Template:NFLBracket

AFC

AFC Championship

Wild Card Playoffs

Divisional Playoffs

SuperBowl

NFC

NFC Championship

Template documentation

This template is to generate a tournament bracket for the 12-team National Football League Playoffs, which began with the 1990 season. It is loosely based on Template:Round16 and its variations, with many modifications for the peculiar nature of the NFL playoffs. Changes in the format for the Arena Football League playoffs make it usable to portray the brackets there as well.

Re-seeding

The NFL does not use a fixed bracket playoff system. The number 1 seed will host the lowest 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).See Current NFL Playoff system for more information.

Because of the 're-bracketing' done after the first round, second round match-ups are not determined until the 3/6-seed games in the Wild Card Round are completed. This template will render dotted lines connecting the Wild Card winners to the Divisional round until at least one Divisional visiting team seed number is filled in for that conference, at which point the lines become solid. If either conference shows dotted lines, there is also a note at the bottom of the template that explains the re-bracketing process.

It is recommended to show the initial pairings under the assumption that the home team wins every game. During the course of the playoffs, if the team with the best seed in a round for a particular conference loses, the games for that conference in that round (and preceding rounds if any) need to be "flipped" to show the new pairings:

6              5              6
3              4  4           3  6
   2              2              1  6

5              6              5
4              3  6           4  4  2
   1              1              2

Super Bowl "home" team

The Super Bowl is played at a neutral site. The conference champions take turns being designated the 'home' team for the purposes of uniform selection and coin toss. This template assumes that the NFC champion will be the 'home' team in the Super Bowl, which is correct when played in odd-numbered bowls/years (XXXIX:2005, XLI:2007), so that the AFC is shown on top and the NFC on bottom. In even-numbered bowls/years (XL:2006, XLII:2008), this needs to be overridden; use the named parameters G1=NFC and G2=AFC. For use with the Arena Football League, the parameters League=AFL, G1=American, G2=National (or vice versa), RD2=Quarterfinals, and RD4=Arena Bowl __ should be used

Generic bracket example

The following is a generic bracket example:

{{NFLBracket
|G1=NFC
|G2=AFC
<!--Date-Place/Visitor Seed/Visiting Team/Visitor Score/Home Seed/Home Team/Home Score-->
<!--Wild Card Playoffs-->
|January 7/8 - TBD|6|||3||
|January 7/8 - TBD|5|||4||
|January 7/8 - TBD|6|||3||
|January 7/8 - TBD|5|||4||
<!--Divisional Playoffs-->
|January 15/16 - TBD||||2||
|January 15/16 - TBD||||1||
|January 15/16 - TBD||||2||
|January 15/16 - TBD||||1||
<!--Conference Championships-->
|January 23 - TBD|||||| 
|January 23 - TBD|||||| 
<!--Super Bowl-->
|RD4=Super Bowl I
|February 3 - [[Los Angeles Coliseum]]|N|||A|| 
}}

January 7/8 - TBD

January 15/16 - TBD

6

3

January 23 - TBD

2

See Re-seeding below

NFC

January 7/8 - TBD

January 15/16 - TBD

5

NFC Championship

4

February 3 - Los Angeles Coliseum

1

Wild Card Playoffs

Divisional Playoffs

January 7/8 - TBD

N

January 15/16 - TBD

A

6

Super Bowl I

3

January 23 - TBD

2

See Re-seeding below

AFC

January 7/8 - TBD

January 15/16 - TBD

5

AFC Championship

4

1

• Re-seeding: The NFL Playoffs are re-seeded after the first round. The outcome of the games between the sixth and third seeds in each conference determine where the Wild Card winners will play in the next round. When a third seed wins, they next travel to the second seed. When the sixth seed wins, they travel to the first seed. The winner between the fifth and fourth seeds will play the remaining second round host team in that conference.
• Conference Championship Home Field goes to the lower-numbered seed remaining.

Filled Bracket Example

{{NFLBracket
|G1=NFC
|G2=AFC
|RD4=Super Bowl XL
<!--Date-Place/Visitor Seed/Visiting Team/Visitor Score/Home Seed/Home Team/Home Score-->
<!--Wild Card Playoffs-->
|January 8 - [[Giants Stadium]]|'''5'''|'''[[Carolina Panthers|Carolina]]'''|'''23'''|4|[[New York Giants|N.Y. Giants]]|0
|January 7 - [[Raymond James Stadium]]|'''6'''|'''[[Washington Redskins|Washington]]'''|'''17'''|3|[[Tampa Bay Buccaneers|Tampa Bay]]|10
|January 8 - [[Paul Brown Stadium]]|'''6'''|'''[[Pittsburgh Steelers|Pittsburgh]]'''|'''31'''|3|[[Cincinnati Bengals|Cincinnati]]|17
|January 7 - [[Gillette Stadium]]|5|[[Jacksonville Jaguars|Jacksonville]]|3|'''4'''|'''[[New England Patriots|New England]]'''|'''28'''
<!--Divisional Playoffs-->
|January 15 - [[Soldier Field]]|'''5'''|'''Carolina'''|'''29'''|2|[[Chicago Bears|Chicago]]|21
|January 14 - [[Qwest Field]]|6|Washington|10|'''1'''|'''[[Seattle Seahawks|Seattle]]'''|'''20'''
|January 15 - [[RCA Dome]]|'''6'''|'''Pittsburgh'''|'''21'''|1|[[Indianapolis Colts|Indianapolis]]|18
|January 14 - [[INVESCO Field]]|4|New England|13|'''2'''|'''[[Denver Broncos|Denver]]'''|'''27'''
<!--Conference Championships-->
|January 22 - Qwest Field|5|Carolina|14|'''1'''|'''Seattle'''|'''34'''
|January 22 - INVESCO Field|'''6'''|'''Pittsburgh'''|'''34'''|2|Denver|17
<!--Super Bowl XL-->
|February 5 - [[Ford Field]]|N1|Seattle|10|'''A6'''|'''Pittsburgh'''|'''21'''}}

	January 8 - Giants Stadium					January 15 - Soldier Field
	5	Carolina	23
						5	Carolina	29
	4	N.Y. Giants	0								January 22 - Qwest Field
						2	Chicago	21
						NFC
	January 7 - Raymond James Stadium										5	Carolina	14
						January 14 - Qwest Field
											1	Seattle	34
	6	Washington	17								NFC Championship
						6	Washington	10
	3	Tampa Bay	10													February 5 - Ford Field
						1	Seattle	20
	Wild Card Playoffs
						Divisional Playoffs
	January 8 - Paul Brown Stadium															N1	Seattle	10
						January 15 - RCA Dome
																A6	Pittsburgh	21
	6	Pittsburgh	31													Super Bowl XL
						6	Pittsburgh	21
	3	Cincinnati	17								January 22 - INVESCO Field
						1	Indianapolis	18
						AFC
	January 7 - Gillette Stadium										6	Pittsburgh	34
						January 14 - INVESCO Field
											2	Denver	17
	5	Jacksonville	3								AFC Championship
						4	New England	13
	4	New England	28
						2	Denver	27