NFL teams are ordered by winning percentage, with a tie game counting as half a win and half a loss. If teams finish the regular season with the same percentage, the league applies a published tiebreaker sequence—and the order differs for a division title and a wild-card place.
How to read NFL division standings
The NFL standings show more than a team’s overall record. The league’s standings legend defines these columns:
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- W, L, T: wins, losses and ties.
- PCT: winning percentage. A tie counts as half a win and half a loss for each team, 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 may also show playoff-clinching markers: x means a playoff berth is clinched, y a wild-card berth, z a division title, and an asterisk indicates a division title and home-field advantage. These fields show a team’s record and status; when teams are tied, the league’s ordered procedure determines who ranks ahead.
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At the end of the regular season, the NFL uses these procedures when two or more clubs in the same division have identical won-lost-tied percentages. It moves down the applicable list and stops as soon as a criterion separates the teams.
Two teams tied in a division
- Head-to-head record among the tied teams.
- Division record.
- Record in common games.
- Conference record.
- Strength of victory across all games.
- Strength of schedule across 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 comes first, but overall point difference does not: net points appear near the end of the division sequence. If head-to-head does not decide it, division record is next, then common games and conference record.
Three or more teams tied in a division
The league has a multi-team procedure rather than simply asking each pair of teams to run through the two-team list. The sequence begins with head-to-head percentage among the tied clubs, then follows the division criteria: 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 and all games, net touchdowns, and finally a coin toss.
If the process eliminates teams and leaves two tied, restart at the first step of the two-team procedure. If a four-team tie is reduced to three, restart at the first step of the multi-team procedure with those three clubs.
How wild-card tiebreakers differ
Wild-card qualification follows a separate procedure. If tied contenders come from the same division, the NFL first applies that division’s tiebreaker. For two teams from different divisions, it uses this order:
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- Head-to-head, if applicable.
- Conference record.
- Common games, with a minimum of four.
- Strength of victory.
- Strength of schedule.
- Combined ranking in points scored and allowed among conference teams.
- Combined ranking in points scored and allowed among all teams.
- Net points in conference games.
- Net points in all games.
- Net touchdowns.
- Coin toss.
For three or more wild-card contenders, the process first applies division tiebreakers to leave the highest-ranked club from each division. It then uses the multi-team wild-card steps, including a head-to-head sweep where applicable, conference record, common games (minimum four), strength measures, combined rankings, net points, net touchdowns and coin toss. The NFL repeats the process to determine the next wild-card qualifier.
What the tiebreaker terms mean
Head-to-head, division, common games and conference record
These criteria compare results in progressively broader groups of games. Head-to-head considers games between the tied teams. Division record looks only at divisional opponents; common games compare results against opponents shared by the tied teams; conference record covers games against teams in the same conference. Their exact position in the sequence depends on whether the tie is for a division title or a cross-division wild-card place.
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Strength of victory and strength of schedule
These are strength-based measures that come after the direct record comparisons in the applicable sequence. The NFL procedure lists them as separate criteria; they are not interchangeable with a team’s own win percentage or point difference.
Combined ranking in points scored and allowed
For this criterion, the NFL adds a team’s ranking in points scored to its ranking in points allowed; the lower combined number wins. In the NFL’s illustrative example, a first-place scoring rank plus a second-place points-allowed rank gives a total of 3, beating a third-place scoring rank plus a first-place points-allowed rank, totaling 4. If teams tie at a ranking position, each receives that same position number.
Net points and net touchdowns
Net points are applied late in the sequence, and the relevant games vary by procedure: the division list includes common games before all games, while the cross-division wild-card list uses conference games before all games. Net touchdowns come after net points. These are late-stage criteria, not substitutes for checking the earlier record-based steps.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Which standings columns matter first?
For a division tie, start with the teams’ head-to-head results, then compare their division records, common-game records and conference records in that order. For a cross-division wild-card tie, conference record follows head-to-head, and common games come after that. Later criteria—strength measures, combined rankings and scoring measures—matter only if earlier steps leave the tie unresolved. Consult the NFL’s official sequence for the exact case, especially when three or more clubs are involved.
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