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How NFL Works? Regular Season and Playoffs Explained

The NFL may seem like something everyone is familiar with in the US, but many foreigners don’t understand how the league is organized. The first thing you might ask yourself is: Why would someone want to know about this league in the first place?

Well, one of the main reasons is NFL betting. Many professional bettors outside the US often read NFL betting tips and want to explore the sport a bit more. That’s why they need to understand the league.

For example, Kansas City Chiefs are, according to many sportsbooks, the most likely to get to the Super Bowl and win it this season, with their odds starting at +110. Bettors who are not familiar with the concept of Super Bowl, playoffs, and regular-season games should consider investigating further.

If you’re new to the NFL and want to find out more about how this league works, make sure to read this article.

Regular Season 

The NFL consists of two conferences called the National Football Conference and the American Football Conference. Each conference has 16 teams that are further divided into four divisions. These divisions are simply named the East, West, North, and South division. 

Every team plays two games against the remaining three teams in their division and their conference. The rest of the games are played against six teams in the conference of the team and four teams in the other conference but in the matching division. 

The regular part of the season is particularly popular among betting and gambling fans who frequently visit boku mobile casino and other similar platforms. Those players who like to place bets on NFL or AFC usually spend time playing different online casino games, particularly if they are waiting for the end result of the game or if their favorite teams aren’t playing. Moreover, there are even some players who place bets on the NFL and AFC even though they don’t fully understand how the league works or which teams are going to face each other. Let’s explain this a bit further. 

Let’s take the Chiefs as an example. They will play six games against the Broncos, Raiders, and Chargers, all of which are teams of the AFC West. Next, they will play against six additional teams that are outside of the AFC West but are still part of the AFC. Finally, they will play against all four teams of the NFC West — the 49ers, Seahawks, Rams, and Cardinals.

Playoffs

A total of 12 teams proceeds to the playoffs. These are usually eight teams that ended up at the top of their division and four teams that received wild cards. Wilds are awarded to two teams in both conferences that had the best score but did not manage to top their division.

Based on their performance in the regular season, six teams are seeded from one to six for each conference.

The top two seeds have the first-round bye, and the wild card teams face third and fourth seeds. Winners proceed to the second round of playoffs where they face first and second seed. This round is called the Conference Championships and this is where the remaining four teams compete for the Super Bowl.

Super Bowl

Finally, the best team from the AFC and the best team from the NFC meet in the grand finale, commonly referred to as the Super Bowl. This is the single most important sports event in the US, with millions of Americans tuning in to root for their favorite team.