How many wild card teams are in the NFL playoffs?

The NFL playoffs are an exciting time and it all starts with the Wild Card round. The Wild Card round gives us six games over the course of a weekend (and the following Monday) and it determines who will be advancing to the divisional round and whose season will be ending.

Up until the 2020 season, the NFL playoffs only had four Wild Card games because there were only four Wild Card teams. The 2020 season is when an additional wild card spot was added to each conference, meaning six total teams could make it into the playoffs as wild cards.

This led to the No. 2 seed in each conference no longer getting a first-round bye, making the No. 1 seed that much more important as they're now the only seed getting the first week off.

There are 6 wild card teams in the NFL playoffs.

In 2020, the first year this new playoff format went into effect, the Chicago Bears and Indianapolis Colts served as the first-ever seven-seeds in the NFL playoffs. Both teams lost.

In 2021, both teams from the state of Pennsylvania (the Philadelphia Eagles and Pittsburgh Steelers) benefitted from the additional wild card spots but neither failed to make it out of the first round.

In 2022, it was the Miami Dolphins and Seattle Seahawks repping the seven-seed spots and neither team was able to get past their No. 2 seeded rival. That means that the No. 7 seed in the new-look NFL playoffs is winless. Eventually, a No. 7 seed will win their first game but it hasn't happened yet.

Personally, I enjoyed the old playoff format but the NFL wants more matchups so they can get more money and who can blame them?