A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | CH | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9
| Dates | January 9–February 7, 2010 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | 2009 | ||||
| Teams | 12 | ||||
| Games played | 11 | ||||
| Super Bowl XLIV site | |||||
| Defending champions | Pittsburgh Steelers (did not qualify) | ||||
| Champions | New Orleans Saints | ||||
| Runners-up | Indianapolis Colts | ||||
| Conference runners-up | |||||
| |||||
The National Football League playoffs for the 2009 season began on January 9, 2010. The postseason tournament concluded with the New Orleans Saints defeating the Indianapolis Colts in Super Bowl XLIV, 31–17, on February 7, at Sun Life Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida.
The Wild Card round featured three games that were re-matches of Week 17 games.
Participants
Within each conference, the four division winners and the top two non-division winners with the best overall regular season records) qualified for the playoffs. The four division winners are seeded 1–4 based on their overall won-lost-tied record, and the wild card teams are seeded 5–6. The NFL does not use a fixed bracket playoff system, and there are no restrictions regarding teams from the same division matching up in any round. In the first round, dubbed the wild-card playoffs or wild-card weekend, the third-seeded division winner hosts the sixth-seed wild card, and the fourth seed hosts the fifth. The 1 and 2 seeds from each conference received a first-round bye. In the second round, the divisional playoffs, the number 1 seed hosts the worst-surviving seed from the first round (seed 4, 5, or 6), while the number 2 seed will play the other team (seed 3, 4, or 5). The two surviving teams from each conference's divisional playoff games met in the respective AFC and NFC Conference Championship games, hosted by the higher seed. Although the Super Bowl, the championship round of the playoffs, is played at a neutral site, the designated home team is based on an annual rotation by conference.[1]
| Playoff seeds | ||
| Seed | AFC | NFC |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Indianapolis Colts (South winner) | New Orleans Saints (South winner) |
| 2 | San Diego Chargers (West winner) | Minnesota Vikings (North winner) |
| 3 | New England Patriots (East winner) | Dallas Cowboys (East winner) |
| 4 | Cincinnati Bengals (North winner) | Arizona Cardinals (West winner) |
| 5 | New York Jets (wild card) | Green Bay Packers (wild card) |
| 6 | Baltimore Ravens (wild card) | Philadelphia Eagles (wild card) |
Bracket
| Jan 9 – Cowboys Stadium | Jan 17 – Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome | |||||||||||||||||
| 6 | Philadelphia | 14 | ||||||||||||||||
| 3 | Dallas | 3 | ||||||||||||||||
| 3 | Dallas | 34 | Jan 24 – Louisiana Superdome | |||||||||||||||
| 2 | Minnesota | 34 | ||||||||||||||||
| NFC | ||||||||||||||||||
| Jan 10 – University of Phoenix Stadium | 2 | Minnesota | 28 | |||||||||||||||
| Jan 16 – Louisiana Superdome | ||||||||||||||||||
| 1 | New Orleans | 31* | ||||||||||||||||
| 5 | Green Bay | 45 | NFC Championship | |||||||||||||||
| 4 | Arizona | 14 | ||||||||||||||||
| 4 | Arizona | 51* | Feb 7 – Sun Life Stadium | |||||||||||||||
| 1 | New Orleans | 45 | ||||||||||||||||
| Wild Card playoffs | ||||||||||||||||||
| Divisional playoffs | ||||||||||||||||||
| Jan 9 – Paul Brown Stadium | N1 | New Orleans | 31 | |||||||||||||||
| Jan 17 – Qualcomm Stadium | ||||||||||||||||||
| A1 | Indianapolis | 17 | ||||||||||||||||
| 5 | NY Jets | 24 | Super Bowl XLIV | |||||||||||||||
| 5 | NY Jets | 17 | ||||||||||||||||
| 4 | Cincinnati | 14 | Jan 24 – Lucas Oil Stadium | |||||||||||||||
| 2 | San Diego | 14 | ||||||||||||||||
| AFC | ||||||||||||||||||
| Jan 10 – Gillette Stadium | 5 | NY Jets | 17 | |||||||||||||||
| Jan 16 – Lucas Oil Stadium | ||||||||||||||||||
| 1 | Indianapolis | 30 | ||||||||||||||||
| 6 | Baltimore | 33 | AFC Championship | |||||||||||||||
| 6 | Baltimore | 3 | ||||||||||||||||
| 3 | New England | 14 | ||||||||||||||||
| 1 | Indianapolis | 20 | ||||||||||||||||
- * Indicates OT victory
Schedule
In the United States, NBC broadcast the first two Wild Card playoff games. Fox then televised the rest of the NFC games. CBS broadcast the rest of the AFC playoff games and Super Bowl XLIV.
| Round | Away team | Score | Home team | Date | Kickoff (ET / UTC-5) |
TV |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wild Card playoffs | New York Jets | 24–14 | Cincinnati Bengals | January 9, 2010 | 4:30 pm | NBC |
| Philadelphia Eagles | 14–34 | Dallas Cowboys | January 9, 2010 | 8:00 pm | ||
| Baltimore Ravens | 33–14 | New England Patriots | January 10, 2010 | 1:00 pm | CBS | |
| Green Bay Packers | 45–51 (OT) | Arizona Cardinals | January 10, 2010 | 4:30 pm | Fox | |
| Divisional playoffs | Arizona Cardinals | 14–45 | New Orleans Saints | January 16, 2010 | 4:30 pm | Fox |
| Baltimore Ravens | 3–20 | Indianapolis Colts | January 16, 2010 | 8:00 pm | CBS | |
| Dallas Cowboys | 3–34 | Minnesota Vikings | January 17, 2010 | 1:00 pm | Fox | |
| New York Jets | 17–14 | San Diego Chargers | January 17, 2010 | 4:30 pm | CBS | |
| Conference Championships | New York Jets | 17–30 | Indianapolis Colts | January 24, 2010 | 3:00 pm | CBS |
| Minnesota Vikings | 28–31 (OT) | New Orleans Saints | January 24, 2010 | 6:30 pm | Fox | |
| Super Bowl XLIV Sun Life Stadium, Miami Gardens, Florida |
New Orleans Saints | 31–17 | Indianapolis Colts | February 7, 2010 | 6:30 pm | CBS |
Wild Card playoffs
Saturday, January 9, 2010
AFC: New York Jets 24, Cincinnati Bengals 14
| Period | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jets | 0 | 14 | 7 | 3 | 24 |
| Bengals | 7 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 14 |
at Paul Brown Stadium, Cincinnati, Ohio
- Game time: 4:30 p.m. EST
- Game weather: Cloudy, 21 °F (−6 °C)
- Game attendance: 63,686
- Referee: Bill Leavy (127)
- TV announcers (NBC): Tom Hammond (play-by-play), Joe Theismann, Joe Gibbs (color commentators) and Tiki Barber (sideline reporter)
- Recap, Game Book
| Game information | |
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