On the 14th and 15th of January, 2012 will be the divisional playoffs, with the 5th of February being the scheduled date for the Super Bowl XLVI, which will take place in Indianapolis at the Lucas Oil Stadium.

This game will be aired live on NBC.

Just like in the previous years, the 2012 NFL Playoffs specific seeds will be determined by standings of season.

At the end of each playoff round is where reseeding of the teams is done based on the winners and losers, as well as the conferences alternate play done within the same day but earlier in the playoffs.

Some of the most recent standings (as of 2nd of January, 2012) updated through the playoffs’ divisional round are as shown below.

Under the AFC playoffs games; The East division champ is New England at 13-3 clinching the home field advantage.

Baltimore is the North division champ at 12-4, where it won the tie breaker, based on a head to head win percentage over Pittsburgh.

To the South is Houston at 10-6, while Denver becomes the AFC West champ at 8-8.

On the other side, the NFC saw Green bay become the North division champ (15-1) while also clinching the home field advantage, with San Francisco winning tie-breaker over New Orleans based on win percentage in the conference games hence the San Francisco West 13-3 div champ.

New Orleans South 13-3 Champ is the NFC South Champion, with New York East 9-7 Div Champs, hence the NFC East champion.

Now that the regular season for 2011 is complete and all the twelve playoff teams set, the pairs of teams going in to the post season games are all set.

There are three with streaks of game losing, one that has a .500 record, 9 holding double digit win totals, and 2 that are just a game above.

So, let the real fun begin!

Interestingly enough, the last time the Bills qualified for postseason play was also the last time for the Lions; 1999. Adding to the synchronicity is the fact that both teams started 3 and 0 that season, as well.  Buffalo fared better though, ending the regular season that year with 11 wins, while Detroit backed their way into the playoffs with a .500 record.

This year, the Bills are red hot. With a win in week 4 against Cincinnati, they would match their victory record for all of last season. It’s even more impressive when you look at who they they have played, so far. They opened the season playing an away game against Atlanta, who, at 13-3 had the second best regular season record last year.

They didn’t just beat the Falcons. They humiliated them in their own house, 41 to 7. Then in week 2, they played a hard fought home game 38-35 against the Raiders, who went 8-8 last year. Week three, also at home, was against the team with the best record last season, the 14-2 New England Patriots, who everyone assumes will be in the NFL playoffs 2011. Losing from early in the first quarter and through most of the game, they scored 17 points in the fourth quarter, to win by 3 points.

The way the Lions are playing is just as surprising. They have the fourth highest point average in the league and the fifth highest amount of passing yards. If they can keep up those stats by the end of the season, you would have to assume that would make the NFL playoffs 2011.

The National Football League is composed of two conferences namely AFC and the NFC. During the playoffs, six teams from each conference have been selected based on regular season records. These teams are the ones that compete in the playoffs. The leagues championship game, known as the Super Bowl, matches the two conferences champions.

The two conferences known as AFC and NFC are originally composed of 32 teams and then divided into two which makes 16 teams for each of the conferences. Each conference should come up with four divisions with 4 teams each.

The bracketing for this tournament is composed of six teams coming from each of the conferences at the end of the 16-game season.

In the NFL football playoffs, the teams that will be qualified for the playoffs will be judged according to their overall scores. Aside from the 4 teams, there will be additional 2 wildcard teams, without checking its background scores.

The first NFL football playoffs started in 1967, and four terms competed for the tournament. During the time when the league partnered with American Football League in 1970, the usual four teams were turned into eight teams then to ten teams and then finally into teams in 1990.

The NFL is the only major sport in the United States that uses single-elimination tournament during the playoffs.

In some games, especially when the selected teams are all great, there will be times when they have the same records. Of course, there are some rules to break the tie and they have been changing throughout the years but are really effective.

Qualification is based on season records and in case of a tie, a predetermined tie-breaking procedure is used.  The play-offs end with the Super Bowl.  The two champions from the conferences face each other.

Tracing the NFL history, the first true play-off started in 1967, with the final four qualified teams.  The creation in 1970 of the American Football League expanded it to eight teams. In 1978, play-offs were between 10 best teams and again, increased to 12 teams in 1990.

Out of the four major American professional sports leagues, the NFL is the only one using in its play-off the single-elimination  tournament system.  The participating teams out-best each other in one game-matches, with the loser immediately eliminated from the competition.

The play-offs have three rounds:  the Wild Card Play-offs, Divisional Play-offs and Conference Championships.

- Wild Card Play-offs (or Wild Card Weekend).   This is the first round of the play-offs.  The two teams seeded 1 and 2 automatically advances to the divisional play-offs.

The two non-champion teams with the two highest percentage of won-lost-tie, called the wild cards being seeded 5 and 6 play against those seeded 3 and 4. Only two teams will advance to the next round.

- Divisional Play-offs.  The second round will include the two team surviving the Wild Card Weekend. They will pit against those seeded 1 and 2 already waiting for them.

At the end of this round, the champion teams  will proceed to the final round of the play-offs.

- Conference Championships.  This is the final round of the play-offs.  The champions of each conference will face each other in the Super Bowl.

In the history of the NFL Playoffs, out of the 32 teams of the leagues two conferences, only the Houston Texans have never played in the playoffs.