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How an NFL Playoff Bracket pool works
An NFL Playoff Bracket is filled out once, before Wild Card weekend: a winner for all 13 playoff games, through the Super Bowl champion. Later rounds score more. Here is one bracket on the real January 2026 playoffs.
1. The commissioner sets the rules
The games are set for you. The commissioner chooses the rest, and can change it until the first Wild Card kickoff:
- Round points. By default a correct pick scores 1 point in the Wild Card round, 2 in the Divisional round, 4 in the conference championships and 8 in the Super Bowl, so a perfect bracket is worth 30. Any round can be set from 1 to 1,000.
- Tiebreaker. The Super Bowl's total points (the default), or none.
2. You fill out your bracket
Picks open once the 14-team field is set at the end of the regular season: seven seeds per conference, with each 1 seed on a bye. Pick a winner for every Wild Card game, then every game after it, through the Super Bowl. A team can only win a game you've picked it to reach, and with the tiebreaker on, your bracket includes your guess at the Super Bowl's total points.
The Divisional round reseeds, as the NFL's does: in each conference the 1 seed hosts the lowest seed left from your Wild Card picks, and the other two winners meet. This bracket advanced NE (2), JAX (3) and HOU (5) in the AFC, so its DEN hosted HOU and NE hosted JAX. Your Divisional games fill in as you pick each conference's Wild Card round, and change if you change those picks.
3. Brackets lock
Every bracket locks at the first Wild Card kickoff, and nobody can save after that, the commissioner included; new entries close then too. Until the lock you can change anything as often as you like, and the commissioner can fill in or fix a member's bracket. Brackets stay hidden until the lock: the pool sees only who has saved one. Then everyone's bracket opens in the Field tab, with the share of the pool that picked each team.
4. Games are graded
PikSheet records each result as the game goes final. A pick scores its round's points when that team wins a game in that round, whoever it beats. In the real playoffs BUF beat JAX, so DEN hosted BUF, not the HOU this bracket had; DEN won, and the bracket's DEN pick still scored. The whole bracket:
| Round | Picks | Winners | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wild Card1 point each | NE, JAX, HOU, CHI, PHI, LAR | NE, BUF, HOU, CHI, SF, LAR | 44 of 6 |
| Divisional2 points each | DEN, NE, SEA, CHI | DEN, NE, SEA, LAR | 63 of 4 |
| Conference4 points each | DEN, SEA | NE, SEA | 41 of 2 |
| Super Bowl8 points each | SEA | SEA | 81 of 1 |
9 of 13 picks correct scores 22 of a possible 30 points. The Super Bowl pick alone was worth more than the whole Wild Card round.
5. Tiebreaker
Entries level on points rank by how close they came to the Super Bowl's total points (42, for SEA's 29–13 win over NE), closest first. With the tiebreaker off, tied entries share a place.
6. Standings
One standings table covers the playoffs. Each entry shows its points and the most it can still score, so you can see who is still alive for first. The most points after the Super Bowl wins.
Ready to run one? Start a pool and choose NFL Playoff Bracket.