NFL Playoff Bracket Predictor
Click your winner in every round and build the full NFL playoff bracket, from wild card weekend through to the Super Bowl. Seeds are prefilled from the current standings and you can change any of them.
AFC
Wild Card
Buffalo Bills (1 seed) has a bye
Divisional
AFC Championship
Super Bowl
NFC
Wild Card
New York Giants (1 seed) has a bye
Divisional
NFC Championship
How the NFL playoff bracket works
Fourteen teams make the NFL playoffs, seven from each conference. The four division winners take seeds 1 to 4 in order of record, and the three best remaining teams get the wild card spots at seeds 5, 6 and 7.
The top seed in each conference gets a bye straight to the divisional round. On wild card weekend the 2 seed hosts the 7, the 3 hosts the 6 and the 4 hosts the 5.
The divisional round then reseeds: the 1 seed always plays the lowest-seeded team still alive, which is why the bracket is not a fixed ladder like a tournament draw. The two survivors in each conference meet in the conference championship, and those winners play in the Super Bowl.
How to use the predictor
Check the seeds
Seeds are prefilled from the current standings. The date of that snapshot is shown above the bracket.
Change any seed
Disagree, or predicting ahead? Open the seed editor and pick any team from that conference for any seed.
Pick each game
Click the team you think wins. The next round fills in automatically, reseeding the way the NFL does.
Crown a champion
Work through both conferences to set the Super Bowl matchup, then pick your winner.
Share it
Copy your bracket result to send to friends or post in your group chat.
NFL playoff bracket FAQ
How many teams make the NFL playoffs?▼
Fourteen — seven from the AFC and seven from the NFC. That is four division winners plus three wild card teams in each conference.
Who gets a bye in the NFL playoffs?▼
Only the number one seed in each conference. They skip wild card weekend and enter in the divisional round, which is why the top seed is worth so much.
How are NFL playoff seeds decided?▼
Division winners are seeded 1 to 4 by record regardless of how good the wild card teams are, then the three best remaining records in the conference take seeds 5 to 7.
What does reseeding mean in the divisional round?▼
After wild card weekend the bracket is redrawn so the number one seed faces the lowest-seeded surviving team. It is not a fixed ladder, so an upset changes who the top seed plays next.
Are the seeds in this predictor up to date?▼
They are prefilled from a standings snapshot, and the date of that snapshot is shown directly above the bracket. You can override any seed by hand, which is what you want anyway when predicting the rest of the season.
Does the predictor use official NFL tiebreakers?▼
The default order uses win percentage. The real NFL tiebreakers run through head-to-head, division record, common games and strength of victory, so if two teams are level you may want to set those seeds yourself.
Is the bracket predictor free?▼
Yes, completely free with no signup. Fill in as many brackets as you like.
Running a pool?
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