Packers Earn No.1 Seed; Here’s Why This Is Significant GREEN BAY, Wis. – Sunday night’s victory over the Minnesota Vikings gave the Green Bay Packers the No.1 seed in the NFC playoffs and home-field advantage. Despite last year’s humiliating loss in the NFC Championship Game, this is a significant reward.
- All 14 teams that reached the Super Bowl in the seven postseasons from 2013 to 2019 were either the No.1 or No.2 seed, meaning a first-round bye.
- That changed during the expanded postseason last year.
- The NFC South runner-up Tampa Bay Buccaneers as the No.5 seed won three road games to advance to the Super Bowl, which they won on their home field.
After the game, coach Matt LaFleur said, “I don’t think anybody in that locker room is going to take a deep breath and say, ‘Hey, we’ve arrived.'” Every game from here on out is essentially win-or-go-home, and you must prepare throughout the week to be at your best; we know this going into every game.
Why is Green Bay a higher seed than Tampa Bay?
The Packers, Cardinals, and Buccaneers are all 10-3; therefore, why is Green Bay the top seed? – In a three-way tie, the record against NFC teams is the most important tiebreaker to know (since the teams have not played each other). As both Tampa Bay and Arizona have suffered all three of their NFC defeats, while Green Bay has suffered only two, this tiebreaker gives the Packers the advantage for the time being.
How do the Packers achieve the top seed?
Packers clinch NFC’s top seed with dominating victory over Vikings The Green Bay Packers are the National Football Conference’s No.1 seed for the second consecutive year. Sunday night at Lambeau Field, Matt LaFleur’s squad improved to 13-3 and clinched the conference’s top seed with a dominating victory over the Minnesota Vikings.
- Obtaining the No.1 seed in the NFC playoffs grants the Packers a first-round bye and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.
- Under the new playoff format, only the Packers will have a first-round bye in the NFC.
- Green Bay concludes the 2021 regular season next Sunday at Ford Field against the Detroit Lions.
The Packers would not play again until the NFC Divisional Round, when they would host the team with the lowest remaining seed. Last month, the Packers secured their third consecutive NFC North championship. Next on the list was securing the No.1 seed in the NFC.
Super Bowl and merger – Lamar Hunt, owner of the Kansas City Chiefs, originally conceived of the Super Bowl as an inter-league championship game between the AFL and NFL. This agreement was reached due to the pressures exerted by the upstart AFL on the established NFL.
- The rival league’s success led to the eventual merger of the two leagues.
- From the 1966 to 1969 seasons (Super Bowls I–IV), the game featured the AFL and NFL champions.
- Since the 1970 season, the game has included the National Football Conference (NFC) and American Football Conference (AFC) champions (AFC).
In 1970, when the leagues merged, the new NFL (consisting of 26 teams) was reorganized into two conferences with three divisions each. Each year between the 1970 and 1977 seasons, four teams from each conference (for a total of eight teams) qualified for the playoffs.
- There were three division champions and one wild-card team among these four teams.
- Originally, the playoff home teams were determined by a yearly rotation.
- From 1970 to 1974, the divisional playoff round rotated the home-field advantage among the three division champions, with the wild-card teams and their opponents in the divisional playoff game never receiving it.
Beginning in 1970, the AFC Central and NFC West champions played their divisional playoff games on the road. Then in 1971, the AFC East champions and the NFC East champions took turns playing away games. The AFC West champions and the NFC Central champions were the visiting teams in the 1972 divisional playoffs.
- In the 1971 divisional round, the two teams with the best records in each conference met. The wild card teams, meanwhile, had better records than the division champions they faced (the Browns and 49ers were both 9–5).
- In 1972, the Dolphins had to take their undefeated record to Three Rivers Stadium for the AFC championship game against the 11–3 Pittsburgh Steelers.
- In 1973, the Bengals (10–4) had to travel to face the Dolphins (12–2) in the divisional round, while the Raiders (9–4–1) hosted the wild card Steelers.
- The Cowboys had a 10–4 record in 1973, but they hosted two 12–2 teams, the Los Angeles Rams and Minnesota.
- In the divisional round of the 1974 playoffs, the 11–3 Dolphins traveled to face the 12–2 Raiders, while the 10–3–1 Steelers hosted the wild card Bills.
- In 1974, despite both teams having a 10–4 record and Los Angeles having defeated Minnesota in the regular season, the Vikings hosted the Rams in the NFC championship game.
In 1975, the league instituted a playoff seeding system in which the higher-seeded teams were designated as the home team for each playoff round. Thus, the top-seeded division winner faced the wild-card team, the next two division winners played at the home stadium of the higher seed, and the lowest-seeded division winner was forced to begin the postseason on the road.
