2003 NFL season
| Regular season | |
|---|---|
| Duration | September 4 – December 28, 2003 |
| Playoffs | |
| Start date | January 3, 2004 |
| AFC Champions | New England Patriots |
| NFC Champions | Carolina Panthers |
| Super Bowl XXXVIII | |
| Date | February 1, 2004 |
| Site | Reliant Stadium, Houston, Texas |
| Champions | New England Patriots |
| Pro Bowl | |
| Date | February 8, 2004 |
| Site | Aloha Stadium |
The 2003 NFL season was the 84th regular season of the National Football League (NFL).
The Philadelphia Eagles opened Lincoln Financial Field.
Regular season play was held from September 4, 2003 to December 28, 2003. Due to damage caused by the Cedar Fire, Qualcomm Stadium was used as an emergency shelter, and thus the Miami Dolphins–San Diego Chargers regular season match on October 27 was instead played at Sun Devil Stadium, the home field of the Arizona Cardinals.
The playoffs began on January 3, 2004. The NFL title was eventually won by the New England Patriots when they narrowly defeated the Carolina Panthers 32-29 in Super Bowl XXXVIII at Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas on February 1.
W = Wins, L = Losses, PCT = Winning Percentage, PF= Points For, PA = Points Against
Clinched playoff seeds are marked in parentheses and shaded in green. No ties occurred this year.
Within each conference, the four division winners and the two wild card teams (the top two non-division winners with the best overall regular season records) qualified for the playoffs. The four division winners are seeded 1 through 4 based on their overall won-lost-tied record, and the wild card teams are seeded 5 and 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 then receive a bye in the first round. 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 then meet in the respective AFC and NFC Conference Championship games, hosted by the higher seed. Although the Super Bowl, the fourth and final round of the playoffs, is played at a neutral site, the designated home team is based on an annual rotation by conference.
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