How Does The NFL Wild Card Work? Super Wild Card Weekend Explained

Like in baseball, a Wild Card team in the NFL is a team that makes the playoffs without winning its division.

There are eight divisions in the NFL, with four in each conference. Division winners automatically make the playoffs and are seeded 1-4 in order of record. The team with the best record in each conference gets the No. 1 seed and earns a bye to the Divisional Round.

The three non-division winners with the best record in each conference also make the playoffs as Wild Card teams. They are seeded 5-7.

During Wild Card Weekend, seeds 2-4 host seeds 5-7 in a Wild Card Round game, giving the division winners home-field advantage. The winners advance to the Divisional Round and the losers are eliminated.

Six Wild Card teams make the NFL playoff format – three in each conference.

As mentioned, each conference sends the three non-division winners with the best record to the Wild Card Round, where they face a division winner on the road. The winners of the NFL Wild Card games move on to the Divisional Round.

Here’s how the NFL Wild Card bracket works in each conference.

• No. 2 seed (division winner with second-best record) hosts No. 7 seed (Wild Card team with worst record)
• No. 3 seed (division winner with third-best record) hosts No. 6 seed (Wild Card team with second-worst record)
• No. 4 seed (division winner with worst record) hosts No. 5 seed (Wild Card team with best record)

Teams are reseeded after the Wild Card Round, so the lowest-remaining seeds face the highest-remaining seeds in the Divisional Round. For example, if a No. 7 seed upsets a No. 2 seed in the Wild Card Round, it faces the No. 1 seed in the Divisional Round.

NFL Wild Card Teams

As mentioned above, the NFL Wild Card teams are the three non-division winners with the best record in each conference. They get the No. 5-7 seeds in the NFL postseason field.

Wild Card teams can come from any division as long as their record qualifies them. There are no rules or restrictions around multiple Wild Card teams coming from the same division.

The Wild Card teams have yet to be determined for the 2024-25 NFL Playoffs.

NFL Wild Card Round

NFL Wild Card Weekend takes place the weekend after the NFL regular season ends.

The six Wild Card games are spread across three days. Three games happen on Saturday, two take place on Sunday and the final game occurs on Monday.

This season’s NFL Wild Card Round takes place from Jan. 11 to Jan. 13, 2025.

If two or more teams finish the regular season tied for a Wild Card berth, the following tiebreaker procedures (in descending order) are used to determine seeding. They don’t play an extra game.

Two Teams

• Head-to-head, if applicable
• Best won-lost-tied percentage in games played within the conference
• Best won-lost-tied percentage in common games, minimum of four
• Strength of victory in all games
• Strength of schedule in all games
• Best combined ranking among conference teams in points scored and points allowed in all games
• Best combined ranking among all teams in points scored and points allowed in all games
• Best net points in conference games
• Best net points in all games
• Best net touchdowns in all games
• Coin toss

Three or More Teams

• Apply division tiebreaker to eliminate all but the highest-ranked club in each division prior to proceeding to step 2. The original seeding within a division upon application of the division tiebreaker remains the same for all subsequent applications of the procedure that are necessary to identify the two Wild Card participants
• Head-to-head sweep. (Applicable only if one club has defeated each of the others or if one club has lost to each of the others.)
• Best won-lost-tied percentage in games played within the conference
• Best won-lost-tied percentage in common games, minimum of four
• Strength of victory in all games
• Strength of schedule in all games
• Best combined ranking among conference teams in points scored and points allowed in all games
• Best combined ranking among all teams in points scored and points allowed in all games
• Best net points in conference games
• Best net points in all games
• Best net touchdowns in all games
• Coin toss

See below for the 2024-25 NFL Wild Card schedule.

Saturday, Jan. 11, 2025

• TBA vs. TBA, 1 p.m. ET, CBS or FOX
• TBA vs. TBA, 4:30 p.m. ET, NBC/Peacock
• TBA vs. TBA, 8 p.m. ET, Peacock

Sunday, Jan. 12, 2025

• TBA vs. TBA, 4:30 p.m. ET, CBS or FOX
• TBA vs. TBA, 8:15 p.m. ET, NBC

Monday, Jan. 13 2025

• TBA vs. TBA, 8:15 p.m. ET, ESPN/ABC

NFL Wild Card odds will be available once the playoff field is set and the slate is announced.

Seven Wild Card teams have won the Super Bowl since the Wild Card was introduced in 1978. The most recent example was Tom Brady’s 2020 Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who beat Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LV.

Winning the Super Bowl is more difficult for a Wild Card team, which must win an extra game to reach the Super Bowl compared to a No. 1 seed. Wild Card teams don’t get any rest and must start the postseason on the road, so they face an uphill battle in the playoffs.

• 1980 Oakland Raiders
• 1997 Denver Broncos
• 2000 Baltimore Ravens
• 2005 Pittsburgh Steelers
• 2007 New York Giants
• 2010 Green Bay Packers
• 2020 Tampa Bay Buccaneers

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