Who doesn't enjoy predicting the playoff teams at the start of each NFL season, right?
At the start of the 2010 season, I picked the following 12 teams: NFC - Atlanta, New Orleans, Green Bay, Dallas, San Francisco, and Minnesota. AFC - Baltimore, Indianapolis, New England, San Diego, Houston, and Cincinnati.
50%. That didn't go so well, but since we believe in accountability around here, I want to attempt to do so. And yet, it is rather predictable that the field will be unpredictable.
But, nobody should be worried about one person's personal picks. More important is knowing how the league picks its 12 playoff teams.
I assume you know about the turnover in the league. If not, check out the number of new teams each year since the format change to show that the NFL has no problems with parity. In fact, this year, with only 5 new teams from last year's playoff, is actually an extremely stable by historical comparison.
Don't tell that to Minnesota (#2 seed, 2009), Dallas (#3), and Arizona (#4) in the NFC, or the Bengals (#3) or San Diego (#2) from the AFC who have not been invited back.
The 5 new teams: Pittsburgh, Kansas City, Seattle, Chicago, and Atlanta.
In the chart below, I will show you each year, and list the new teams who made the playoffs that year, but weren't in the playoffs the year before. The teams in the 1991 playoffs (the 1st year - so they were all new) were Dal, Atl, NO, Chi, Wash, and Det in the NFC; KC, Oak, Hou, NYJ, Den, and Buf in the AFC:
| Year | # New | New Teams making Playoffs |
| 1992 | 6 | Min, SF, Phi, Mia, Pit, KC |
| 1993 | 5 | Det, GB, NYG, Oak, Den |
| 1994 | 5 | Chi, Mia, Clev, NE, SD |
| 1995 | 4 | Phi, Atl, Ind, Buf |
| 1996 | 5 | Min, Car, Jac, Den, NE |
| 1997 | 5 | NYG, Det, TB, KC, Mia |
| 1998 | 5 | Arz, Dal, Atl, NYJ, Buf |
| 1999 | 7 | Det, TB, StL, Was, Sea, Ten, Ind |
| 2000 | 6 | Phi, NYG, NO, Den, Bal, Oak |
| 2001 | 6 | SF, GB, Chi, Pit, NE, NYJ |
| 2002 | 5 | NYG, Atl, Ten, Cle, Ind |
| 2003 | 8 | Stl, Car, Dal, Sea, NE, KC, Bal, Den |
| 2004 | 5 | Min, Atl, SD, Pit, NYJ |
| 2005 | 7 | Was, Car, TB, NYG, Chi, Cin, Jac |
| 2006 | 7 | Phi. Dal, NO, SD, Bal, NYJ, KC |
| 2007 | 6 | Was, TB, GB, Pit, Ten, Jac |
| 2008 | 7 | Phi, Atl, Car, Min, Arz, Mia, Bal |
| 2009 | 6 | Dal, GB, NO, Cin, NE, NYJ |
| 2010 | 5 | Sea, Atl, Chi, Pitt, KC |
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