The No. 1 Seed Is Hugely Important in the NFL, but What Does the Designation Mean?

The playoff bracket for the NFL is set, and the regular season climaxed with one of the most important regular season games in history. The Detroit Lions and Minnesota Vikings came into their Jan. 5 game looking to earn the No. 1 seed. They had the same 14-2 record, so the winner would get the No. 1 seed and the loser drop all the way to No. 5.

If you're wondering what all that actually is, and how seeding works in the league, we've got you covered. Here's what the No. 1 seed, and what it gets you.

To explain seeding, we should first explain how the playoffs work in the NFL. Fourteen teams make it into the playoff tournament, seven from the AFC and seven from the NFC. Four of those teams are the champions of each conference's North, South, East, and West divisions, and the final three teams are "wild card" teams, or teams that didn't win a division, but had the best records in their conference.

Seeding is determined first by a team's record, with other tiebreakers coming into the mix if necessary. Teams battle first within their conference until only one from each conference remains, and then those two teams face off in the Super Bowl.

Seven is, obviously, not an even number, which is why Wild Card Weekend doesn't involve the No. 1 seed from either conference.

According to USA Today, the first weekend of playoff games features the No. 2 seed playing the No. 7, the No. 3 playing the No. 6, and the No. 4 playing the No. 5. The No. 1 seeds have what is called a bye, which means they have to play one fewer game overall, and they get a week of rest that the rest of the playoff teams do not.

The No. 1 seed also ensures that a team is hosting every game they play until they make it to the Super Bowl, which is also a big deal.

Basically, then, the No. 1 seed comes with major benefits that the rest of the conference doesn't get. An extra week of rest, one fewer game, and home field advantage all make the path to the Super Bowl easier than it might otherwise be.

What's even crazier, though, is that the Vikings went from the No. 1 seed to the No. 5 seed with their loss against Detroit.

Because the winners of each division are locked into the first four seeds, the Vikings, who are tied for the second best record in the entire league, will have to play three road playoff games if they want to make it to the Super Bowl.

Seeding in some playoffs doesn't matter very much. Even in the NFL the benefits are lesser if you don't land the No. 1 seed. If you do land taht seed, though, you undeniably have an easier path to the Super Bowl than every other team in your conference, which is part of the reason you play the regular season games to begin with.