History Story

Ever since 1975, the playoff format has relied on teams’ regular season winning percentages to decide home field for the ever important postseason games. That was not always the case. Following the NFL-AFL merger in 1970, the realigned NFL set a predetermined postseason schedule for a four-year period based on specific divisions hosting playoff games regardless of the records of that season’s playoff teams. That explains why, in 1972, the 14-0 Miami Dolphins had to travel to Pittsburgh for the AFC championship game against the 11-3 Steelers. The format that year had the AFC Central Division champions hosting the game if they won the divisional playoff one week earlier.

The Dallas Cowboys defeated the Buffalo Bills in Super Bowl XXVIII, 30-13.

Today, much focus is placed on the two teams who compiled the best regular season record in their respective conferences to earn home field advantage throughout the playoffs. That distinction this year belongs to the 15-1 Green Bay Packers in the NFC and the New England Patriots at 13-3 in the AFC. It's the second straight year that the Patriots entered the postseason as the conference's top seed.

However, if one studies the past success of top seeds, the fact is that there is a slim chance of the Packers and Patriots meeting in Indianapolis for Super Bowl XLVI. In the past 36 seasons, since 1975, only nine Super Bowls have featured the top seed from each conference. Prior to the matchup two years ago between the top-seeded New Orleans Saints and Indianapolis Colts, the last time a Super Bowl featured each of the conference's top-ranked team was when the Dallas Cowboys downed the Buffalo Bills in Super Bowl XXVIII following the 1993 regular season.

History indicates that the Packers should like their chances of reaching Super Bowl XLVI slightly better than the Patriots in the AFC. Since home field advantage counted in the post-merger playoffs, 21 of the NFC’s top seeds have reached the Super Bowl. Fourteen of the NFC teams were victorious. In the AFC, 18 of the top seeded teams made the Super Bowl but only six were crowned world champions.

Here is a look at the year-by-year summary of how the top seeded teams in the AFC and NFC fared since 1975.