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2021–22 NFL playoffs

The National Football League playoffs for the 2021 season was the first time that the league featured a 17-game regular season schedule, and consequently the start of the playoffs was pushed a week later to January 15, 2022. The postseason concluded with Super Bowl LVI on February 13 at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California with the NFC's fourth seed, the Los Angeles Rams, defeating the AFC's fourth seed, the Cincinnati Bengals. The Cincinnati Bengals won their first playoff game since 1990 by defeating the Las Vegas Raiders.

This article is about the conclusion of the 2021 season. For the conclusion of the 2022 season, see 2022–23 NFL playoffs.

Dates

January 15 – February 13, 2022

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This was the first postseason since 2010–11 where neither of the first-seeded teams made it to their respective championships, and was also the first postseason since 2009–10 in which neither Aaron Rodgers nor Tom Brady reached a conference championship game. This was also the first postseason since 2012–13 to have a Super Bowl to not feature Brady, Peyton Manning, or Patrick Mahomes. For the first time in history, both teams competing in the Super Bowl finished below the second seed.


Of the 13 games played in the playoffs, nine were decided by seven or fewer points. For the final seven postseason games, six were decided by three points. Five of those six were decided with game-winning field goals. The only game that was not decided by three points was the divisional round game between the Bills and Chiefs, which was decided with a game-winning touchdown in overtime.

Media coverage[edit]

Television coverage[edit]

All playoff games are televised nationally on Broadcast network television.


ESPN acquired the rights to produce coverage of the Monday Night Wild Card game and simulcast it on ABC. ESPN carried additional Megacast broadcasts for its Wild Card game, including the Manningcast hosted by Peyton and Eli Manning on ESPN2.[3][32]


Coverage of the rest of the Wild Card round remained the same as the previous season, with CBS and NBC aired two games each, and Fox aired one game.[2] For the second consecutive year, CBS aired an alternate broadcast for its Sunday Wild Card game on sister network Nickelodeon oriented toward a youth audience.[33]


CBS aired exclusive coverage of both the AFC Divisional games and the AFC Championship Game. Coverage of the NFC Divisional games were split between Fox and NBC. Fox aired exclusive coverage of the NFC Championship Game. NBC aired exclusive coverage of Super Bowl LVI.[8][9]

Streaming[edit]

All playoff games aired on NBC, including Super Bowl LVI, were simulcast on Peacock, also owned by NBC's parent company, NBCUniversal.[34] All playoff games that aired on CBS were also streamed on Paramount+, also owned by CBS's parent company, ViacomCBS.[35] The CBS/Nickelodeon Sunday Wild Card game was also available on Amazon/Twitch.[33] ESPN's feeds of its game, including both the main broadcast and the Manningcast, were also streamed on the network's ESPN+ platform.[3]

Official website