The winners of the Wild Card round go up against the two Division winners with the best records. These teams have gotten a week to rest while the other playoff games are played. That week of rest is why teams strive to gain both home field advantage and the best record in the Conference because it is extremely hard for Wild Card game winners to make it past the Conference Championship game to the Super Bowl.

The NFC has a slight advantage in Super Bowl wins over the AFC since the Super Bowl has been played and that may be because the NFC has an overall stronger balance within its conference. The biggest battles are between NFC teams getting to the Super Bowl sometimes making the 'big game' seem like an afterthought. The big blow outs games in some years certainly speak to that. But overall the playoff format has produced some amazing games that have included super Super Bowls.

The winner of the NFC Championship game wins the George Halas Trophy, awarded since 1984, named for the famous owner of the NFC Chicago Bears. The AFC awards their Champion the Lamar Hunt Trophy, named for the founder of the AFL Kansas City Chiefs.

A feature of the regular season that plays a big part of the Playoffs is rivalries. Teams in the same Division who are not playoff bound often are able to spoil their rivals' playoff chances by denying them home field advantage through a later season loss.

NFC Playoffs season begins the first weekend after the end of the regular season with the Wild Card Round of games. The two lowest Division winners each face a Wild card team. Wild Card teams are usually not determined until the last weekend of the regular season because of the complexity of points and win/loss records within Conferences.