NFL Playoff Tiebreakers, Explained: The Order That Decides January
Head-to-head first, then division record, then common games. The order is published, strictly applied, and it runs twelve steps deep before it reaches a coin toss.
Somewhere in December, a fan base discovers that its team is not where the raw record says it should be, and the explanation involves a phrase like strength of victory. The reaction is usually that the system is arbitrary. It is not. The tiebreaking procedure is a published, strictly ordered list, applied top to bottom until something separates the teams, and the order itself encodes what the league has decided to value. Knowing the sequence turns the standings from a source of grievance into something you can actually read three weeks out.
Useful next steps
For two clubs tied within a division, the league applies, in this order: "Head-to-head (best won-lost-tied percentage in games between the clubs)." Then "Best won-lost-tied percentage in games played within the division." Then "Best won-lost-tied percentage in common games," followed by conference record, then "Strength of victory in all games," then strength of schedule. Only after those does it reach the ranking and net-points steps, and a coin toss sits at the bottom as a formality almost never reached. The shape of that list is the point: the league would rather settle a tie on results against the teams actually involved than on anything abstract, and it only reaches for the abstract measures once the direct evidence is exhausted.
It's three games in. We're nowhere where we need to be but there's a lot of ball left in front of us.— Matt LaFleur, Green Bay Packers head coach, after Green Bay's 35-14 home loss to Atlanta on Thursday, September 24, 2026
The wild-card sequence is similar but not identical, and the difference catches people out. For two clubs from different divisions it runs: "Head-to-head, if applicable," then conference record, then "Best won-lost-tied percentage in common games, minimum of four," then strength of victory, then strength of schedule. Two things are worth noticing. Head-to-head is qualified — teams in different divisions may simply not have played, in which case the step is skipped rather than argued about. And common games carries an explicit minimum of four, which prevents a tie being decided on a single shared opponent. Division record, which ranks second inside a division, does not appear at all here, because comparing two teams' records against different divisions would not be comparing anything.
The order, as the league publishes it
"Head-to-head (best won-lost-tied percentage in games between the clubs)."
"Best won-lost-tied percentage in games played within the division."
"Best won-lost-tied percentage in common games."
"Head-to-head, if applicable" — teams in different divisions may not have met.
"Best won-lost-tied percentage in common games, minimum of four."
Strength of victory is ranked above strength of schedule: whom you beat counts for more than whom you faced.
Strength of victory is the step that generates the complaints, and it is worth understanding why it sits where it does. It measures the combined record of the teams you actually beat, not the teams you played. Beating good teams moves it; beating bad ones barely does. It is placed ahead of strength of schedule deliberately, because the league treats whom you defeated as better evidence than whom you merely faced. The consequence is that results in games your team is not playing can change its seeding, which feels unfair in December and is the direct mathematical price of a seventeen-game schedule that cannot have everyone play everyone. LaFleur's point above is the practical one for any team that finds itself behind early: the tiebreakers only matter if you arrive at the end of the season tied, and the surest way to never need them is to stop losing the games that create the tie.
The first three steps compare teams on results against each other. If your team is relying on net touchdowns, the season went wrong long before the math did.
Reading The Standings In December
Head-to-head, division record, or common games - the three steps that compare teams on results against each other rather than on anything abstract.
Division record. It ranks second inside a division and does not feature in the wild-card sequence at all.
The coin toss. It sits twelfth and last on the division list, behind eleven measures that have to fail to tie first.
Around the site
Sources: NFL.com — Tie-Breaking Procedures, NBC15 — LaFleur joins Bowles and Steichen on the early-season hot seat