Every 1997 NFL playoff game, three ways: the season race carried on into the postseason, who beat their seeding, and the bracket.
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The same race these clubs ran all season, carried on through the postseason on one scale and on real dates.
Where each club finished the season against how far it went, ranked on record rather than seed.
Who played whom, round by round, which no line chart can say.
Denver Broncos won the 1997 title from a regular season record of 12-4. 12 teams reached the playoffs and the bracket ran 4 rounds. Every game below is taken from FiveThirtyEight's openly licensed NFL data and the devstopfix results set; nothing on this page is estimated.
| Round | Won by | Result | Opponent | Played |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wild Card Round | Denver Broncos | 42-17 | Jacksonville Jaguars | December 27, 1997 |
| Wild Card Round | Minnesota Vikings | 23-22 | New York Giants | December 27, 1997 |
| Wild Card Round | New England Patriots | 17-3 | Miami Dolphins | December 28, 1997 |
| Wild Card Round | Tampa Bay Buccaneers | 20-10 | Detroit Lions | December 28, 1997 |
| Divisional Round | Green Bay Packers | 21-7 | Tampa Bay Buccaneers | January 4, 1998 |
| Divisional Round | Denver Broncos | 14-10 | Kansas City Chiefs | January 4, 1998 |
| Divisional Round | San Francisco 49ers | 38-22 | Minnesota Vikings | January 3, 1998 |
| Divisional Round | Pittsburgh Steelers | 7-6 | New England Patriots | January 3, 1998 |
| Conference Championship | Green Bay Packers | 23-10 | San Francisco 49ers | January 11, 1998 |
| Conference Championship | Denver Broncos | 24-21 | Pittsburgh Steelers | January 11, 1998 |
| Super Bowl | Denver Broncos | 31-24 | Green Bay Packers | January 25, 1998 |
The left column ranks this field by regular season record, not by seed number: seeding rules differ by era, so this site uses records everywhere instead. The right column groups clubs by the round they went out in, which is not the same as the number of rounds they won, because a bye carries a club further without it winning anything. The figure beside a name is places moved between the two columns, and part of it is only where a club sat inside its band. Nothing here is a prediction. The data notes carry the whole method.
The races that filled this bracket: AFC Wild Card NFC Wild Card