1987 NFL Season (NFL Buys USFL)

The 1987 NFL Season was the first season in which all former USFL teams played.

Logo of the NFL

## Regular Season

In the regular season, a sixteen game season was played, with every team playing every team in their division twice, every team in one other division of their conference once, and then the team that finished the previous year with the same rank in the corresponding division of the opposite conference once. However, as divisions had been extremely fluid, this season saw only a sixteen-game season. Schedule went as follows: on odd-numbered weeks, teams would face division rivals, and then on even numbered weeks teams would face rivals from opposing divisions, except for in either week four or week six, when they would have a bye-week. The scheduled week 17 games would be for opposing conferences, but that did not take affect this season. Week 18 Division matchups would be a divisional rival. The division matchups for this conference where as follows: where as follows:

* NFC East vs. NFC North
* NFC South vs. NFC West
* AFC East vs. AFC West
* AFC North vs. AFC South

## Post-Season

The top two teams in each division would qualify for playoffs, as well as the next two highest teams in terms of winning percentage. The highest two teams in each conference would get a two-week bye as the lower eight teams faced off against each other based off conference rank (with the #3 overall seed playing the #10 overall seed, the #4 seed playing the #9 overall seed, and so on). Then, the process would repeat as the highest remaining seed would play the lowest remaining seed, second highest and second lowest, excluding the top two seeds. At that point, the highest overall conference seed would play the lowest remaining, and the second-highest would play the highest ranked team that survived the double wild card rounds. The winners of those games would face off in the conference championship, and then the conference champions would face off in the Super Bowl. The night of the Super Bowl, NFL Coaches would vote on who they viewed as the best at their position in each conference, and then those teams would come together in the Pro-Bowl for a faceoff in Hawaii.

### First Wild Card Round

*On bye: Indianapolis Colts, Denver Broncos, Washington Redskins, San Francisco 49ers*

* **Cleveland Browns (3)** vs. Mississippi Rebels (10)
* New England Patriots (4) vs. **Baltimore Stars (9)**
* Miami Dolphins (5) vs. **San Diego Chargers (8)**
* **Pittsburgh Steelers (6)** vs. Houston Oilers (7)
* **Chicago Bears (3)** vs. Birmingham Stallions (10)
* **New Orleans Saints (4)** vs. Philadelphia Eagles (9)
* **Dallas Cowboys (5)** vs. Atlanta Falcons (8)
* Minnesota Vikings (6) vs. **Seattle Seahawks (7)**

### Second Wild Card Round

*On bye: Indianapolis Colts, Denver Broncos, Washington Redskins, and San Francisco 49ers*

* Cleveland Browns (3) vs. **Baltimore Stars (9)**
* Pittsburgh Steelers (4) vs. **San Diego Chargers (8)**
* **Chicago Bears (3)** vs. Seattle Seahawks (7)
* New Orleans Saints (4) vs. **Dallas Cowboys (5)**

### Diveaional Round

* **Denver Broncos (1)** vs. Baltimore Stars (9)
* **Indianapolis Colts (2)** vs. San Diego Chargers (8)
* **Washington Redskins (1)** vs. Dallas Cowboys (5)
* San Francisco 49ers (2) vs. **Chicago Bears (3)**

### Conference Championship

* Denver Broncos (1) vs. **Indianapolis Colts (2)**
* **Washington Redskins (1)** vs. Chicago Bears (3)

### Super Bowl

* **Washington Redskins (1)** vs. Indianapolis Colts (2)