The season was impacted by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic; the most prominent changes were the cancellation of all preseason games and the postponement and/or rescheduling of multiple games due to positive COVID-19 tests among players and staff. Despite the changes, all 256 regular season games were played within the original 17-week span, with no cancellations.
Wild Card
Division
AFC/NFC Champ.
Super Bowl
The league expanded its playoff system from a 12-team to a 14-team tournament, adding a third wild card team for each conference for the first time since the 1990 season, and only awarding each conference's top seed a first round bye. The Wild Card round was thus extended from two to three games per day. In the second round, the divisional playoffs, the number 1 seed hosts the worst surviving seed from the first round (seed 4, 5, 6, or 7), while the other surviving teams play each other, with the higher seeded team hosting.
Wild Card Game | |||||||||||||||||||
| Date | Away | Score | Home | OT | |||||||||||||||
| 1/9 | (5) Tampa Bay | 31-23 | Washington (4) | ||||||||||||||||
| 1/10 | (7) Chicago | 9-21 | New Orleans (2) | ||||||||||||||||
| 1/9 | (6) LA Rams | 30-20 | Seattle (3) | ||||||||||||||||
| 1/10 | (5) Baltimore | 20-13 | Tennessee (4) | ||||||||||||||||
| 1/9 | (7) Indianapolis | 24-27 | Buffalo (2) | ||||||||||||||||
| 1/10 | (6) Cleveland | 48-37 | Pittsburgh (3) | ||||||||||||||||
Division Championship | |||||||||||||||||||
| Date | Away | Score | Home | OT | |||||||||||||||
| 1/17 | (5) Tampa Bay | 30-20 | New Orleans (2) | ||||||||||||||||
| 1/16 | (6) LA Rams | 18-32 | Green Bay (1) | ||||||||||||||||
| 1/16 | (5) Baltimore | 3-17 | Buffalo (2) | ||||||||||||||||
| 1/17 | (6) Cleveland | 17-22 | Kansas City (1) | ||||||||||||||||
AFC/NFC Championship | |||||||||||||||||||
| Date | Away | Score | Home | OT | |||||||||||||||
| 1/24 | (5) Tampa Bay | 31-26 | Green Bay (1) | ||||||||||||||||
| 1/24 | (2) Buffalo | 24-38 | Kansas City (1) | ||||||||||||||||
Super Bowl LV (55) | |||||||||||||||||||
| Date | Away | Score | Home | OT | |||||||||||||||
| 2/7 | (1) Kansas City | 9-31 | Tampa Bay (5) | ||||||||||||||||
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I sincerely appreciate the research work, and the information being shared. It is important and interesting history.