Tool 03 · Playoffs
NFL playoff bracket
Seven seeds a side, a bye for the 1, reseeding after the wild card.
How it works
- 01
Name the field
Type seven seeds a side, or leave them blank and pick by seed number.
- 02
Tap to advance
Tap a team and it moves to the next round. The divisional round reseeds itself.
- 03
Crown someone
Pick the championship and the winner gets stamped at the center of the bracket.
- 04
Print or send
One landscape page, or a PNG for the group text. Change a pick and later rounds reset.
How the bracket actually resolves
Fourteen teams, seven from each conference. Four are division winners, three are wild cards, and they are seeded one through seven. The 1 seed gets the week off. The other six play three wild card games: 2 against 7, 3 against 6, 4 against 5.
Then comes the part that makes an NFL bracket different from every other bracket you have filled in. The conference reseeds. The 1 seed is matched against the lowest-numbered team still alive, and the remaining two play each other. A printed bracket with fixed lines cannot show this, which is why so many of them end up with an arrow drawn somewhere it shouldn't be.
An example makes it concrete. If the 7 seed beats the 2, and the 3 and 4 seeds win, the 1 seed does not play the 7 — it plays the 3, because 3 is now the lowest number left. The 4 and the 7 play each other. Pick the upset here and watch the board rearrange itself.
Home field follows the same logic all the way through: the lower seed number hosts in every round except the championship game, which is played at a neutral site. Both conference winners meet there, and that is the season.
Want it on paper to fill in by hand? The printable version prints on one page. Trying to work out whether your team is even in yet? Clinching scenarios covers that side of it.
Questions
What is reseeding, and why does my bracket change?
Unlike a fixed tournament bracket, the NFL re-sorts each conference after the wild card round. The 1 seed always plays the lowest-numbered surviving seed, and the other two survivors meet. So a 6 seed upsetting a 3 does not just advance it — it changes who the 1 seed plays. This board reseeds for you as you pick, which is the part people fill in wrong on a printed blank.
Why does the 1 seed have a bye?
Each conference sends seven teams: four division winners and three wild cards. The top division winner sits out the wild card round, so six teams play three games and the 1 seed joins in the divisional round already rested and at home.
How does the playoff bracket work?
Seven teams per conference. The 1 seed sits out the wild card round, then the three wild card winners join them. The bracket reseeds: the 1 seed always draws the lowest surviving seed in the divisional round, and the other two meet.
Why did my later picks disappear?
Because they were built on a result you just changed. If you move a wild card winner, the divisional matchups are different games, so those picks are cleared rather than silently kept.
Can I use this before the field is set?
Yes. Leave the seed names blank and the bracket runs on seed numbers alone, so you can print it the week before and fill it in by hand.
Can I use it for something that isn't the NFL?
Rename the two sides and type your own seven seeds per side. It is a fourteen-team bracket with a bye for each 1 seed — use it for whatever you like.