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Steelers browns play by play8/15/2023 This continued an unofficial rotation that began with the Conference Championships in the 1996 NFL Playoffs. Since then, the NFC title game is first in even-numbered seasons (2002, 2004, etc.) and the AFC title game first in odd-numbered seasons (2003, 2005, etc.). The conferences would then begin to annually alternate between the early and late games, with the first game during this 2002–03 season being the NFC title game and the second the AFC title game. The start times for the Conference Championship Games were also changed, from 12:30 p.m. Sunday wild card and divisional playoff games were moved from 12:30 p.m. Wild Card and Divisional Saturday games continued to be played at 4:30 p.m. The league was pleased with the results, and decided to revise its entire playoff schedule, beginning with the 2002 season. Playoff seedsĭuring the 2001–02 NFL playoffs, the NFL experimented with playing Saturday prime time playoff games. Although the Super Bowl, the fourth and final round of the playoffs, is played at a neutral site, the designated home team is based on an annual rotation by conference. The two surviving teams from each conference's divisional playoff games then meet in the respective AFC and NFC Conference Championship games, hosted by the higher seed. In the second round, the divisional playoffs, the number 1 seed hosts the worst surviving seed from the first round (seed 4, 5, or 6), while the number 2 seed will play the other team (seed 3, 4, or 5). The 1 and 2 seeds from each conference then receive a bye in the first round. In the first round, dubbed the wild-card playoffs or wild-card weekend, the third-seeded division winner hosts the sixth seed wild card, and the fourth seed hosts the fifth. The NFL does not use a fixed bracket playoff system, and there are no restrictions regarding teams from the same division matching up in any round. The four division winners are seeded 1 through 4 based on their overall won-lost-tied record, and the wild card teams are seeded 5 and 6. Within each conference, the four division winners and the two wild card teams (the top two non-division winners with the best overall regular season records) qualified for the playoffs. Under the new system, a wild card team could host a playoff game only if the number 5 and number 6 seeds in one conference advance to a Conference Championship Game, in which case a number 5 seed would host the game (which, under this format, never happened). The new rules meant that the number 4 seed was awarded to a division champion and not a wild card team (non-division champion). Prior to the 2002–03 playoffs, a team could finish second in its division and host a playoff game as the number 4 seed (best wild-card team). Two "wild card" qualifiers (those non-division champions with the conference's best won-lost-tied percentages) are seeded 5 and 6 within the conference.Īs a result, a wild card team could no longer host a playoff game during the opening Wild Card round.The four division champions are seeded 1–4 based on their regular season won-lost-tied record.The league abided by this updated system until 2020: Thus, the 12-team playoff format was modified. Prior to the 2002–03 season, the league realigned its teams into eight divisions (four in each conference). The postseason tournament concluded with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers defeating the Oakland Raiders in Super Bowl XXXVII, 48–21, on January 26, at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, California. The National Football League playoffs for the 2002 season began on January 4, 2003.
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