The following charts seek to answer the following question: If these two (or more) teams finish with the same record, who wins the tiebreaker?
Notes and assumptions:
- No possibility of future tie games.
- Tiebreaker winners are as they would be if the teams were tied at the end of the season, NOT as if the season ended right now.
- Tiebreakers that don’t affect playoff berths or seeding are ignored. (Example: a tie at 8-8 between NO and ATL.)
- Any tie for the last wild card spot at 9-8 must include PHI and SF.
- Division ties are broken first.
- If three or more teams are tied, apply that tiebreaker, not the two-team tiebreaker.
- Strength of victory is the combined winning percentage (essentially, the number of wins) of the teams a team has beaten. It has nothing to do with point totals.
- GB has clinched the NFC North and the first-round bye.
- DAL has clinched the NFC East. TB has clinched the NFC South.
- LAR, ARI, and PHI have clinched playoff berths.
- SF or NO will be the final NFC playoff team.
- WAS, NYG, MIN, CHI, DET, ATL, CAR, and SEA have been eliminated.
The complete tiebreaker rules are here.
Jump to West | Interdivisional ties 2-way • 3-way
NFC West
| If these teams tie | at | tie goes to | based on |
|---|---|---|---|
| ARI-LAR | 12-5 | ARI | division record |
Interdivisional ties
2-way ties
| If these teams tie | at | tie goes to | based on |
|---|---|---|---|
| DAL-TB | 12-5 | TB | head-to-head |
| DAL-ARI | 12-5 | ARI | head-to-head |
| DAL-LAR | 12-5 | DAL | conference record |
| PHI-NO | 9-8 | PHI | head-to-head |
| PHI-SF | 9-8 | SF | head-to-head |
| GB-TB | 13-4 | GB | conference record |
| GB-LAR | 13-4 | GB | head-to-head |
| TB-ARI | 12-5 | ARI | conference record |
| TB-LAR | LAR | head-to-head | |
| NO-SF | 9-8 | NO | conference record |
3-way ties
| If these teams tie | at | tie goes to | based on |
|---|---|---|---|
| DAL-TB-ARI | 12-5 | ARI |
|
| DAL-TB-LAR | 12-5 | DAL | conference record |
| PHI-NO-SF | 9-8 | PHI |
|
| GB-TB-LAR | 13-4 | GB |
|
On the NO-PHI-SF 3-way tie:
SF d PHI in Week 2, PHI d NO in Week 11.
There is a note that PHI is eliminated on H2H sweep, however PHI d NO and SF did not face NO, so I do not believe this step even applies.
In which case conference tiebreaker would apply and in this step SF is eliminated (they would be 6-6 provided they lose to LA vs PHI at 7-5 provided they lose to DAL, and NO at 7-5 provided they defeat ATL.)
So I think the proper application of the tiebreaker is PHI wins after SF eliminated on conference record, and PHI won Head to head against NO.
NO would then win a 2-way tiebreak against SF on conference record.
In other words the 3-way tie at 9-8 eliminates SF, instead of them winning the tiebreaker.
Please correct me if I am in error.
Thanks, no idea how that got jumbled.
Glad to help, I look forward to this feature every year 🙂