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NFL teams are ordered by winning percentage, with a tie game counting as half a win and half a loss. When teams finish the regular season with the same percentage, the league applies a fixed tiebreaker sequence: division champions are decided under division rules, while wild-card ties between teams from different divisions follow a separate sequence.
How to read NFL division standings
The NFL standings show more than wins and losses. The league’s standings legend defines the main columns as follows:
- W, L, T: wins, losses and ties.
- PCT: winning percentage. A tie counts as one-half win and one-half loss for each club, as the NFL explains in its tiebreaking procedures.
- DIV: record against teams in the same division.
- CONF: record against teams in the same conference.
- PF, PA, NET PTS: points for, points against and net points.
The standings page also uses clinching markers: x means a playoff berth is clinched, y a wild-card berth, z the division title, and an asterisk means the division title and home-field advantage are clinched. These columns and markers help explain a team’s position; when records are tied, the league’s ordered procedure—not whichever number looks most persuasive—determines the result.
How the NFL breaks a tie for a division title
At the end of the regular season, teams in a division with identical won-lost-tied percentages are compared in order. The league stops as soon as one criterion resolves the tie. The two-team and multi-team processes are related, but they are not interchangeable.
Two teams tied in the same division
- Head-to-head won-lost-tied percentage.
- Division record.
- Record in common games.
- Conference record.
- Strength of victory in all games.
- Strength of schedule in all games.
- Combined ranking among conference teams in points scored and points allowed.
- Combined ranking among all teams in points scored and points allowed.
- Net points in common games.
- Net points in all games.
- Net touchdowns in all games.
- Coin toss.
Head-to-head is first, but it is only the opening test. If it does not settle the tie, division record comes next, then common games and conference record. Overall net points appear near the end, not near the beginning.
Three or more teams tied in the same division
The multi-team procedure begins with head-to-head percentage among the tied clubs, then checks division record, common games, conference record, strength of victory, strength of schedule, combined scoring-and-defense rankings among conference teams and then all teams, net points in common games, net points overall, net touchdowns and finally a coin toss.
The NFL also specifies how to proceed when a team is eliminated but a tie remains: if the process leaves two clubs tied, restart with step one of the two-club division procedure. If three clubs remain after a fourth is eliminated, restart with step one of the three-club procedure. That reset is why it is inaccurate to treat a three-team tie as a series of ordinary two-team comparisons.
How wild-card tiebreakers differ
For wild-card places, the first question is whether the tied teams are in the same division. If they are, the NFL first applies that division’s tiebreaker. Teams from different divisions use the separate wild-card sequence.
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Two teams from different divisions
- Head-to-head, if applicable.
- Conference record.
- Record in common games, with a minimum of four.
- Strength of victory.
- Strength of schedule.
- Combined rankings in points scored and points allowed among conference teams.
- Combined rankings in points scored and points allowed among all teams.
- Net points in conference games.
- Net points in all games.
- Net touchdowns in all games.
- Coin toss.
Three or more wild-card teams
With three or more clubs tied, the league first uses division tiebreakers to identify the highest-ranked club from each division. It then applies the multi-club wild-card procedure, which includes a head-to-head sweep where applicable, conference record, common games (minimum four), strength measures, combined rankings, net points, net touchdowns and a coin toss. The NFL repeats the process to identify the next wild-card qualifier.
What “combined ranking” means
For this criterion, the NFL adds a team’s ranking in points scored to its ranking in points allowed; the lower total wins. In the league’s illustrative example, first in points scored plus second in points allowed gives a combined rank of 3, beating third in points scored plus first in points allowed, which gives 4. Teams tied at a ranking position receive the same position number.
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Which standings numbers matter first?
The relevant order depends on the kind of tie. For a division title, the early comparisons are head-to-head, division record, common games and conference record. For a cross-division wild-card tie, conference record follows head-to-head, and common games must include at least four opponents. Strength measures and scoring-based comparisons come later. The NFL’s official procedure gives the complete sequence for each case.
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