NFL playoffs, 1996–97
| Dates | December 28, 1996–January 26, 1997 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | 1996 | ||||
| Teams | 12 | ||||
| Games played | 11 | ||||
| Super Bowl XXXI site | |||||
| Defending champions | Dallas Cowboys | ||||
| Champions | Green Bay Packers | ||||
| Runners-up | New England Patriots | ||||
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The National Football League playoffs for the 1996 season began on December 28, 1996. The postseason tournament concluded with the Green Bay Packers defeating the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XXXI, 35–21, on January 26, 1997, at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana.
This postseason was remarkable in that the Jacksonville Jaguars and Carolina Panthers each finished conference runner-up (by respectively upsetting the top seed (Broncos) and the defending champs (Cowboys) along the way), only two years after their inception into the league as expansion teams.
Within each conference, the three division winners and the three wild card teams (the top three 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 through 6. The NFL did not use a fixed bracket playoff system, and there were 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 hosted the sixth seed wild card, and the fourth seed hosted the fifth. The 1 and 2 seeds from each conference then received a bye in the first round. In the second round, the divisional playoffs, the number 1 seed hosted the worst surviving seed from the first round (seed 4, 5 or 6), while the number 2 seed played 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, was played at a neutral site, the designated home team was based on an annual rotation by conference.
The second year Jaguars forced four turnovers, racked up three sacks, and outgained Buffalo in total yards 409–308 to earn their first playoff win. After trading points back and forth all day, almost drive for drive, Jaguars safety Chris Hudson would make a decisive hit on Bills quarterback Jim Kelly, knocking him out of the game and forcing a fumble that his team would convert into the game winning score.
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