SEASONS
1978 NFL SEASON
< 1977 1979 >

This was the first year that the playoffs expanded to a ten-team format, adding a second wild card team (a fifth seed) from each conference. The two wild card teams from each conference (the 4 and 5 seeds) played each other in the first round, called the "Wild Card Playoffs." The division winners (seeds 1, 2, and 3) automatically advanced to the Divisional Playoffs, which became the second round of the playoffs.

However, the league continued to prohibit meetings between two teams from the same division in the divisional playoffs. Thus, there could be times when the pairings in that round would be the #1 seed vs. the #3 seed and #2 vs. #4 or #5.

STANDINGS
AFC East
RK TEAM GP W L T
1 new england patriots 16 11 5 0
2 miami dolphins 16 11 5 0
3 new york jets 16 8 8 0
4 Buffalo Bills 16 5 11 0
5 Baltimore Colts 16 5 11 0
AFC Central
RK TEAM GP W L T
1 Pittsburgh Steelers 16 14 2 0
2 Houston Oilers 16 10 6 0
3 Cleveland Browns 16 8 8 0
4 Cincinnati Bengals 16 4 12 0
AFC West
RK TEAM GP W L T
1 Denver Broncos 16 12 2 0
2 Oakland Raiders 16 9 7 0
3 Seattle Seahawks 16 16 9 7 0
4 San Diego Chargers 16 9 7 0
5 Kansas City Chiefs 16 4 12 0
NFC East
RK TEAM GP W L T
1 Dallas Cowboys 16 12 4 0
2 Philadelphia Eagles 16 9 7 0
3 Washington Redskins 16 8 8 0
4 St. Louis Cardinals 16 6 10 0
5 New York Giants 16 6 10 0
NFC Central
RK TEAM GP W L T
1 Minnesota Vikings 16 8 7 1
2 Green Bay Packers 16 8 7 1
3 Detroit Lions 16 7 9 0
4 Chicago Bears 16 7 9 0
5 Tampa Bay Buccaneers* 16 5 11 0
NFC West
RK TEAM GP W L T
1 Los Angeles Rams 16 12 4 0
2 Atlanta Falcons 16 9 7 0
3 New Orleans Saints 16 7 9 0
4 San Francisco 49ers 16 2 14 0
PLAYOFFS
Seed AFC NFC
1 Pittsburgh Steelers (Central winner) Los Angeles Rams (West winner)
2 New England Patriots (East winner) Dallas Cowboys (East winner)
3 Denver Broncos (West winner) Minnesota Vikings (Central winner)
4 Miami Dolphins (wild card) Atlanta Falcons (wild card)
5 Houston Oilers (wild card) Philadelphia Eagles (wild card)
Wild Card playoffs
Dec 24
1978

PHI
13 @ 14
ATL

HOU
17 @ 9
MIA
Divisional playoffs
Dec 30
1978

DEN
10 @ 33
PIT

ATL
20 @ 27
DAL
Dec 31
1978

HOU
31 @ 14
NE

MIN
10 @ 34
LAR
Conference Championships
JAN 07
1979

HOU
5 @ 34
PIT

DAL
28 @ 0
LAR

SUPER BOWL XIII
Miami Orange Bowl, MIAMI,FL
JAN 21
1979

PIT
35 @ 31
DAL