What does wild card mean in the NFL? Explained

In the National Football League (NFL), 32 teams compete in an 18-week regular season, playing 17 games as they attempt to climb the standings and clinch a berth in the playoffs. 

When the regular season is done, 14 teams advance to the playoffs where teams square off for a chance to hoist the Lombardi Trophy and be crowned Super Bowl champions. Each conference, the AFC and NFC, sends seven teams: four divisional winners and three wild cards, the best remaining teams that did not win their division. 

Below, we’ll walk through what a “wild card” is in the NFL, how wild card teams qualify and are seeded for the playoffs, and explore the history and success of wild card teams in the playoffs. 

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An NFL wild card is a team that qualifies for the playoffs without winning its division. 

The NFL’s 32 teams are split between two conferences: the AFC and NFC. Each conference then breaks into four divisions: North, South, East, and West. When the regular season ends, teams that perform the best in each division are granted automatic playoff berths as division winners and seeded 1-4. 

Beyond those four division winning spots though, the three best remaining teams in each conference are granted playoff berths as wild cards and given the remaining seeds of 5-7. 

For example, imagine the Buffalo Bills win their division, the AFC East, with a 14-3 record. On the other hand, their division rival the New England Patriots finish the season with a record of 13-4. 

While the Patriots may not win an automatic berth by winning the division, if their 13-4 record places them among the three best remaining teams (after division winners), they still earn a playoff spot as a wild card. 

The wild card system, which dates to 1970, has changed several times in the league’s history. Most recently, the system was updated in 2020, expanding the playoffs to 14 teams by adding a third wild card to each conference. 

As teams play their regular season games, wins and losses are tallied each week before the final standings are cemented at the end of Week 18. 

At that time, teams in each conference are seeded as follows for the playoffs:

In each conference, the No. 1 seed receives a bye, and automatically advances one round in the playoffs. The other six teams must play in what is known as “Wild Card Weekend.” Though it is dubbed Wild Card Weekend, the first round of playoff games does not exclusively feature wild card teams. 

Instead, it pits the wild card teams against the lowest three seeded division winners with the game winners advancing to what is known as the Divisional Round. 

Though the playoff seeding can be straightforward, it often settles via tiebreakers when teams finish the regular season with the same record. A long list of potential tiebreakers is available for breaking ties both in division and for wild card teams, but both start with head-to-head records, if applicable. 

For example, if the Bills and Patriots finished with the same record, but the Bills won both their games against the Patriots, the Bills would be granted the higher seed. In the case that head-to-head record is the same, the tie would be settled based on whichever team had the highest win percentage in divisional games, or those played against AFC East opponents. 

It is possible that multiple wild card teams come from the same division. However, if a wild card tiebreaker is needed for those divisional foes, they revert to the same rules as breaking ties for divisional winners first. 

When wild card ties need to be broken and the two teams come from different divisions, their respective conference records are used as the second tiebreaker, followed by win percentages in common games, and then strength of victory, and strength of schedule. 

More complex tiebreaker scenarios come into play when three or more teams are tied for the same record. If all tiebreakers are exhausted, ties would ultimately be settled with a coin toss. 

The NFL maintains a complete list of tiebreaker rules and scenarios on its website. To follow the likelihood of a particular team making the playoffs, football fans can monitor Kalshi's playoff qualifier market. 

NFL teams playing in a Wild Card game are playing during the league’s first playoff round, often called “Wild Card Weekend.” This weekend features three playoff games per conference, with the following seeds squaring off in wild card playoff games: 

In each game, the higher seed and divisional winner is the host team. During Wild Card Weekend, the No. 1 seed in each conference does not play as it earns a bye and automatically advances to the next round. 

Winners from the wild card games advance to the Divisional Round of the playoffs in the following week. At that point, the No. 1 seed, who earned a bye, will host the lowest seed still remaining. For example, if the No. 7 seed wins a wild card game, and advances as the lowest possible seed, it will travel to play the No. 1 seed in the following round. 

Following the Divisional Round, the two remaining teams from each conference play respectively in the AFC and NFC Championship Games. The winners of those games then advance to play in the Super Bowl. 

As part of the 1970 merger between the American Football League and the National Football League the realigned league introduced the wild card, allowing the top non-division winner from each conference to advance to the playoffs. 

Since that time though, the format has evolved alongside the league. 

In 1978, the league added an additional wild card team, pitting the pair from each conference against each other during the first week of the playoffs. 

Then, in 1990 another wild card team was added to the playoffs alongside three divisional winners. In 2002 when the league expanded to 32 teams and realigned into four divisions per conference, the third wild card team was dropped. 

It was later re-added in 2020 to create the 14-team playoff system that exists today. 

In league history, seven teams that made the playoffs via a wild card berth went on to win the Super Bowl. 

The seven wild cards turned champs are:

The Buccaneers, the most recent wild card team to win the Super Bowl, entered the 2020 playoffs as the NFC’s No. 5 seed, the top wild card team. 

For a better look into which team might reign supreme this year, fans can follow Kalshi's NFL champion market. 

In addition to the seven victorious wild cards, four other wild card teams have reached the Super Bowl but lost. Those teams are: 

A wild card gives a non-division winner another route into the NFL’s postseason, allowing an additional six teams the opportunity to win the Super Bowl even if they didn’t win their division. 

While entering the playoffs a lower seed (5-7) may create a tougher path, including a road game during Wild Card Weekend, 7 teams since 1970 have earned playoff berths via wild card and ultimately won the Super Bowl. 

For a broader look into the upcoming season and who might fight for a wild card spot and Super Bowl crown, read Kalshi’s pro football preview.

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