Changes

===Schedule Format===

===Schedule Format===

Teams play 17 regular season games (eight at home and eight on the road with the 17th game alternating each year home and away) over 18 weeks, with each team receiving a "bye" week roughly in the middle of the season, comprised of:

Teams play 17 regular season games (eight at home and eight on the road, with the 17th game alternating each year home and away) over 18 weeks, with each team receiving a "bye" week roughly in the middle of the season.  The games are scheduled as follows:

*Six games in a home-and-home against the other three teams in its division (the final week of the season features only divisional matchups),

*Six games in a home-and-home against the other three teams in its division (the final week of the season features only divisional matchups),

*Four teams against all the opponents of a inter-conference designated division (e.g. NFC vs. AFC) for that year (over an eight-year span every team in one conference will face every team in the other conference at least twice, once home and once away),

*Four teams against all the opponents of a inter-conference designated division (e.g. NFC vs. AFC) for that year (over an eight-year span every team in one conference will face every team in the other conference at least twice, once home and once away),

*Four teams against all the opponents of a intra-conference designated division (e.g. NFC vs. NFC and AFC vs. AFC) for that year (over a six-year span every team in a conference will face every other team in its conference at least twice, once home and once away),

*Four teams against all the opponents of a intra-conference designated division (e.g. NFC vs. NFC and AFC vs. AFC) for that year (over a six-year span every team in a conference will face every other team in its conference but not in its division at least twice, once home and once away),

*Two games against conference opponents of the non-designated divisions of the same conference for that year; the teams will be those which finished in the same place in the standings in their respective divisions (i.e. the first place team plays the other two first place teams, etc.), and

*Two games against conference opponents of the non-designated intra-conference divisions; the teams will be those which finished in the same place in the standings in their respective divisions (i.e. the first place team plays the other two first place teams, etc.), and

*A designated opponent from the other conference, which is not in that team's designated inter-conference division they would face during the season.

*A designated opponent from the other conference, set by the league office, which is not in that team's designated inter-conference division they would face during the season.

As an example, the [[Green Bay Packers]] finished first in the NFC North after the 2020 season.  They therefore played the following teams during the 2021 season:

As an example, the [[Green Bay Packers]] finished first in the NFC North after the 2020 season.  They therefore played the following teams during the 2021 season:

*Two games each, home and away, against [[Chicago Bears|Chicago]], [[Detroit Lions|Detroit]] and [[Minnesota Vikings|Minnesota]], their NFC North Division Rivals,

*Two games each, home and away, against [[Chicago Bears|Chicago]], [[Detroit Lions|Detroit]] and [[Minnesota Vikings|Minnesota]], their NFC North Division rivals,

*All four teams from the AFC North ([[Baltimore Ravens|Baltimore]] [[Cincinnati Bengals|Cincinnati]], [[Cleveland Browns|Cleveland]] and [[Pittsburgh Steelers|Pittsburgh]], which is their designated inter-conference division for that year,

*All four teams from the AFC North ([[Baltimore Ravens|Baltimore]] [[Cincinnati Bengals|Cincinnati]], [[Cleveland Browns|Cleveland]] and [[Pittsburgh Steelers|Pittsburgh]], which was their designated inter-conference division for that year,

*All four teams from the NFC West ([[Arizona Cardinals|Arizona]], [[Los Angeles Rams]], [[San Francisco 49ers|San Francisco]] and [[Seattle Seahawks|Seattle]], which is their designated intra-conference division for that year,

*All four teams from the NFC West ([[Arizona Cardinals|Arizona]], [[Los Angeles Rams]], [[San Francisco 49ers|San Francisco]] and [[Seattle Seahawks|Seattle]], which was their designated intra-conference division for that year,

*The other teams from the NFC (besides the West) which also finished first in their divisions in 2020: those teams were [[New Orleans Saints|New Orleans]] (NFC South) and [[Washington Football Team|Washington]] (NFC East), and

*The other teams from the NFC (besides the West) which also finished first in their divisions in 2020: those teams were [[New Orleans Saints|New Orleans]] (NFC South) and [[Washington Football Team|Washington]] (NFC East), and

*A designated AFC team not in the AFC North, which for 2021 was [[Kansas City Chiefs|Kansas City]].

*A designated AFC team not in the AFC North, which for 2021 was [[Kansas City Chiefs|Kansas City]].

The season generally begins on the Thursday after [[Labor Day]] and concludes the week after [[Christmas]].  Most games are played on Sunday, with one or more games played on Monday and on Thursday as well.  Games are not played on Friday or Saturday during most of the season due to federal laws prohibiting NFL games competing with high school or college games; the league will play some Saturday games once the college football season ends and has very rarely played on Friday.  It does not play games on Wednesday and did not on Tuesday, though in 2020 and 2021 some games were moved to Tuesday due to COVID-related issues involving one or both teams.

The season generally begins on the Thursday after [[Labor Day]] (traditionally, the Super Bowl champion plays in this game) and concludes the week after [[Christmas]].  Most games are played on Sunday, with one or more games played on Monday and on Thursday as well.  Games are not played on Friday or Saturday during most of the season due to federal laws prohibiting NFL games competing with high school or college games; the league will play some Saturday games once the college football season ends and has very rarely played on Friday.  It does not play games on Wednesday and did not on Tuesday, though in 2020 and 2021 some games were moved to Tuesday due to COVID-related issues involving one or both teams.

===Playoff Format===

===Playoff Format===