Simply put, the top eight teams in each conference based on overall record will make the playoffs and will be seeded accordingly. If you’re still into that sort of thing, winning your division now signifies nothing more than a banner in the rafters. However, some fans might see it as a cause for celebration.
The Golden State Warriors have won their division every year since moving to California in 1995. They’ve also made the playoffs every year except one (they went 16-67 in 1996). Of course, nobody expected them to lose any games this season either…
The last time a team failed to win its division was in 2002 when the Sacramento Kings didn’t win enough games to qualify. The previous season, the Kings had finished with the best record in the league but because of tiebreakers they ended up with the second seed in their conference instead of being guaranteed a spot in the play-offs.
In 2003, however, the Kings did end up winning their division thanks to a better record overall. They beat out the New Jersey Nets by 1/2 game for the 8th and final spot in the play-offs. That’s how important it is to win your division nowadays. A few years ago, two teams tied for first place in the West standings. Both were given home-court advantage in the playoffs which can be kind of weird since neither could claim victory.
All games in the final record count toward division victory. If no other team in the division is better than 9-7, a club could finish 10-6 while losing all division games and yet win the division. If two teams in a division finish with the same record, tiebreakers are used to decide who wins the division. The first step is to compare head-to-head records. If the tied teams have played each other, then the next step is to compare their overall records against other teams in the division. If there is still a tie, the division winner is determined by random drawing. For example, if Team A has a 5-3 division record while Team B has a 4-4 division record, then the winners will be determined by a random draw of some kind. This process would be repeated until one team has won more games than the other.
Clubs play only one game at home per season, so it’s important for them to use that advantage to its fullest. Even if one team is clearly ahead in the standings, they might want to avoid playing too many close games because there’s always a chance that the margin could narrow down into an overtime period or even a shootout. In this case, they might want to put their best players on the field as many times as possible in order to secure a win before the end of the season.
In the NFL, winning matters. Winning divisions matters. And winning games in December matters.
As of 2020, the four division champions from each conference (the team in each division with the best overall record) are seeded 1 through 4 based on their overall win-lost-tied record. The teams then play within their seeding over the next two weeks of the season to determine which group they will be placed in for the first round of the playoffs.
This system was introduced in 1994 after complaints about the previous system where there were many ties in the early seasons of the NFL season. Under this system, the division champion will make the playoffs every year except 2008 when the Tampa Bay Buccaneers finished with a 7-9 record but was awarded the first seed in the NFC due to having a better record than Philadelphia. The New York Giants also did not make the playoffs under this system despite having a 9-7 record because they lost the tie-breaker to Tampa Bay by virtue of having less favorable record during the strike-shortened season they played most of the year without quarterback Eli Manning and wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr.
There have been years since 1994 where a fifth team has made the playoffs.
Copyright © 2020 - 2026 Sportsmanist Inc.
