NFL Playoff Schedule 2022: AFC, NFC Postseason Dates, TV Schedule for Each Round

As the expanded 2021 NFL season comes to a head, the AFC has five teams still in the hunt for a postseason berth and not a single seeding in the playoff picture indisputably accounted for.

That will change by the end of Sunday's slate of games, and the NFL and its fans will know which teams will kick off the Wild Card Round with their championship aspirations high and their eyes on the Lombardi Trophy.

What does the schedule look like for the postseason games, and where can viewers expect to find them? It is a constantly evolving schedule, with most of the information being made apparent as Sunday's all-important matchups come to their conclusions.

More cloudy? Just who will play in those postseason games, beginning Saturday afternoon.

Wild Card Round

Saturday, January 15

NFC/AFC wild card, 4:35pm, Network TBD

NFC/AFC wild card, 8:15pm, Network TBD

Sunday, January 16

NFC/AFC wild card, 1:05pm, Network TBD

NFC/AFC wild card, 4:40pm, Network TBD

NFC/AFC wild card, 8:15pm, Network TBD

Monday, January 17

NFC/AFC wild card, 8:15pm, Network TBD

Divisional Round

Saturday, January 22

AFC divisional round, Time and Network TBD

NFC divisional round, Time and Network TBD

Sunday, January 23

AFC divisional round, Time and Network TBD

NFC divisional round, Time and Network TBD

Championship Round

Sunday, January 30

AFC Championship Game, 3:05pm, CBS

NFC Championship Game, 6:40pm, FOX

Super Bowl LVI

Sunday, February 13

Super Bowl, 6:30pm, NBC

Clinched

Tennessee Titans (11-5, AFC South champions)

Kansas City Chiefs (11-5, AFC West champions)

Cincinnati Bengals (10-6, AFC North champions)

Buffalo Bills (10-6)

New England Patriots (10-6)

In the Hunt

Los Angeles Chargers (9-7)

Las Vegas Raiders (9-7)

Indianapolis Colts (9-7)

Pittsburgh Steelers (8-7-1)

Baltimore Ravens (8-8)

The path to the postseason for the Los Angeles Chargers and Las Vegas Raiders is simple: win and you're in.

It is also fairly simple for the Indianapolis Colts: beat the Jacksonville Jaguars and you're in.

For the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens, two teams hoping their seasons do not end in disappointment Sunday afternoon, myriad things have to fall their way.

The Steelers have to beat Baltimore and hope for the following: the Colts lose and the game between the Chargers and Raiders does not end in a tie. The Ravens, on the other hand, have a nearly impossible hurdle to overcome if they wish to keep their championship aspirations alive.

Baltimore would have to overcome the Pittsburgh's T.J. Watt-led pass rush and what could be an emotional last game for quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. Then it would need Indianapolis to slip up against Jacksonville, Los Angeles to drop its game to Las Vegas and the Miami Dolphins to lose to the New England Patriots.

Speaking of the Patriots, they can win the AFC East with a win over or tie against Miami and a Buffalo Bills loss.

The Bills win the division outright with a victory over the New York Jets, a team that isn't content to fold it up and go home just because they are out of contention, as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers found out in Week 17.

The biggest question in the AFC entering the final week of the regular season, though, is who will claim the top seed in the conference.

The Kansas City Chiefs keep the No. 1 seed they regained through Saturday's win over the Denver Broncos if the Tennessee Titans lose or tie in Houston. A win over the Texans, though, and the Titans take the top seed and home-field advantage throughout the postseason.

Given the Chiefs' recent history of playoff success and experience, one would be hard-pressed to find any team that would want to roll into the deafening Arrowhead Stadium with their playoff lives on the line.

At the same time, Tennessee has already beaten the Chiefs this season and possesses the lethal combination of a running game sparked by D'Onta Foreman and a tough, physical defense necessary to wail on Kansas City again.

Clinched

Green Bay Packers (13-3, NFC North champions, No. 1 seed, home-field advantage)

Dallas Cowboys (12-5, NFC East champions)

Tampa Bay Buccaneers (12-4, NFC South champions)

Los Angeles Rams (12-4)

Arizona Cardinals (11-5)

Philadelphia Eagles (9-8)

In the Hunt

San Francisco 49ers (9-7)

New Orleans Saints (8-8)

Things are considerably less dramatic in the NFC.

The Green Bay Packers have already secured home-field advantage, the first-round bye and the No. 1 seed, leaving them with nothing to play for in their Week 18 matchup against the Detroit Lions.

Beyond Aaron Rodgers and Co., though, things are slightly less clear.

If the Los Angeles Rams defeat the San Francisco 49ers, they claim the No. 2 seed and the NFC West title. The only problem? Head coach Sean McVay and his squad have lost five straight to their cross-state rivals, including a 31-10 drubbing on November 15.

Should history repeat itself, the Arizona Cardinals would win the division. Tampa Bay, with a win, would then be the No. 2 seed. Dallas, with five losses, would be the third seed and Arizona the fourth. That would drop the Rams to the fifth seed and San Francisco would slide into the sixth, followed by the Philadelphia Eagles.

A 49ers loss would not only deliver the division to L.A., but it would also open the door for the New Orleans Saints to enter the postseason with a win over the NFC South rival Atlanta Falcons. A loss for the Saints eliminates them from playoff contention.

Whether any of the teams from the second to the seventh seed can knock off Green Bay given its explosive offense and improved defense is the real question. The Tom Brady-led Buccaneers went into Lambeau Field a year ago and sent Rodgers and the Pack home early in a hotly contested NFC Championship Game, proving it can be the hot team, not the home-field advantage, that makes the difference.