Every 2009 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.
New Orleans Saints won the 2009 title from a regular season record of 13-3. 12 teams reached the playoffs and the bracket ran 4 rounds. Every game below is taken from the nflverse open data project; nothing on this page is estimated.
| Round | Won by | Result | Opponent | Played |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wild Card Round | Dallas Cowboys | 34-14 | Philadelphia Eagles | January 9, 2010 |
| Wild Card Round | Arizona Cardinals | 51-45 | Green Bay Packers | January 10, 2010 |
| Wild Card Round | New York Jets | 24-14 | Cincinnati Bengals | January 9, 2010 |
| Wild Card Round | Baltimore Ravens | 33-14 | New England Patriots | January 10, 2010 |
| Divisional Round | Indianapolis Colts | 20-3 | Baltimore Ravens | January 16, 2010 |
| Divisional Round | New Orleans Saints | 45-14 | Arizona Cardinals | January 16, 2010 |
| Divisional Round | New York Jets | 17-14 | San Diego Chargers | January 17, 2010 |
| Divisional Round | Minnesota Vikings | 34-3 | Dallas Cowboys | January 17, 2010 |
| Conference Championship | Indianapolis Colts | 30-17 | New York Jets | January 24, 2010 |
| Conference Championship | New Orleans Saints | 31-28 | Minnesota Vikings | January 24, 2010 |
| Super Bowl | New Orleans Saints | 31-17 | Indianapolis Colts | February 7, 2010 |
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