Every 2021 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.
Los Angeles Rams won the 2021 title from a regular season record of 12-5. 14 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 | Tampa Bay Buccaneers | 31-15 | Philadelphia Eagles | January 16, 2022 |
| Wild Card Round | San Francisco 49ers | 23-17 | Dallas Cowboys | January 16, 2022 |
| Wild Card Round | Kansas City Chiefs | 42-21 | Pittsburgh Steelers | January 16, 2022 |
| Wild Card Round | Los Angeles Rams | 34-11 | Arizona Cardinals | January 17, 2022 |
| Wild Card Round | Buffalo Bills | 47-17 | New England Patriots | January 15, 2022 |
| Wild Card Round | Cincinnati Bengals | 26-19 | Las Vegas Raiders | January 15, 2022 |
| Divisional Round | San Francisco 49ers | 13-10 | Green Bay Packers | January 22, 2022 |
| Divisional Round | Los Angeles Rams | 30-27 | Tampa Bay Buccaneers | January 23, 2022 |
| Divisional Round | Kansas City Chiefs | 42-36 | Buffalo Bills | January 23, 2022 |
| Divisional Round | Cincinnati Bengals | 19-16 | Tennessee Titans | January 22, 2022 |
| Conference Championship | Cincinnati Bengals | 27-24 | Kansas City Chiefs | January 30, 2022 |
| Conference Championship | Los Angeles Rams | 20-17 | San Francisco 49ers | January 30, 2022 |
| Super Bowl | Los Angeles Rams | 23-20 | Cincinnati Bengals | February 13, 2022 |
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