NFL WILDCARD NOTES & HISTORY...
Wow, where did the years go?
At times, it sure doesn’t seem possible that we could have recently celebrated our golden anniversary at THE GOLD SHEET. Until, that is, the NFL playoffs roll around, beginning as they usually do with the wildcard round. That’s when we realize that we’ve been around a while, because we well remember the days long before the “wildcard” teams were introduced to the pro football postseason puzzle. Indeed, we remember when there were hardly any playoffs at all!
Hard as it is for modern-day fans to believe, it wasn’t until the late ‘60s that the NFL and, later, the AFL finally introduced a postseason tournament to determine their champions and, eventually, the Super Bowl winner. Until 1966, the “playoffs” simply consisted of a league championship game, pitting the two conference winners. Of course, the Super Bowl was introduced for the ‘66 season, but it wasn’t until the following year that the NFL, having divided its league into four, four-team divisions (Coastal and Central in the West, Capitol and Century in the East...remember?), expanded the postseason calendar with an extra round of games, an unofficial progenitor of future wildcard round action. In the last season before the merger, 1969, the AFL followed suit with an expanded playoff format, including the second-place teams from the East and West Divisions into the mix. Ironically, the ‘69 Houston Oilers and Kansas City Chiefs were thus the first “wildcard” teams in pro football history (although they weren’t labeled as such in ‘69), with Hank Stram’s Chiefs actually going on to win that season’s Super Bowl over the Vikings.
From the time we began publishing in 1957, through 1965, there were nonetheless a handful of “extra” conference playoff games to break regular-season ties at the top of conference or division standings. In our first TGS season of ‘57, Detroit made a memorable comeback from a 27-7 halftime deficit to beat the 49ers, 31-27, in the NFL Western playoff preceding the Lions’ 59-14 romp over the Browns in the NFL title game. In 1958, it was the East’s turn for a playoff, the Giants beating Cleveland in blizzard-like conditions at Yankee Stadium, 10-0, a week after the New Yorkers forced a playoff with a 13-10 win over the same Browns thanks to an improbable 49-yard FG in the snow and wind kicked by Pat Summerall (yes, that Pat Summerall). There were few dramatics in the 1963 AFL Eastern Division playoff, won in icy conditions by Boston over Buffalo at freezing War Memorial Stadium, 26-8. But we always believe the real trigger for expanding the playoffs came in 1965, when Green Bay and Baltimore engaged in a classic duel at Lambeau Field to decide the NFL’s Western Conference champion after both had finished the regular season tied at 10-3-1. The Colts, forced to go with RB Tom Matte at QB after late-season injuries to Johnny Unitas and Gary Cuozzo, valiantly tried to hold a 10-0 lead they built in the first half, while the Packers, with Zeke Bratkowski relieving the injured Bart Starr at QB in the first quarter, desperately attempted to rally vs. Don Shula’s gnarly Baltimore defense. Green Bay eventually leveled matters deep into the 4th quarter on Don Chandler’s controversial 22-yard FG, and finally won the game in overtime (just the third such extra period in pro football history) on a 25-yard Chandler boot, 13-10. And that game still resonates today, because Chandler’s tying field goal, which indeed was wide right and a sore point for old Colts to this day, triggered the NFL to heighten its uprights the following year. And the special wristband worn by Matte that contained the Colts’ plays remains on display at the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton.
The “wildcard” concept was officially introduced along with the AFL-NFL merger in 1970, as the best second-place division finisher from each conference would be granted automatic entry to the playoffs. Through 1977, wildcards were the 4th playoff seed in each conference, and there were no “bye” weeks in the playoffs until the week before the Super Bowl. The introduction of a second wildcard team from each conference and the “wildcard round” coincided with the NFL expanding its regular-season schedule from 14 to 16 games (and playoff entrants from 8 to 10) in ‘78. For the next twelve seasons, those wildcard teams would face off against each other before the winners would advance to join the division champions from the AFC & NFC in the round of 8. There were changes again in 1990, when a third wildcard team was added to each conference, upping the total number of postseason participants to 12. This also doubled the number of games in wildcard weekend (from 2 to 4), as then only the top two division winners from each conference would get a “bye” in the first round, and the division winner with the worst record was thrown in with the wildcard teams in the initial playoff weekend. When the NFL reconfigured its divisions (from 6 to 8) in 2002, the wildcard round wasn’t fundamentally altered. Although there would technically be only two wildcards (as opposed to three), there would still be the same four games in wildcard weekend, which then featured the two division winners with the worst records along with two wildcard entries.
For the most part, the wildcard round has been more entertaining than subsequent playoff rounds, likely because the true power teams in each conference have had byes in the first playoff weekend for many years. And underdogs have definitely fared better in wildcard games than in subsequent divisional playoff and conference title game rounds. Interestingly, shorter-priced underdogs (receiving 1-3 points) have fared best, standing 20-14-2 vs. the line since ‘78, including 3-0 the last two seasons. Home dogs, somewhat rare in playoff action, are 8-2 in first-round games since ‘78. Overall, wildcard underdogs are 47-40-3 since ‘78. Recent “totals” results aren’t terribly illuminating, although “unders” hold a slight 15-12-1 edge since 2000.
But not every wildcard game has been a nailbiter; indeed, like later playoff rounds, wildcard games have often turned into one-sided affairs as well. Almost half of the wild card games since ‘78 (and 5 of 8 the last two seasons) have been decided by 14 points or more.
Following are the pointspread results for wildcard playoff games since 1978 (excluding the 1982 “strike” season, when all 16 playoff teams participated in first-round games).
NFL WILDCARD PLAYOFF GAMES SINCE 1978
CATEGORY VS. POINTS
1-3 pt. dogs 20-14-2
3½-6½ pt. dogs 16-15-1
7-pt. or more dogs 11-11
Home dogs 8-2
Road dogs 39-38-3
Margins of victory (90 total games)—20 games have been decided by 1-3 points, 19 games by 4-7 points, 9 games by 8-13 points, and 42 games have been decided by 14 points or more.
goldsheet.com