10 Best Wildcard Playoff Games Of All-Time

December 29, 2012 8:24 am

408 Views 3 Comments

In 1978, the teams that make the playoffs in the NFL increased from four to five in each Conference, so the Wildcard games featuring the top two second place teams in each Conference were born to start the first weekend of the postseason. Then in 1990 the NFL teams that make the playoffs increased from ten to twelve, so two additional Wildcard playoff games were added. With the 2002 realignment that expanded the Divisions in each Conference from three to four, the four division winners in the league with the worst record host the Wildcard games.

In 1980, the Oakland Raiders became the first Wildcard team to win the Super Bowl. Since then other five Wildcard teams (The 1997 Denver Broncos, the 2000 Baltimore Ravens, the 2005 Pittsburgh Steelers, the 2007 New York Giants and the 2010 Green Bay Packers) have won the Super Bowl. Over the course of the years there have been many memorable games. Here are the 10 Best all-time Wildcard games (from 10 to 1).

Start Slideshow

Visit ColdHardFootballFacts.com for more NFL articles

By Gary Najman
Contributor
Become a fan

More Stories You May Enjoy

Arizona Cardinals 2013: 10 Things We Learned From OTAs

Arizona Cardinals 2013: 5 Most Pressing Questions Heading Into Training Camp

Arizona Cardinals 2013 NFL Schedule Analysis

Previous Comments (3)

Please Login to post a comment.

Jaime Holtz

5 months ago

Reply Report

Nice article, but you should have included this two games: 1998 Green Bay Packers at San Francisco 49ers (Terrell Owens’ improbable touchdown catch in the final seconds to give the 49ers a 30-27 victory) and 2006 Dallas Cowboys at Seattle Seahawks (Tony Romo’s fumble in a field goal try and then recovering it and incapable to get the first down in the final two minutes and the Cowboys lost 21-20). Also, I would rank the 1992 Bills-Oilers come-from-behind contest at No. 1, undoubtedly.

Gary Najman

5 months ago

Reply Report

You're right, the Packers-49ers game from 1998 should have been included. The Cowboys-Seahawks game from 2006 I would have included it if it was an article about the Top 15 Wildcard games (not Top 10), as well as the 1988 Oilers-Browns, 2004 Jets-Chargers and 2008 Colts-Chargers games. If it pleases the forum, I will try to write a complement with these 5 games.

Gary Najman

5 months ago

Reply Report

And about the 1992 Oilers-Bills game, I had it also as my number 1 All-Time Wildcard....until the Packers-Cardinals contest three years ago. It was amazing what a combined game Rodgers and Warner had, and that the winning touchdown was scored by the defense. But I bet that every passionate football fan has his own Top 10 games, it's one of these things that encourages to write about the sport we love.