NFL playoffs, 1987-88
| Dates | January 3–31, 1988 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | 1987 | ||||
| Teams | 10 | ||||
| Games played | 9 | ||||
| Super Bowl XXII site | |||||
| Defending champions |
New York Giants (did not qualify) |
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| Champions | Washington Redskins | ||||
| Runners-up | Denver Broncos | ||||
| Conference runners-up |
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The National Football League playoffs for the 1987 season began on January 3, 1988. The postseason tournament concluded with the Washington Redskins defeating the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XXII, 42–10, on January 31, at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego, California.
Within each conference, the three 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 three division winners were seeded 1 through 3 based on their overall won-lost-tied record, and the wild card teams were seeded 4 and 5. The NFL did not use a fixed bracket playoff system. In the first round, dubbed the wild-card playoffs or wild-card weekend, the fourth seed wild card hosted the fifth seed. All three division winners from each conference then received a bye in the first round. The second round, the divisional playoffs, had a restriction where two teams from the same division could not meet: the surviving wild card team visited the division champion outside its own division that had the higher seed, and the remaining two teams from that conference played each other. 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, was played at a neutral site, the designated home team was based on an annual rotation by conference.
In the Saints' first playoff game in history, the Vikings dominated the game by recording two sacks, forcing four turnovers, and allowing only 149 yards.
New Orleans scored first after Vikings quarterback Tommy Kramer's fumble on a bad snap led to Saints quarterback Bobby Hebert's 10-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Eric Martin. Then, Kramer was sacked and the Vikings had to punt, but Saints returner Mel Gray accidentally hit the ball while trying to avoid it and the Vikings recovered on the New Orleans 27, leading to Chuck Nelson's 42-yard field goal. Kramer had to leave the game on the next drive with a pinched nerve in his neck, but the team would go on to win easily without him. Later in the quarter, they went up 10-7 when Anthony Carter returned a Saints punt a playoff record 84 yards for a touchdown.
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