NFL Playoff History

The NFL Playoffs have been in existence since the 1933 football season, and are one of the most watched sporting events in the world today. Once the NFL regular season ends, the best teams from the NFC and AFC square off in a seeded, winner-takes-all, format kicking off shortly after New Year’s. The playoffs conclude with the best team from the AFC and NFC respectfully, squaring off in the Super Bowl, or “Big Game” that takes place in the first week of February every year. The following is a short review of the NFL Playoff history.

NFL Playoffs from 1933-1966

Starting during the 1933 regular season, the NFL started including a championship game that pitted the winners of the league’s two divisions. During this time, if there was a tie for first place at the end of the regular season in either division, there would be a one game playoff to break the tie and determine which of the two teams would get to play in the NFL Championship. During this timeframe, ties occurred on nine different occasions.

NFL Playoffs from 1967 to 1969

Starting with the 1967 NFL regular season, the league split into four divisions which were further broken down into two conferences that each had two divisions. The two division champions in each conference would then play in a Conference Championship game that the winners would then advance to the NFL Championship. In 1967, this format was further refined to a prescheduled NFL Playoff. This was also the first year that the NFL quit playing tie-breaker games, instead relying on a system of tiebreakers to break ties. At this time, the NFL Championship game was known as the AFL-NFL World Championship game taking place after the conclusion of the NFL regular season.

AFL / NFL Merger Impact on the NFL Playoffs

In 1970, the American Football League merged with the National Football League. After the merger, the NFL expanded the playoffs to eight total teams. This round of the playoffs has been known as the “Divisional” round of the NFL Playoffs. Since the merger occurred, the playoffs have typically been scheduled over two different calendar years.

NFL Wildcard Games Established (1978)

Beginning in 1978, the NFL decided to expand the playoff pool from eight to 10 total teams. This act required the addition of another round of playoff games. For the first 11 seasons after adopting the Wildcard games (1978-1989), the Wildcard round featured a game per conference between the two non-divisional winners. In 1982, there was a 16 team tournament due to the NFL players strike that reduced the NFL regular season to only 9 games. The NFL Playoffs further expanded to 12 teams for the 1990 NFL reason and an additional game was added to this week. If you would like to see the current format for the 2017 NFL Playoffs, then you can click here for an overview of the Playoff schedule and printable bracket. We've updated everything so you can check out the 2025 NFL Playoff bracket now for next year's postseason games. 

Super Bowl Champions of the Past Ten Years

The following are the winners of the “Big Game” from the past ten years:

Game, Date, Winning team, Score, Losing team, Venue

XXXIX, 6-Feb-05, New England Patriots, 24–21, Philadelphia Eagles, ALLTEL Stadium

XL, 5-Feb-06, Pittsburgh Steelers, 21–10, Seattle Seahawks, Ford Field

XLI, 4-Feb-07, Indianapolis Colts, 29–17, Chicago Bears, Dolphin Stadium

XLII, 3-Feb-08, New York Giants, 17–14, New England Patriots, University of Phoenix Stadium

XLIII, 1-Feb-09, Pittsburgh Steelers, 27–23, Arizona Cardinals, Raymond James Stadium 

XLIV, 7-Feb-10, New Orleans Saints, 31–17, Indianapolis Colts, Sun Life Stadium 

XLV, 6-Feb-11, Green Bay Packers, 31–25, Pittsburgh Steelers, Cowboys Stadium

XLVI, 5-Feb-12, New York Giants, 21–17, New England Patriots, Lucas Oil Stadium

XLVII, 3-Feb-13, Baltimore Ravens, 34–31, San Francisco 49ers, Mercedes-Benz Superdome 

XLVIII, 2-Feb-14, Seattle Seahawks, 43–8, Denver Broncos, MetLife Stadium
For additional information on the NFL and NFL schedules, you can go here. You can also see which teams have never been to a super bowl.