Template:NFLBracket/doc

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This template is to generate a tournament bracket for the 12-team National Football League Playoffs, which began with the 1990 season. It is loosely based on Template:Round16 and its variations, with many modifications for the peculiar nature of the NFL playoffs. Recent changes in the format for the Arena Football League playoffs make it usable to portray the brackets there as well.

[edit] Re-seeding

Because of the 're-seeding' done each round, there is confusion before the 3/6-seed games in the Wild Card Round are completed. This template will render dotted lines connecting the Wild Card winners to the Divisional round until at least one Divisional visiting team seed number is filled in for that conference, at which point the lines become solid. If either conference shows dotted lines, there is also a note at the bottom of the template that explains the re-seeding process.

It is recommended to show the initial pairings under the assumption that the home team wins every game. During the course of the playoffs, if the team with the best seed in a round for a particular conference loses, the games for that conference in that round (and preceding rounds if any) need to be "flipped" to show the new pairings:

6              5              6
3              4  4           3  6
   2              2              1  6

5              6              5
4              3  6           4  4  2
   1              1              2

[edit] Super Bowl "home" team

The Super Bowl is played at a neutral site. The conference champions take turns being designated the 'home' team for the purposes of uniform selection and coin toss. This template assumes that the NFC champion will be the 'home' team in the Super Bowl, which is correct when played in odd-numbered bowls/years (XXXIX:2005, XLI:2007), so that the AFC is shown on top and the NFC on bottom. In even-numbered bowls/years (XL:2006, XLII:2008), this needs to be overridden; use the named parameters G1=NFC and G2=AFC. For use with the Arena Football League, the parameters League=AFL, G1=American, G2=National (or vice versa), RD2=Quarterfinals, and RD4=Arena Bowl __ should be used

[edit] Empty Bracket Example

{{NFLBracket
|G1=NFC
|G2=AFC
<!--Date-Place/Seed 1/Team 1/Score 1/Seed 2/Team 2/Score 2-->
<!--Wild Card Playoffs-->
|January 5/6 - TBD|6|||3||
|January 5/6 - TBD|5|||4||
|January 5/6 - TBD|6|||3||
|January 5/6 - TBD|5|||4||
<!--Divisional Playoffs-->
|January 12/13 - TBD||||2||
|January 12/13 - TBD||||1||
|January 12/13 - TBD||||2||
|January 12/13 - TBD||||1||
<!--Conference Championships-->
|January 20 - TBD|||||| 
|January 20 - TBD|||||| 
<!--Super Bowl-->
|RD4=Super Bowl XLII
|[[February 3]] - [[University of Phoenix Stadium]]|N|||A|| 
}}

• "Re-seeding": The NFL Playoffs are re-seeded after each round. The outcome of the games between the sixth and third seeds in each conference determine where the Wild Card winners will play in the next round. When a third seed wins, they next travel to the second seed, the sixth seed to the first seed. The winner between the fifth and fourth seeds will play the remaining second round host team in that conference.
• Conference Championship Home Field goes to the lower-numbered seed remaining.

[edit] Filled Bracket Example

{{NFLBracket
|G1=NFC
|G2=AFC
|RD4=Super Bowl XL
<!--Date-Place/Seed 1/Team 1/Score 1/Seed 2/Team 2/Score 2-->
<!--Wild Card Playoffs-->
|[[January 8]] - [[Giants Stadium]]|'''5'''|'''[[Carolina Panthers|Carolina]]'''|'''23'''|4|[[New York Giants|N.Y. Giants]]|0
|[[January 7]] - [[Raymond James Stadium]]|'''6'''|'''[[Washington Redskins|Washington]]'''|'''17'''|3|[[Tampa Bay Buccaneers|Tampa Bay]]|10
|[[January 8]] - [[Paul Brown Stadium]]|'''6'''|'''[[Pittsburgh Steelers|Pittsburgh]]'''|'''31'''|3|[[Cincinnati Bengals|Cincinnati]]|17
|[[January 7]] - [[Gillette Stadium]]|5|[[Jacksonville Jaguars|Jacksonville]]|3|'''4'''|'''[[New England Patriots|New England]]'''|'''28'''
<!--Divisional Playoffs-->
|[[January 15]] - [[Soldier Field]]|'''5'''|'''Carolina'''|'''29'''|2|[[Chicago Bears|Chicago]]|21
|[[January 14]] - [[Qwest Field]]|6|Washington|10|'''1'''|'''[[Seattle Seahawks|Seattle]]'''|'''20'''
|[[January 15]] - [[RCA Dome]]|'''6'''|'''Pittsburgh'''|'''21'''|1|[[Indianapolis Colts|Indianapolis]]|18
|[[January 14]] - [[INVESCO Field]]|4|New England|13|'''2'''|'''[[Denver Broncos|Denver]]'''|'''27'''
<!--Conference Championships-->
|[[January 22]] - Qwest Field|5|Carolina|14|'''1'''|'''Seattle'''|'''34'''
|[[January 22]] - INVESCO Field|'''6'''|'''Pittsburgh'''|'''34'''|2|Denver|17
<!--Super Bowl XL-->
|[[February 5]] - [[Ford Field]]|N1|Seattle|10|'''A6'''|'''Pittsburgh'''|'''21'''}}