This bracket was used This template is to generate a tournament bracket for the 8-team National Football League Playoffs format that was in effect between the 1970 NFL season to 1977 NFL season. Playoff seeding was first used in the 1975 NFL season. Prior to that, home field and matchups were determined based on a yearly rotation. The matchup in each conference's divisional playoffs that included the wild card team never had home field advantage in their respective conference's championship game until seeding was first used.