Rules of NFL Playoff Tiebreakers

Posted on by Nafiz Labib

Since NFL football has only 16 games within a season, it makes sense that there are many cases in which teams are tied, and only one can advance to play in the playoffs. The NFL has a multitude of procedures it acts upon when multiple teams with identical records compete for a spot in the postseason playoffs. To determine who gets chosen to play in the playoffs, the league runs down a long list of ways to compare teams and determine who’s more deserving of the spot, one by one until a winner can be determined. A full list of the confusing rules can be seen here, but here’s a list of them a little in depth:

  1. Head-to-head – The league first checks the record between the teams specifically this season. For example, if the Ravens and Bengals are tied, but the Ravens beat the Bengals once this season, Ravens are granted the spot.
  2. Best won-lost-tied percentage in games played within the division – The league then checks the teams’ records playing against other teams in their respective divisions. For example, if the Broncos and Dolphins are tied, but the Broncos have a record of 1-1 in the AFC West compared to the Dolphins’ 0-2 in the AFC East, the Broncos get the spot.
  3. Best won-lost-tied percentage in common games – The league checks the record teams have against common teams they played. For example, if the Chiefs and Buccaneers are tied, and while the Chiefs beat the Bills once, the Bucs actually lost to the Bills once, then the Chiefs are granted the spot.
  4. Best won-lost-tied percentage in games played within the conference – The league checks the teams’ records in their respective conferences. For example, if the Packers and the Steelers are tied, and the packers are 5-2 in the NFC compared to Steelers being 3-4 in the AFC, the Packers get to move on.
  5. Strength of victory in all games – The league looks at the composite record of the teams that tied teams defeated, which is a way of looking at which team had the harder opponents and yet managed to tie with a team that had easier opponents. The first mentioned team would advance.;
  6. Strength of schedule in all games – Similar to strength of victory, the league looks at the composite record of all the teams that tied teams played, to show even more just who had the harder opponents to face.
  7. Best combined ranking among conference teams in points scored and points allowed in all games – Whichever team did better in their respective conference in terms of offensive and defensive efficiency gets to advance.
  8. Best combined ranking among all teams in points scored and points allowed in all games – Whichever team did better compared to all teams in terms of offensive and defensive efficiency gets to advance.
  9. Best net points in common games – Whichever tied score scored more points against common teams played gets to move on.
  10. Best net points in all games – Whichever tied team scored more points that season gets to move on.
  11. Best net touchdowns in all games – Whichever tied team scored more touchdowns that season gets to move on.
  12. Coin toss – If all else fails, the team is selected simply by random using a coin toss.

No team has ever had to go through a random coin toss in order to determine who advances to the playoffs, which makes sense considering the multitude of rules. However, some instances being close include differences between points scored between the Dallas Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles in 1980 and between the Green Bay Packers and Carolina Panthers in 1998.

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