NFL announces new playoff format starting this season |
The NFL has announced that beginning with the 2021 season, Super Wild Card Weekend (January 15-17, 2022) will conclude with a game on Monday night.
The NFL expanded the playoffs last season for the first time since 1990, adding a third Wild Card team in each conference and in the process creating "Super Wild Card Weekend" – three Wild Card games on Saturday and three games on Sunday. With the addition of a Monday night game to the 2021 playoffs, Super Wild Card Weekend will now have two Wild Card games on Saturday (4:35 p.m. and 8:15 p.m. ET), three on Sunday (1:05 p.m., 4:40 p.m., and 8:15 p.m. ET), and one on Monday (8:15 p.m. ET). For the 2021 season, CBS and NBC will both broadcast two Super Wild Card Weekend games while FOX and ESPN/ABC will each have one. The broadcaster for the Monday night game of Super Wild Card Weekend is yet to be determined. The 2020 playoff expansion ensured that two additional Wild Card teams – one each in the American and National Football Conferences – qualify for the playoffs. The No. 1 seed in each conference will receive a bye in the Wild Card round. The remaining division champions in each conference will be seeded 2, 3, and 4 by record, followed by the next three teams per conference with the best records seeded 5, 6, and 7. AFC and NFC Wild Card games will feature the 2 seed hosting the 7 seed, the 3 seed hosting the 6 seed and the 4 seed hosting the 5 seed.
