When do the NFL playoffs begin? Start date, postseason format, bracket

Super Bowl 60 is just over a month away. Twelve of the 14 spots in the playoff bracket have been secured and two more will join the race in Week 18. Those franchises will have a chance to etch their name in football lore in Santa Clara in February.

The wild-card round of the 2025 NFL playoffs is set to kick off just one week after the regular season wraps up. The No. 1 seed in each conference will have a bye week but six teams from each conference will play during the first round of the postseason.

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Entering Saturday of Week 18, neither 1-seed has been clinched and that highly coveted first-round bye remains up for grabs, leaving the schedule for the top contenders still up in the air.

Here's what to know about the NFL playoffs, including the start date, format and current matchups if the season ended today:

When do the NFL playoffs start?

The first round of the NFL playoffs will take place from Jan. 10-12.

The wild-card round kicks off the playoffs, with the No. 2 seed through the No. 7 seeds facing off in six matchups in their respective conferences over three days. The first two games will be on Saturday, Jan. 10. A trio of games will take place on Sunday, Jan. 11, and the final game will be on Monday, Jan. 12.

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The divisional round of the playoffs will happen one week later, on Saturday, Jan. 17, and Sunday, Jan. 18.

The conference championships will take place the following Sunday. The winners will have a week off before Super Bowl 60 on Feb. 8.

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NFL postseason format, explained

The NFL's playoff bracket is dynamic, meaning teams are not locked into predetermined future matchups once their seeding is determined.

Each conference will have seven playoff teams: four division winners (No. 1 through No. 4) and three wild card teams (No. 5 through No. 7). The division winners are ranked by best record to worst and will each host at least one playoff game.

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In the first round, the No. 1 seed from each conference receives a bye into the division round as the remaining teams – seeds Nos. 2-7 – play for a chance to move on. The team seeded higher in each playoff matchup hosts that contest until the Super Bowl.

After the wild-card round, each No. 1 seed will play the lowest remaining seed in its conference during the divisional round.

At the same time, the second-highest seed will face the second-lowest seed. This setup ensures that the No. 2 and No. 3 seeds cannot meet the No. 1 seed until the conference championship. They will either be knocked out in the wild-card round or play against each other or a lower seed in the divisional round, depending on any upsets.

The winners of the two divisional round games will move on to the conference championships, which will take place on Sunday, January 25.

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The conference champions will have a week off before heading to Santa Clara to play in Super Bowl 60 on Sunday, Feb. 8.

NFL playoff bracket

These are the current wild-card matchups, given the state of the playoff picture.

This bracket is subject to change pending the results in Week 18:

AFC wild card

• No. 2 New England Patriots (13-3, AFC East winners) vs. No. 7 Buffalo Bills (11-5, wild card No. 3)

• No. 3 Jacksonville Jaguars (12-4, AFC South leaders) vs. No. 6 Los Angeles Chargers (11-5, wild card No. 2)

• No. 4 Pittsburgh Steelers (9-7, AFC North leaders) vs. No. 5 Houston Texans (11-5, wild card No. 1)

NFC wild card

• No. 3 Philadelphia Eagles (11-5, NFC East winners) vs. No. 6 Los Angeles Rams (11-4, wild card No. 2)

• No. 4 Carolina Panthers (8-8, NFC South leaders) vs. No. 5 San Francisco 49ers (12-4, wild card No. 1)

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: When do the NFL playoffs start? Format, matchups