

Week 5: Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Tory Horton (15) is congratulated by teammate AJ Barner (88) after catching a touchdown pass against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers during the second half at Lumen Field. The Seahawks wore throwback uniforms harkening back to the team’s original look from 1976-2001.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

9 \/ 25<\/p>\n

Can’t-miss alternate and throwback uniforms of the 2025 NFL season<\/p>\n

Week 5: Los Angeles Chargers running back Omarion Hampton (8) runs against the Washington Commanders during the first quarter at SoFi Stadium. The Chargers wore monochrome powder blue uniform pants and jerseys for the first time.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

10 \/ 25<\/p>\n

Can’t-miss alternate and throwback uniforms of the 2025 NFL season<\/p>\n

Week 5: New York Jets wide receiver Garrett Wilson (5) is tackled by the Dallas Cowboys’ Trevon Diggs (7) and Juanyeh Thomas (2) during the first half at MetLife Stadium. The Cowboys wore their “Arctic White” uniforms for the 37-22 win.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

11 \/ 25<\/p>\n

Can’t-miss alternate and throwback uniforms of the 2025 NFL season<\/p>\n

Week 5: New York Jets quarterback Justin Fields stands in the pocket against the Dallas Cowboys during the first half at MetLife Stadium. The Jets wore their all-black uniforms in the 37-22 loss.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

12 \/ 25<\/p>\n

Can’t-miss alternate and throwback uniforms of the 2025 NFL season<\/p>\n

Week 4: Denver Broncos quarterback Bo Nix (10) hands the ball off to running back J.K. Dobbins during the “Monday Night Football”<\/a> game against the Cincinnati Bengals at Empower Field at Mile High. The Broncos wore their “Midnight Navy” uniforms for the 28-3 win<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

13 \/ 25<\/p>\n

Can’t-miss alternate and throwback uniforms of the 2025 NFL season\"\"<\/p>\n

14 \/ 25<\/p>\n

Can’t-miss alternate and throwback uniforms of the 2025 NFL season\"\"<\/p>\n

15 \/ 25<\/p>\n

Can’t-miss alternate and throwback uniforms of the 2025 NFL season<\/p>\n

Week 3: Baltimore Ravens tight end Charlie Kolar (88) makes a catch during his team’s “Monday Night Football” game against the Detroit Lions at M&T Bank Stadium. The Ravens wore their all-black uniforms for the game dubbed, “Darkness Falls.” Despite the fancy marketing moniker, the Ravens were defeated, 38-30.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

16 \/ 25<\/p>\n

Can’t-miss alternate and throwback uniforms of the 2025 NFL season<\/p>\n

Week 3: New Orleans Saints running back Kendre Miller (5) stiff arms Seattle Seahawks linebacker Tyrice Knight (48) during the second quarter at Lumen Field. The Saints wore their all-white uniform and helmet combo for the first time in the 44-13 loss.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

17 \/ 25<\/p>\n

Can’t-miss alternate and throwback uniforms of the 2025 NFL season<\/p>\n

Week 3: San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey carries the ball against the Arizona Cardinals during the first half at Levi’s Stadium. The 49ers wore throwback jerseys – an homage to the team’s 1950s look, as well as its 1994 Super Bowl-winning season – in the 16-15 win against the Cardinals.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

18 \/ 25<\/p>\n

Can’t-miss alternate and throwback uniforms of the 2025 NFL season<\/p>\n

Week 3: New England Patriots tight end Hunter Henry (85) celebrates after scoring a touchdown against the Pittsburgh Steelers at Gillette Stadium. New England brought out its iconic “Pat Patriot” throwback in the 21-14 defeat.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

19 \/ 25<\/p>\n

Can’t-miss alternate and throwback uniforms of the 2025 NFL season<\/p>\n

Week 3: Tampa Bay Buccaneers running back Rachaad White (1) runs with the ball as New York Jets cornerback Sauce Gardner attempts to make the tackle during the second quarter at Raymond James Stadium. The Buccaneers wore their famous “Creamsicle” throwback uniforms in the 29-27 win.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

20 \/ 25<\/p>\n

Can’t-miss alternate and throwback uniforms of the 2025 NFL season<\/p>\n

Week 3: Cleveland Browns running back Quinshon Judkins celebrates after scoring a touchdown against the Green Bay Packers during the fourth quarter at Huntington Bank Field. The Browns debuted their “Alpha Dawg” alternate uniform for the 13-10 win.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

21 \/ 25<\/p>\n

Can’t-miss alternate and throwback uniforms of the 2025 NFL season<\/p>\n

Week 3: Jacksonville Jaguars cornerback Jourdan Lewis (2) celebrates after making an interception in the fourth quarter against the Houston Texans at EverBank Stadium. The Jaguars wore their “Prowler Throwbacks” – an homage to the team’s late-1990s heyday – for the 17-10 win.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

22 \/ 25<\/p>\n

Can’t-miss alternate and throwback uniforms of the 2025 NFL season<\/p>\n

Week 3: Carolina Panthers tight end JaTavion Saunders runs with the ball against the Atlanta Falcons at Bank of America Stadium. The Panthers wore their special black helmets in the 30-0 win.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

23 \/ 25<\/p>\n

Can’t-miss alternate and throwback uniforms of the 2025 NFL season<\/p>\n

Week 2: Minnesota Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy (9) runs the ball against the Atlanta Falcons at U.S. Bank Stadium. Sporting “The Vikings Classic” throwback uniform inspired by the team’s look during the 1960s and ’70s, Minnesota was defeated, 22-6.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

24 \/ 25<\/p>\n

Can’t-miss alternate and throwback uniforms of the 2025 NFL season<\/p>\n

Week 2: The Green Bay Packers’ Micah Parsons (1) reacts during a “Thursday Night Football” game against the Washington Commanders at Lambeau Field. The Packers wore their “Winter Warning” uniforms for the 27-18 win.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

25 \/ 25<\/p>\n

Can’t-miss alternate and throwback uniforms of the 2025 NFL season<\/p>\n

Week 1: New Orleans Saints running back Alvin Kamara scores a touchdown against the Arizona Cardinals at Caesars Superdome. The Saints wore their reimagined “Gameday Gold” uniforms for their season opener, marking the first time the team wore gold jerseys since the 2002 season. The Cardinals defeated the Saints, 20-13.<\/p>\n

NFL playoff format<\/p>\n

The NFL playoff format is a single-elimination tournament of seven teams in the AFC and NFC, including:<\/p>\n

Four division winners (South, North, East, and West)<\/p>\n

Three wild card teams (best remaining teams by record)<\/p>\n

The division winner with the best record receives the No. 1 seed in their conference, plays their playoff games at home, and gets a bye in the first round (wild card) of the playoffs.<\/p>\n

The playoffs have four rounds: the wild card round, the divisional round, the conference championship games and the Super Bowl. There is an extra week between the conference championship games and the Super Bowl.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

Wild card round<\/p>\n

No. 2 seed hosts No. 7 seed<\/p>\n

No. 3 seed hosts No. 6 seed<\/p>\n

No. 4 seed hosts No. 5 seed<\/p>\n

Divisional round<\/p>\n

The No. 1 seed hosts the lowest remaining seed.<\/p>\n

The second-highest remaining seed hosts the second-lowest remaining seed.<\/p>\n

Conference championship game<\/p>\n

Divisional round winners (higher seed hosts)<\/p>\n

Super Bowl<\/p>\n

Conference championship winners play at a neutral site.<\/p>\n

This year’s Super Bowl will be played at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, CA.<\/p>\n

When do the NFL playoffs start?<\/p>\n

The NFL playoffs kick off on Saturday, Jan. 10, at 4:30 p.m. ET for the first game of the wild-card round.<\/p>\n

Here’s how the full schedule breaks down for the 2025-26 NFL playoffs.<\/p>\n

Wild card round: Jan. 10-12, 2026<\/p>\n

Divisional round: Jan. 17-18, 2026<\/p>\n

Conference championship: Jan. 25, 2026<\/p>\n

NFL playoff picture<\/p>\n

*=team has clinched a playoff berth. <\/p>\n

AFC playoff picture<\/p>\n

No. 2 seed: New England Patriots (13-3, AFC East winners)*<\/p>\n

No. 4 seed: Pittsburgh Steelers (9-7, AFC North leaders)<\/p>\n

No. 6 seed: Los Angeles Chargers (11-5, wild card No. 2)*<\/p>\n

In the hunt: Baltimore Ravens (8-8)<\/p>\n

NFC playoff picture<\/p>\n

No. 1 seed: Seattle Seahawks (13-3, NFC West leaders)*<\/p>\n

No. 4 seed: Carolina Panthers (8-8, NFC South leaders)<\/p>\n

No. 5 seed: San Francisco 49ers (12-4, wild card No. 1)*<\/p>\n

No. 6 seed: Los Angeles Rams (11-5, wild card No. 2)*<\/p>\n

In the hunt: Tampa Bay Buccaneers (7-9)<\/p>\n

NFL playoff bracket<\/p>\n

These are the current wild-card matchups, given the state of the playoff picture. This is subject to multiple changes pending the results in Week 18:<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

AFC wild card<\/p>\n

No. 2 New England Patriots vs. No. 7-seed Buffalo Bills<\/p>\n

No. 3 Jacksonville Jaguars vs. No. 6 Los Angeles Chargers<\/p>\n

No. 4 Pittsburgh Steelers vs. No. 5 Houston Texans<\/p>\n

NFC wild card<\/p>\n

No. 2 Chicago Bears vs. No. 7 Green Bay Packers<\/p>\n

No. 3 Philadelphia Eagles vs. No. 6 Los Angeles Rams<\/p>\n

No. 4 Carolina Panthers vs. No. 5 San Francisco 49ers<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: NFL playoff format, explained: Schedule, bracket for NFL playoffs<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It’s time to get ready for the thrilling culmination of the NFL season. In just one week, the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":385636,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[436],"tags":[1742,1748,49,48,1744,1735,1743,1730,1737,1725,2210,1749,1718,514,68628,1747,949,948,1739,82,1733,86236],"class_list":["post-385635","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-baltimore-ravens","tag-buffalo-bills","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-carolina-panthers","tag-chicago-bears","tag-denver-broncos","tag-green-bay-packers","tag-houston-texans","tag-jacksonville-jaguars","tag-los-angeles-chargers","tag-los-angeles-rams","tag-new-england-patriots","tag-nfl","tag-nfl-playoffs","tag-philadelphia-eagles","tag-pittsburgh-steelers","tag-san-francisco-49ers","tag-seattle-seahawks","tag-sports","tag-tampa-bay-buccaneers","tag-wild-card"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385635","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=385635"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385635\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/385636"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=385635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=385635"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=385635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}