Every season, the 32 NFL teams compete for seven available playoff spots in each conference.
Four teams earn postseason berths for winning their division titles. The three other teams that finished with the next-best records in their respective conferences receive wild card playoff spots.
The top team in each conference is granted a bye for the first round of the postseason. The remaining six teams in each conference compete in the wild card round.
The winners from the wild card round will advance to the divisional round. The final four teams left standing, following the divisional round, advance to the conference championship games. At that point, the two teams left standing in each conference go head-to-head with a Super Bowl berth on the line.
The conference champions then advance to a one-game Super Bowl that determines the NFL champion. The last team standing walks away with the Vince Lombardi Trophy.
Unlike in other professional sports where teams compete in series’ for the chance to win a title, the Super Bowl is unique in that it has a one-game, winner-take-all format.