Prior to realignment for the 2002 season, the NFL used the following system of tiebreakers to break ties for playoff spots and to determine regular-season schedules for the following season:
To break a tie within a division
Two teams
1. Head-to-head (best won-lost-tied percentage in games between the clubs).
2. Best won-lost-tied percentage in games played within the division.
3. Best won-lost-tied percentage in games played within the conference.
4. Best won-lost-tied percentage in common games, if applicable.
5. Best net points in division games.
6. Best net points in all games.
7. Strength of schedule.
8. Best net touchdowns in all games.
9. Coin toss.
Three or more teams
(Note: If two clubs remain tied after a third or other clubs are eliminated during any step, tiebreaker reverts to
step 1 of the two-club format.)
1. Head-to-head (best won-lost-tied percentage in games among the clubs).
2. Best won-lost-tied percentage in games played within the division.
3. Best won-lost-tied percentage in games played within the conference.
4. Best won-lost-tied percentage in common games, if applicable.
5. Best net points in division games.
6. Best net points in all games.
7. Strength of schedule.
8. Best net touchdowns in all games.
9. Coin toss.
To break a tie for the wild-card team
(Note: three wild-card teams are chosen from each conference.)
1. If the tied clubs are from the same division, apply division tiebreaker.
2. If the tied clubs are from different divisions, apply the following steps:
Two teams
1. Head-to-head, if applicable.
2. Best won-lost-tied percentage in games played within the conference.
3. Best won-lost-tied percentage in common games, minimum of four.
4. Best average net points in conference games.
5. Best net points in all games.
6. Strength of schedule.
7. Best net touchdowns in all games.
8. Coin toss.
Three or more teams (Note: If two clubs remain tied after third or other clubs are eliminated, tiebreaker reverts to step 1 of applicable two-club format).
1. Apply division tiebreaker to eliminate all but the highest-ranked club in each division
prior to proceeding to step 2. The original seeding within a division upon application of the division tiebreaker
remains the same for all subsequent applications of the procedure that are necessary to identify the three
wild-card participants.
2. Head-to-head sweep. (Applicable only if one club has defeated each of the others or if one
club has lost to each of the others).
3. Best won-lost-tied percentage in games played within the conference.
4. Best won-lost-tied percentage in common games, minimum of four.
5. Best average net points in conference games.
6. Best net points in all games.
7. Strength of schedule.
8. Best net touchdowns in all games.
9. Coin toss.
When the first wild-card team has been identified, the procedure is repeated to name the second wild card, i.e., eliminate all but the highest-ranked club in each division prior to proceeding to step 2, and repeated a third time, if necessary, to identify the third wild card. In situations where three or more teams from
the same division are involved in the procedure, the original seeding of the teams remains the same for subsequent
applications of the tiebreaker if the top-ranked team in that division qualifies for a wild-card berth.
Other tie-breaking procedures
1. Only one club advances to the playoffs in any tiebreaking step. Remaining tied clubs revert to the first step of the applicable division or wild-card tiebreakers. As an example, if two clubs remain tied in any tiebreaker step after all other clubs have been eliminated, the procedure reverts to step 1 or the two-club format to determine the winner. When one club wins the tie-breaker, all other clubs revert to step 1 of the applicable two-club or three-club format.
2. In comparing division and conference records or records against common opponents among tied teams, the best won-lost-tied percentage is the deciding factor since teams might have played an unequal number of games.
3. To determine home-field priority among division titlists, apply wild-card tiebreakers.
4. To determine home-field priority for wild-card qualifiers, apply division tiebreakers (if teams are from the same division) or wild-card tiebreakers (if teams are from different divisions).
Tiebreaking procedure for draft selection
If two or more clubs are tied in the selection order, the strength-of-schedule tiebreaker is applied, subject to the following exceptions for playoff clubs:
The Super Bowl winner is last and the Super Bowl loser next-to-last.
Any non-Super Bowl playoff club involved in a tie shall be assigned priority within its
segment below that of non-playoff clubs and in the order that the playoff clubs exited from the playoffs. Thus,
within a tied segment a playoff club that loses in the wild-card game will have priority over a playoff club that
loses in the divisional playoff game, which in turn will have priority over a club that loses in the conference
championship game.
If two tied clubs exited the playoffs in the same round, the tie is broken by
strength-of-schedule. If any ties cannot be broken by strength-of-schedule, the divisional or conference
tie-breakers, whichever are applicable, are applied. Any ties that still exist are broken by a coin flip.
