What Is a Wild Card Football Game?
In the National Football League, a wild-card football game is a postseason contest that involves what has come to be known as a wild-card playoff team. These games occur in the first round of the postseason, on the first weekend after the end of the regular season.
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Wild-Card Teams
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A wild-card team is one of two teams in the NFL's National and American Football Conferences that have the best record among the clubs that failed to win their division title.
Size
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With four divisions in each conference and a total of four wild-card teams, this brings the number of playoffs squads to 12 each year.
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Geography
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The wild-card game pits the wild-card teams against the lowest seeded of the division winners. These games will always take place at the home field of the division winner.
History
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The wild-card system was adopted after the NFL and the American Football League merged in 1970. The first wild-card game involved the Dallas Cowboys and Detroit Lions, won by Dallas by a 5-0 score on Dec. 26, 1970.
Fun Fact
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The first wild-card team to win the Super Bowl was the 1980 Oakland Raiders, who beat the Houston Oilers in their wild-card game 27-7 to begin their run to the title.
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