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How an NFL Playoff Ladder pool works
An NFL Playoff Ladder asks one question before Wild Card weekend: how far will each team go? You rank all 14 playoff teams, and every game a team wins pays you its rank. Here is one ladder on the real January 2026 playoffs.
1. The commissioner sets the rules
The teams are set for you. The commissioner chooses the rest, and can change it until the first Wild Card kickoff:
- Bye credit. Off by default. When on, each conference's 1 seed counts its Wild Card bye as a game won.
- Round multiplier. Off by default: every round counts ×1. Any round can count up to ×10, such as the Super Bowl at ×2, so a team's win there pays twice its rank.
- Tiebreaker. The Super Bowl's total points (the default), or none.
2. You rank the field
Picks open once the 14-team field is set at the end of the regular season. Rank every team from 14 (your strongest) down to 1, using each number once. A team that plays on Wild Card weekend and wins the Super Bowl wins four games; a 1 seed, after its bye, can win three, or four with bye credit on. With the tiebreaker on, your ladder includes your guess at the Super Bowl's total points.
3. Ladders lock
Every ladder 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 reorder as often as you like, and the commissioner can fill in or fix a member's ladder. Ladders stay hidden until the lock: the pool sees only who has saved one. Then everyone's ladder opens in the Field tab.
4. Games are graded
PikSheet records each result as the game goes final, and every win adds the winner's rank to your score. The whole ladder, with bye credit off:
| Team | Rank | Wins | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| SEA NFC 1 | 14 | 3 | 42 |
| DEN AFC 1 | 13 | 1 | 13 |
| NE AFC 2 | 12 | 3 | 36 |
| BUF AFC 6 | 11 | 1 | 11 |
| PHI NFC 3 | 10 | 0 | 0 |
| CHI NFC 2 | 9 | 1 | 9 |
| JAX AFC 3 | 8 | 0 | 0 |
| HOU AFC 5 | 7 | 1 | 7 |
| SF NFC 6 | 6 | 1 | 6 |
| PIT AFC 4 | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| GB NFC 7 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| LAC AFC 7 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| LAR NFC 5 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| CAR NFC 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
This ladder scores 128 points. With bye credit on, SEA and DEN each count one more game and it scores 155. The 2 on LAR still earned 4: a low rank on a team that makes a run adds up.
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), 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. The most points after the Super Bowl wins.
Ready to run one? Start a pool and choose NFL Playoff Ladder.