1982–83 NFL playoffs
The National Football League playoffs for the 1982 season began on January 8, 1983. The postseason tournament concluded with the Washington Redskins defeating the Miami Dolphins in Super Bowl XVII, 27–17, on January 30, at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California.
The Washington Redskins' defense stopping a Miami Dolphins running play in Super Bowl XVII | |||||
| Dates | January 8–30, 1983 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | 1982 | ||||
| Teams | 16 | ||||
| Games played | 15 | ||||
| Super Bowl XVII site |
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| Defending champions | San Francisco 49ers (did not qualify) | ||||
| Champions | Washington Redskins | ||||
| Runners-up | Miami Dolphins | ||||
| Conference runners-up | |||||
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| Because a player's strike shortened the 1982 regular season to 9 games, the NFL adopted a special 16-team playoff tournament | |||||
A players' strike reduced the regular season to nine games. Thus, the league used a special 16-team playoff format (dubbed the "Super Bowl Tournament"), just for this year. Division standings were ignored (although each division did send at least one team to the playoffs). Eight teams from each conference were seeded 1–8 based on their regular season records.
Because of the eight-game first round, this was the first (and currently only) time that NFL playoff games were regionally televised across the United States instead of nationwide. This year was also the only season in which the conference championship games were played on separate days.
With the altered format and expanded playoff field, this season saw the first playoff berths given to teams with losing records (win percentage < .500), as both Cleveland and Detroit finished with 4–5 records (.444). Both teams lost in the first round of the playoffs. Since then, the 2010 Seattle Seahawks, 2014 Carolina Panthers, 2020 Washington Football Team, and 2022 Tampa Bay Buccaneers have won their division with losing records, with the 2010 Seahawks becoming the first sub-.500 team to make the playoffs in a full-length season and becoming the first sub-.500 team to win a playoff game.
The expanded playoff format made it possible for a team to host three games in the postseason, which Washington and Miami both did. Under the typical playoff format at the time, this was not possible as all wild-card round winners would always play away games in the divisional round. With the expansion to fourteen playoff teams starting in 2020–21, it is once again possible for a team to host three playoff games in the same season. This was first exemplified in the 2021 Kansas City Chiefs.