The National Football League playoffs for the 2021 season was the first time that the league featured a 17-game regular season schedule, and consequently the start of the playoffs was pushed a week later to January 15, 2022. The postseason concluded with Super Bowl LVI on February 13 at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, with the NFC's fourth seed, the Los Angeles Rams, defeating the AFC's fourth seed, the Cincinnati Bengals. Cincinnati won their first playoff game since 1990 by defeating the Las Vegas Raiders.
This was the first postseason since 2010–11 where neither of the first-seeded teams made it to their respective championships, and it was also the first postseason since 2009–10 in which neither the Green Bay Packers nor New England Patriots reached a conference championship game. This was also the first postseason since 2012–13 to have a Super Bowl to not have the New England Patriots, Denver Broncos, or Kansas City Chiefs representing the AFC. For the first time in history, both teams competing in the Super Bowl finished below the second seed. In addition, this was the fourth time since the 1979 NFL season where neither of the number one playoff seeds advanced to their conference's respective championship game, the other instances were 2008 and 2010 .
Of the 13 games played in the playoffs, nine were decided by seven or fewer points. For the final seven postseason games, six were decided by three points. Five of those six were decided with game-winning field goals. The only game that was not decided by three points was the divisional round game between the Bills and Chiefs, which was decided with a game-winning touchdown in overtime.
Participants
Bracket
Schedule This postseason marked the first time that the Wild Card playoffs spanned three days. Two games were played on Saturday, three on Sunday, and one on Monday night. The last time that a playoff game was played on a Monday was in , when a Wild Card game was played Monday, December 26, to avoid playing on Christmas.
To avoid a competitive disadvantage, the winner of the Wild Card playoff game played on Monday night gets scheduled to play a Divisional playoff game on Sunday. In addition, the Monday night Wild Card game has traditionally been played between the fourth-seed and fifth-seed in a conference for two reasons: Due to re-seeding, regardless of whomever wins, it's the only matchup where the winner has the same opponent the following week. The schedule for the Divisional playoffs can be released following the conclusion of the Wild Card game played Sunday night.
Round Away team Score Home team Date Kickoff(ET / UTC–5) TV Viewers (millions) TV ratingWild-card round Las Vegas Raiders 19–26 Cincinnati Bengals January 15, 2022 4:35 p.m. NBC 27.7 14.2 New England Patriots 17–47 Buffalo Bills 8:15 p.m. CBS 26.4 13.2 Philadelphia Eagles 15–31 Tampa Bay Buccaneers January 16, 2022 1:05 p.m. Fox 30.4 16.0 San Francisco 49ers 23–17 Dallas Cowboys 4:40 p.m. CBS/Nickelodeon 41.5 20.7 Pittsburgh Steelers 21–42 Kansas City Chiefs 8:15 p.m. NBC 28.9 14.7 Arizona Cardinals 11–34 Los Angeles Rams January 17, 2022 8:15 p.m. ABC/ESPN 23.1 —Divisional round Cincinnati Bengals 19–16 Tennessee Titans January 22, 2022 4:35 p.m. CBS 30.7 15.8 San Francisco 49ers 13–10 Green Bay Packers 8:15 p.m. Fox 36.9 17.8 Los Angeles Rams 30–27 Tampa Bay Buccaneers January 23, 2022 3:05 p.m. NBC 38.1 19.8 Buffalo Bills 36–42 Kansas City Chiefs January 23, 2022 6:40 p.m. CBS 42.7 21.7Conference championships Cincinnati Bengals 27–24 Kansas City Chiefs January 30, 2022 3:05 p.m. CBS 47.8 23.6 San Francisco 49ers 17–20 Los Angeles Rams 6:40 p.m. Fox 50.4 23.4 Super Bowl LVISoFi StadiumInglewood, California Los Angeles Rams 23–20 Cincinnati Bengals February 13, 2022 6:40 p.m. NBC 112.3 36.9
Wild-card round Saturday, January 15, 2022 AFC: Cincinnati Bengals 26, Las Vegas Raiders 19
Bengals linebacker Germaine Pratt's interception on his own 2-yard line in the game's closing seconds gave Cincinnati its first playoff win since the 1990 season, ending the longest active playoff victory drought in the NFL (8 losses over 31 years).
Las Vegas took the opening kickoff and drove 51 yards in 10 plays, featuring a 17-yard completion from Derek Carr to Zay Jones on 3rd-and-2. Daniel Carlson finished the drive with a 47-yard field goal to put the Raiders up 3–0. Cincinnati stormed right back, with Joe Burrow completing three passes to Ja'Marr Chase for 37 yards and a screen pass to Joe Mixon for 21. On 3rd-and-goal from the 7-yard line, he finished the drive with a touchdown pass to tight end C. J. Uzomah to put the Bengals ahead 7–3. On the Raiders' next drive, Carr lost a fumble while being sacked by Trey Hendrickson. Defensive tackle Larry Ogunjobi recovered the ball and returned it 11 yards to the Las Vegas 15-yard line, setting up Evan McPherson's 31-yard field goal to give the Bengals a 10–3 lead with 1:18 left in the first quarter.
On the ensuing kickoff, Raiders returner Peyton Barber fielded the ball too close to the sidelines and stepped out of bounds at his own 2-yard line. Two plays later, Sam Hubbard sacked Carr on the 1 and Trent Taylor's 14-yard punt return gave the Bengals excellent field position on the Raiders 45-yard line. Chase then rushed for 7 yards and caught a pass for 28 as the team drove to the 6 before Quinton Jefferson's third-down sack forced Cincinnati to settle for McPherson's 30-yard field goal, increasing their lead to 13–3. Tyron Johnson returned the ensuing kickoff 35 yards to the 39-yard line. Then Josh Jacobs carried the ball three times for 51 yards on the way to Carlson's 28-yard field goal that cut their deficit to 13–6. Taking the ball back with 7:55 left in the second quarter, Cincinnati drove 82 yards in 12 plays, featuring a 29-yard reception by Uzomah and a 15-yard run by Chase on an end around play on 4th-and-1. On 3rd-and-4 from the Raiders 10-yard line, Burrow ran to the right side of the field and threw the ball to Tyler Boyd for a touchdown just as his foot was about to go out of bounds. The play was controversial, as one of the officials blew his whistle slightly before Boyd made the catch, while the ball was still in the air, which, according to NFL rules should have resulted in the down having to be replayed, but the touchdown stood and it gave the Bengals a 20–6 lead with 1:51 left on the clock. Carr then completed 5 passes for 56 yards and rushed for 20 as he led his team 75 yards in 12 plays to score on his 14-yard touchdown pass to Jones with 14 seconds left in the half, making the score 20–13 going into halftime.
Bengals running back Chris Evans returned the second half kickoff 27 yards to the 35-yard line, where the team proceeded to drive 45 yards in 9 plays to score on McPherson's 43-yard field goal, giving them a 23–13 lead. On the Raiders' next drive, Hunter Renfrow caught a long pass from Carr on the Bengals 36 on third down and then lost the ball out of bounds when Jessie Bates knocked it out of his hands. The play was initially ruled a completion and fumble out of bounds, but Bengals coach Zac Taylor's replay challenge overturned the call and it was ruled an incompletion, forcing Las Vegas to punt. Cincinnati also ended up punting on their next possession, due to a third-down sack by Maxx Crosby. Then Las Vegas drove 76 yards in 12 plays, with Jacobs rushing 4 times for 25 yards and catching a pass for 7. The team made it all the way to Bengals 9-yard line, but then a holding penalty by guard John Simpson eliminated Jacobs' 8-yard run and pushed them back to the 19. The team was unable to get back to the end zone and ended up settling for Carlson's 34-yard field goal, cutting their deficit to 23–16 on the last play of the third quarter.
Cincinnati took the ball back and drove 65 yards in 13 plays, taking 7:31 off the clock. Burrow completed 6/7 passes for 56 yards, including a 19-yard completion to Chase of 3rd-and-7. On 3rd-and-1 from the Raiders' 10-yard line, Mixon was tackled inches short of the first down marker, forcing Cincinnati to settle for McPherson's 28-yard field goal to give them a 26–16 lead with 6:46 left in the game. The Raiders responded by advancing 67 yards in 12 plays, featuring Carr's 26-yard completion to DeSean Jackson on 4th-and-5. The Bengals defense halted the drive on their own 10 when Hubbard deflected Carr's pass on 3rd-and-3, but Carlson's fourth field goal made it a one-score game at 26–19 with 3:37 remaining on the clock. Then the Raiders forced a three-and-out, getting the ball back on their own 35-yard line with 1:51 left and no timeouts. On their first play, a roughing the passer penalty on Khalid Kareem turned Jacobs 15-yard reception into a 30-yard gain. An incompletion and a sack by B. J. Hill brought up 3rd-and-17, but then Carr completed a 23-yard pass to tight end Darren Waller on the Bengals 19. After two incompletions, Carr threw a 10-yard pass to Jones at the 9. Then he spiked the ball to stop the clock, giving the Raiders three chances to score with 29 seconds remaining. Two incompletions brought up 4th-and-goal. Then with 17 seconds left, Pratt intercepted Carr's pass and enabled Cincinnati to escape with a win.
Burrow completed 24 of 34 passes for 244 yards and two touchdowns. Chase caught 9 passes for 116 yards and rushed three times for 23. In addition to his interception, Pratt added 9 tackles (6 solo). Evans returned 5 kickoffs for 103 yards and rushed for 9. Carr finished the game 29/54 for 310 yards, a touchdown, an interception, and 20 rushing yards. Jacobs rushed for 83 yards and caught 4 passes for 44.
AFC: Buffalo Bills 47, New England Patriots 17
In their first postseason meeting since 1963, Buffalo beat the Patriots with 483 yards of offense and touchdowns on every drive except their last one, when they intentionally ran out the clock. It marked the first game in NFL history where a team played an entire game without punting, kicking a field goal, facing a fourth down, or turning the ball over (on downs nor by fumble or interception), as well as the first time a team scored seven touchdowns on seven consecutive drives.
In the first half alone, Buffalo ran 33 plays and gained over 300 yards. They started off the game with a 9-play, 70-yard drive in which Josh Allen rushed twice for 41 yards and completed 4/5 passes for 24, the last an 8-yard touchdown pass to tight end Dawson Knox. New England responded with a drive to the Bills 34, but Micah Hyde ended the drive by intercepting Mac Jones' pass in the end zone. Then Allen rushed for 6 yards and completed 5/7 passes for 62 yards, finishing the possession with an 11-yard scoring pass to Knox that gave Buffalo a 14–0 lead on the last play of the first quarter.
New England was quickly forced to punt and the Bills drove back for more points, this time moving the ball 81 yards in 10 plays. Allen had a 22-yard completion to Gabe Davis and an 8-yard run, while Devin Singletary carried the ball 6 times for 28 yards and finished the drive with a 3-yard touchdown run, making the score 20–0 after Deatrich Wise Jr. blocked the extra point. After another Patriots punt, Allen completed a 19-yard pass to wide receiver Isaiah McKenzie and a 45-yard bomb to Stefon Diggs before rushing the ball 9 yards. Then Singletary scored on a 16-yard touchdown run, giving the Bills a 27–0 lead with 1:51 left in the half. This time New England managed to respond, with Jones completed 6/6 passes for 51 yards, including a 19-yard throw to Jakobi Meyers on 4th-and-5. Nick Folk finished the drive with a 44-yard field goal that made the score 27–3 going into halftime.