NFL
What does wildcard mean in the NFL?
The first round of the playoffs is called the Wild Card round, which occurs during the first week of the post-season. It plays a critical role of enhancing competition to the playoffs and intensifying the challenge for getting to the Super Bowl.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Philadelphia Eagles//Getty Images
In the NFL, understanding intricacies of the Wild Card is painless, but figuring out the Wild Card teams requires meticulous explanation.
In 1970 there was an AFL/NFL merger that introduced two conferences, each having three divisions. There was an odd number of playoff teams in each conference, hence a strategy had to be established. To even out the quagmire, the NFL came up with the winningest non-division-winning team from each conference, and named it the “Wild Card”.
In 1978, the NFL expanded the regular season to a 16-game schedule, which further led to the playoffs expansion. As a consequence, each conference gained two wild-card berths and an additional post-season week to allow an initial Wild Card round. This meant that each conference would have a Wild Card squad in the playoffs. As a result, two Wild Cards would square off during the first weekend of the post-season.
In 1990, the NFL introduced a third wild-card berth to each conference, leading to a cumulative 12 teams in the NFL post-season. In 2002, the league expanded to 32 teams, which triggered a four-division-per-conference re-alignment.
Therefore, the post-season would entail inviting four division winners to the post season, giving byes to the top two seeds and reducing the wildcards from six to four.
What are Wild Card teams?
Wild Card teams are the three teams with the winning records in each conference but are not division winners. These teams usually play on Wild Card weekend, which is the week before playoffs.
Each conference always has four division winners, who are seeded one to four as per their record. Number one seed gets a bye in the first round. Each Wild Card teams faces off one of the divisional winners based on the seed number, as indicated below.
- Division winner Seed 1- BYE
- Division winner Seed 2 vs. Wild Card Seed 7
- Division Winner Seed 3 vs. Wild Card Seed 6
- Division Winner Seed 4 vs. Wild Card Seed 5
Tampa Bay Buccaneers was the last franchise that won the Super Bowl via the wild card route in 2021. The team proceeded to the playoffs with an 11-5 record, and earned the No. 5 seed.
Best NFL Wild Card games
| Wild Card Teams | Year |
| Indiana Colts (45) vs. Kansas City Chiefs (44) | 2013 |
| Broncos (29) vs. Steelers (23) | 2011 |
| Seahawks (41) vs. Saints (36) | 2010 |
| Arizona Cardinals (51) vs. Green Bay Packers (45) | 2009 |
| San Francisco 49ers (39) vs. New York Giants (38) | 2002 |
| Tennessee Titans (22) vs. Buffalo Bills (16) | 1999 |
| Buffalo Bills (41) vs. Houston Oilers (now Tennessee Titans) (38) | 1992 |
The Wild Card Round
The Wild Card Round is the first round of the NFL playoffs. It stands out as the only round that Wild Card teams have to participate. Theoretically, home teams have an upper hand in the playoffs, which constricts the Wild Card teams’ chances of winning. They are more vulnerable to elimination in this round.
Surprisingly, there are some Wild Card teams that have surpassed the intense playoff runs and even emerged Super Bowl winners. BETMGM confirms that at least 11 Wild Card teams have progressed to the Super Bowl and seven of them have won the Vince Lombardi Trophy.
Wild Card Super Bowl Winners
| Year | Team | SEED | OPPONENT | SCORE |
| 1980-81 | Oakland Raiders | No. 4 | Philadelphia Eagles | 27-10 |
| 1997-98 | Denver Broncos | No. 4 | Green Bay Packers | 31-24 |
| 2000-01 | Baltimore Ravens | No. 4 | New York Giants | 34-7 |
| 2005-06 | Pittsburgh Steelers | No. 6 | Seattle Seahawks | 21-10 |
| 2007-08 | New York Giants | No. 5 | New England Patriots | 17-14 |
| 2010-11 | Green Bay Packers | No. 6 | Pittsburgh Steelers | 31-25 |
| 2020-21 | Tampa Bay Buccaneers | No. 5 | Kansas City Chiefs | 31-9 |
Ian Mugo Wanyeki is based in Nairobi, Kenya. He is a sports enthusiast with vast knowledge of different sport disciplines. Ian is a graduate with a Bachelor’s of Science degree from Kenyatta University. He is a Kenyan journalist who’s worked as a sports analyst at Covenant Television Network, as a sports reporter at NTV and as a Sports Correspondent/contributor at Quartz Africa.