The NFL expanded the playoffs for the 2020 season, adding a seventh team in both the AFC and NFC to create a 14-team postseason. It eliminated a first-round bye for both conferences and resulted in Wild Card Weekend consisting of six games rather than four. Three were contested on Saturday, and the other three were contested on Sunday.
After one year of that format, the NFL made another change. They dropped the early-afternoon Saturday game and added a Monday Night Football game to Wild Card Weekend for the 2021-22 postseason instead, and that game has remained on the schedule ever since.
In each of the past four seasons, that Wild Card game has been an NFC matchup, and consequently, it has been the No. 5 seed vs. No. 4 seed game each year.
Postseason | Away team | Home team |
|---|---|---|
2021-22 | No. 5 Arizona Cardinals | No. 4 Los Angeles Rams |
2022-23 | No. 5 Dallas Cowboys | No. 4 Tampa Bay Buccaneers |
2023-24 | No. 5 Philadelphia Eagles | No. 4 Tampa Bay Buccaneers |
2024-25 | No. 5 Minnesota Vikings | No. 4 Los Angeles Rams |
This year, that game is set to be an AFC matchup, and it's again set to be a No. 5 vs. No. 4 game, this time with the No. 5 seed Houston Texans traveling to Acrisure Stadium to take on the No. 4 seed Pittsburgh Steelers, winners of the AFC North.
NFL scheduling process gives Houston one small benefit
All things considered, it makes sense why the NFL continues to make the Monday night game a No. 5 vs. No. 4 matchup.
Because the Divisional Round opponent for the No. 1-seeded team with the first-round bye is always set to be team with the lowest remaining seed after the Wild Card round, the No. 5 vs. No. 4 game doesn't have any impact on the reseeding process.
In other words, the winner of that game is always going to be traveling to the same place, whether the winner is the No. 5 seed or the No. 4 seed.
It means that both the Texans and the Steelers are set to enter Monday night knowing exactly who they'd be scheduled to play the following weekend, based on the results of Sunday's two AFC Wild Card matchups (No. 6 seed Buffalo Bills vs. No. 3 seed Jacksonville Jaguars, and No. 7 seed Los Angeles Chargers vs. No. 2 seed New England Patriots), should they win.
And it also means that the Texans and Steelers know exactly when they'll be scheduled to play if they emerge victorious on Monday night.
Monday night winner set for Sunday Divisional Round showdown
Never has the NFL scheduled the Monday night Wild Card winner for a Saturday Divisional Round game, and it stands to reason. It would give that team just four days in between game days, which would create a significant rest disparity among the four remaining playoff teams in the conference.
In 2021-22, the Rams beat the Cardinals and played the Buccaneers the following Sunday. In 2022-23, the Cowboys beat the Buccaneers and then took on the San Francisco 49ers the following Sunday.
In 2023-24, the Buccaneers beat the Eagles and then matched up with the Detroit Lions the following Sunday. And most recently in 2024-25, the Rams beat the Vikings and then squared off against the Eagles the following Sunday.
Additionally, ahead of the 2020 season, the NFL shifted the Sunday game times during the Divisional Round from the traditional 1:00 p.m. ET and 4:30 p.m. ET slots to 3:00 p.m. ET and 6:30 p.m. ET, which aligned them with the traditional Conference Championship Game start times for the following weekend.
It's not much, but even that two-hour pushback does add a little bit of extra time between games.
Sure, playing again on Sunday after a Monday night game inherently gives the winner less than a full week of rest.
But the NFL has always kept things fair in terms of avoiding a Monday-to-Saturday turnaround, and playing on Monday and then Sunday is effectively the same thing as playing on Sunday and then Saturday, which is something we had already seen for at least one team each and every postseason.
And in addition to knowing by game time exactly where they'd be set to travel next weekend if they win, the Texans and the Steelers are the two teams that can enter Wild Card Weekend knowing exactly which day they'd be slated to return to action in the Divisional Round if they come out on top this Monday night.