Changes

*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]] (traditionally, the Super Bowl champion plays in this game) and concludes the week after [[Christmas]].  Most games are played on Sunday (starting generally at 1pm Eastern time, 4pm Eastern time which usually features a matchup between teams of prominence along with teams playing on the West Coast, and an 8pm "national" broadcast; the league reserves the right to "flex" teams into this slot if the game would have an effect on playoff contention), with one or more games played on Monday and on Thursday as well (however, there are no Monday night games played on the final week of the season).  Games are not played on Friday or Saturday during most of the season due to federal laws prohibiting NFL games from 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 as the home team) and concludes the week after [[Christmas]].  Most games are played on Sunday (starting generally at 1pm Eastern time, 4pm Eastern time which usually features a matchup between teams of prominence along with teams playing on the West Coast, and an 8pm "national" broadcast; the league reserves the right to "flex" teams into this slot if the game would have an effect on playoff contention), with one or more games played on Monday and on Thursday as well (however, there are no Monday night games played on the final week of the season).  Games are not played on Friday or Saturday during most of the season due to federal laws prohibiting NFL games from 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===