In the divisional playoffs, the Falcons defeated the St. Louis Rams 47 – 17 in the Georgia Dome, advancing to the NFC Championship, which they lost to the Eagles 27 – 10.

Although they failed to make the playoffs in 2009, the streak ended when the team rallied to win their final three regular season games to record back-to-back winning seasons for the first time in franchise history.

As a result, they were out of the playoffs.

Those against the Wild Card see it as diminishing the importance of the pennant race and the regular season, with the true race often being for second rather than first place, while those in favor of it view it as an opportunity for teams to have a shot at the playoffs even when they have no chance of a first-place finish in their division, thus maintaining fan interest later in the season.

In the playoffs, they easily defeated the Cowboys in the wild-card round before facing the St. Louis Rams in the divisional round.

The Cowboys are the only NFL team to record 20 straight winning seasons ( 1966 – 85 ), in which they only missed the playoffs twice ( 1974 and 1984 ), an NFL record that remains unchallenged.

Star receiver Michael Irvin was suspended by the league for the first five games of 1996 following a drug-related arrest ; he came back after the Cowboys started the season 2-3 ; they finished 10-6 and won the NFC East title, but were eliminated in the divisional round of the playoffs 26-17 by the second-year Carolina Panthers.

In 1930, the Cougars were renamed the Falcons, but their woes continued, as they usually finished near the bottom of the standings, even though they made the playoffs again in 1932.

The following season Yzerman scored 62 goals, but the team missed the playoffs ( which as of 2012 is the most recent time they did so ).

New coach Bryan Murray was unable to get them back over. 500, but they returned to the playoffs.

The Wings cruised to the playoffs, where they faced the Nashville Predators.

In the second round, they fell behind the San Jose Sharks three games to one, before being knocked out of the playoffs in five games.

Torborg's successor, 72-year-old Jack McKeon, improbably led them to the National League's wild card berth in the playoffs ; they defeated the New York Yankees four games to two in the 2003 World Series.

The two teams met twice a year ( interrupted in 1982 by a player strike ) 1970 – 2001 ; with the move of the Colts to the AFC South the two teams ' rivalry actually escalated, as they met three times in the playoffs in the South's first nine seasons of existence ; the Jets crushed the Colts 41 – 0 in the 2002 Wild Card playoff round ; the Colts then defeated the Jets 30 – 17 in the 2009 AFC Championship Game ; but the next year in the Wild Card round the Jets pulled off another playoff upset of the Colts, winning 17 – 16 ; it was Peyton Manning's final playoff game with the Colts.

In 1977 Baltimore tied for first for the third straight year ( in 1976 they tied with the now-New England Patriots ) with Miami, and this time advanced to the playoffs on even slimmer pretenses, with a conference record of 9 – 3 compared to Miami's 8 – 4, as they had split the season series.

Since then they have appeared in the playoffs in 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2011.

Following a 2006 season in which they missed the playoffs, Lamar Hunt sold the club in August 2006 to OnGoal, LLC, a six-man ownership group led by Cerner Corporation co-founders Neal Patterson and Cliff Illig, a local group committed to keeping the Wizards in Kansas City.

By the turn of 1992 they were top of the Second Division, and then suffered a dip in form before recovering to qualify for the playoffs, during which Dalglish led Blackburn into the new Premier League by beating Leicester City 1 – 0 in the Second Division Play-off final at Wembley.

Since the merger, they have made the playoffs 24 times, third most in the league.

In the playoffs they built on their cold weather reputation, defeating both the St. Louis Cardinals 30 – 14 and the Los Angeles Rams 14 – 10 in frozen Metropolitan Stadium.

By, age was taking its toll on the Vikings, but they still made the playoffs with an 8 – 7 – 1 record.

In 1985, they returned to the playoffs, and made it all the way to Super Bowl XX, which they lost to the Chicago Bears 46 – 10.

" On September 28, the Diamondbacks defeated the Colorado Rockies to secure a position in the 2007 playoffs.

They then defeated the Bears 29 – 21 in the Divisional playoffs, before falling to the Seahawks in the NFC Championship, losing 34 – 14.

Gailey led the team to two playoff appearances with a 10 – 6 record in 1998 and an NFC East championship, but the Cowboys were defeated in the playoffs by the Arizona Cardinals 20-7 ; after an 8 – 8 season in 1999 ( during which Irvin suffered a career-ending spinal injury in a loss to the Philadelphia Eagles ) ending in another playoff loss ( this time to the Minnesota Vikings 27-10 ), he was fired and became the first Cowboys coach who did not take the team to a Super Bowl.

Following the championship, the Colts returned to the playoffs in 1971 and defeated the Cleveland Browns in the first round, but lost to the Miami Dolphins in the AFC Championship.

On November 4, 2007 the Patriots defeated the Colts 24 – 20 ; in the next matchup on November 2, 2008, the Colts won 18 – 15 in a game that was one of the reasons the Patriots failed to make the playoffs ; in the 2009 meeting, the Colts staged a spirited comeback to beat the Patriots 35 – 34 ; in the most recent 2010 game, the Colts almost staged another comeback, pulling within 31 – 28 after trailing 31 – 14 in the fourth quarter, but fell short due to a Patriots interception of a Manning pass late in the game.

In the playoffs, the Wizards defeated the Colorado Rapids, 7 points to 1 in three games.

The Jets advanced to the playoffs for the first time in 1968 and went on to compete in Super Bowl III where they defeated the Baltimore Colts, becoming the first AFL team to defeat an NFL club in an AFL-NFL World Championship Game.

The Giants defeated the 49ers 49 – 3 in the divisional round of the NFC playoffs and the Redskins 17 – 0 in the NFC championship game, advancing to their first Super Bowl, Super Bowl XXI, against the Denver Broncos at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena.

On January 8, 2012 in the first round of the playoffs the Giants defeated the Atlanta Falcons 24 – 2.

In the playoffs, Dallas defeated the Detroit Lions in sunny weather at the Cotton Bowl, 5-0, with a field goal and a safety.

They posted a 12-2 record during the regular season, then defeated the Cincinnati Bengals and the Oakland Raiders in the playoffs.

The Vikings ' other loss was in week 12 to the Cincinnati Bengals, whom the Dolphins defeated in the AFC divisional playoffs.

Pittsburgh, who dominated teams with their " Steel Curtain " defense and running game, finished the regular season with a league best 12 – 2 record and defeated the Baltimore Colts and the Oakland Raiders in the playoffs.

The Rangers were defeated in the Conference Finals in five games by the Philadelphia Flyers, despite Gretzky leading the Rangers in the playoffs with 10 goals and 10 assists.

The record for a number of overtimes in a professional football game is three, when on June 30, 1984, the Los Angeles Express defeated the Michigan Panthers 27-21 in the 1984 USFL playoffs.

In the playoffs, Amarillo defeated Alexandria for their first league championship since 1999.

The Greys won both halves of the 1993 season and defeated the Ohio Valley Redcoats in the playoffs to become the first champions of the Frontier League.

In the first round of the playoffs the team defeated the Windy City ThunderBolts, the first playoff series win since 1995 in Zanesville.

The next year, in 1988, the Islanders captured another division title, but were defeated in the first round of the playoffs by the upstart New Jersey Devils.

Heading into the playoffs, the Flyers squeaked past Toronto in seven games and defeated Boston in five games, Game 5 featuring a five-goal outburst by Leach, the Riverton Rifle, to head to a third straight appearance in the Stanley Cup Finals.

The Avalanche met the two lowest seeds of the Western Conference in the first two rounds of the playoffs: the Chicago Blackhawks and the Edmonton Oilers, and defeated them in six games and five games, respectively.