Detroit Lions will clinch the NFC North division title, first-round bye, and homefield advantage throughout the playoffs with a win AND a Minnesota Vikings loss.
Within each conference, the four division winners and the top three non-division winners with the best overall regular season records qualified for the playoffs. The four division winners are seeded 1–4 based on their overall won-lost-tied record, and the wild card teams are seeded 5–7. The NFL does not use a fixed bracket playoff system, and there are no restrictions regarding teams from the same division matching up in any round. In the first round, dubbed the Wild Card playoffs or Super Wild Card Weekend, the second-seeded division winner hosts the seventh seed wild card, the third seed hosts the sixth seed, and the fourth seed hosts the fifth seed. The 1 seed from each conference receives a first-round bye. In the second round, the Divisional playoffs, the number 1 seed hosts the lowest-seeded surviving team from the first round (seed 4, 5, 6, or 7), while the other two surviving teams play each other, with the higher-seeded team hosting. The two surviving teams from each conference's divisional playoff games then meet in the respective AFC and NFCConference Championships, hosted by the higher seed. Although the Super Bowl, the championship round of the playoffs, is played at a neutral site, the designated home team is based on an annual rotation by conference.[13]
Re-seeding: Home field is determined by seeding number, not position on the bracket. The NFL does not use a fixed bracket system; the outcome of the Wild Card games determine the matchups of the Divisional games, with the lowest remaining seed in each conference traveling to the first seed, and the second-lowest remaining seed traveling to the second-highest remaining seed.
Broadcasting rights of the Wild Card round is split between the NFL's existing broadcasters: CBS, Fox, NBC, ESPN and Amazon Prime Video. CBS has two games, an AFC contest which it is guaranteed annually, as well as a second game as part of a rotation with Fox and NBC since 2020.[14]Nickelodeon will have an alternative broadcast of one of CBS' Wild Card games.[15] Fox is also guaranteed an NFC Wild Card game annually.[14] NBC's Wild Card game airs on Sunday night,[16][17][18] while ESPN's Wild Card game airs on Monday night, with a simulcast on ABC and the Manningcast on ESPN2.[19] This is the first season Prime Video will exclusively stream a Wild Card game, purchasing the rights to the game that Peacock streamed exclusively last season.[20][21][a] Prime Video had previously simulcast one of CBS's Wild Card games in 2020–21[22] and 2021–22.[23]
This will be the second season that ESPN/ABC, Fox, CBS, and NBC will each air one divisional playoff game.[24]
Fox will televise Super Bowl LIX under the annual rotation of Super Bowl broadcasters.[25]
ESPN Deportes, Fox Deportes and Universo/Telemundo will air all ESPN/ABC, Fox and NBC games in Spanish respectively. For the first time, Fox Deportes and Telemundo will share the Spanish rights to the Super Bowl.[26]
Peacock, Paramount+, and ESPN+ will stream all NBC, CBS, and ESPN/ABC's games, respectively.[14] The league's streaming service NFL+ will stream every postseason game on mobile devices only, regardless of broadcaster.
International
This will be DAZN's second year of a ten-year agreement to distribute the NFL Game Pass International service, offering live NFL playoff games.[27]
^Under the NFL's media rules, Prime Video's game must be simulcast locally via broadcast syndication on an over-the-air station in each participating team's primary media market.
