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What are tiebreakers for the NFL playoffs?

Let's look at the way the NFL sorts out potential tiebreaker scenarios when it comes to playoff seeding.

By Matt Conner

Kansas City Chiefs v Las Vegas Raiders
Kansas City Chiefs v Las Vegas Raiders / Jeff Bottari/GettyImages
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Fans of the Kansas City Chiefs might not be as well-versed in the various rules concerning tiebreakers and order as other football fans when it comes to the postseason in the National Football League. That's not a matter of being ill-informed or less intelligent than the rest of the NFL's audience. It's just that Chiefs fans haven't concerned themselves with anything lower than a top seed for quite some time.

When the conference championship has been renamed the Arrowhead Invitational for the last five seasons, it's understandable how some fans might not recall how the NFL takes care of ties in the postseason standings year after year.

Let's look at the way the NFL sorts out potential tiebreaker scenarios when it comes to playoff seeding.

With that bit of bragging out of the way, it can be a bit confusing to figure out which teams are in and which are out and how they're all seeded when it comes to sorting out the playoff pictures in the AFC and the NFC. That's why we're here to help.

First, you should know the NFL has thought of everything here. There are an incredible 12 steps—TWELVE—to determine who wins in case of a tie, meaning teams can keep "tying" in every way and the NFL will still have an ultimate way to sort it out. Of course, it never comes down to such low-level steps, but it's good to know if they are there.

The NFL basically has tiebreaker scenarios for figuring out divisional seeding/standings and wild-card seeding/standings. They also have two and three-team tiebreakers in full, and once a three-team tiebreaker is broken, then the rules say to go back to the start of the list for the two teams that remained tied (if that's the case).

We're not here to go Dewey Decimal System on anyone, so we'll leave out the unlikely fine print (although you can slog through it all here), but the basics are below:

Two Team Tiebreaker in Same Division

If two teams are tied in the same division—e.g. let's pretend the Dallas Cowboys catch the Philadelphia Eagles by season's end in the NFC East—then the NFL would begin to sort things out with the following methods.

  1. Head-to-head record (since they play each other twice per year)
  2. Best win percentage in divisional games
  3. Best win percentage versus common opponents
  4. Best win percentage in conference games
  5. Strength of victory on the season
  6. Strength of schedule on the season
  7. Top combined ranking among AFC/NFC teams in points scored/allowed in all games
  8. Top combined ranking among all teams in points scored/allowed in all games
  9. Best net points versus common opponents
  10. Best net points in all games
  11. Best net touchdowns in all games
  12. Coin toss

Yeah, it's that last one that earns the chuckle, right? If, somehow, two teams are tied after ALL of that, then just flip the freakin' coin, all right? You can imagine someone getting through the first 11 and having someone around the table say, "And then what?" only to have Roger Goodell stand up and say "flip it" as he leaves the room exhausted.

Three Team Tiebreaker in the Same Division

  1. Head-to-head record (among teams involved in tiebreaker)
  2. Best win percentage in divisional games
  3. Best win percentage versus common opponents
  4. Best win percentage in conference games
  5. Strength of victory on the season
  6. Strength of schedule on the season
  7. Top combined ranking among AFC/NFC teams in points scored/allowed in all games
  8. Top combined ranking among all teams in points scored/allowed in all games
  9. Best net points versus common opponents
  10. Best net points in all games
  11. Best net touchdowns in all games
  12. Coin toss

If one team is eliminated in this order and two teams remain tied, then NFL rules state to go back to No. 1 in the two-team tiebreaker order and start all over to get down to a single team.

Two Team Tiebreaker for a Wild Card Spot

  1. Head-to-head record (if they played each other)
  2. Best win percentage in conference games
  3. Best win percentage versus common opponents (minimum of four)
  4. Strength of victory on the season
  5. Strength of schedule on the season
  6. Top combined ranking among AFC/NFC teams in points scored/allowed in all games
  7. Top combined ranking among all teams in points scored/allowed in all games
  8. Best net points in conference games
  9. Best net points in all games
  10. Best net touchdowns in all games
  11. Coin toss

Three Team Tiebreaker for a Wild Card Spot

  1. Head-to-head sweep (applicable if one or more teams have played others and won/lost all)
  2. Best win percentage in conference games
  3. Best win percentage versus common opponents (minimum of four)
  4. Strength of victory on the season
  5. Strength of schedule on the season
  6. Top combined ranking among AFC/NFC teams in points scored/allowed in all games
  7. Top combined ranking among all teams in points scored/allowed in all games
  8. Best net points in conference games
  9. Best net points in all games
  10. Best net touchdowns in all games
  11. Coin toss

For a further breakdown of other scenarios, you can check out the NFL's official rules here.

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