The NFL made a key change to its playoff format ahead of the 2020 NFL season. No longer would just 12 teams make the postseason; 14 teams – seven from each conference – would make it in instead.
As a result, the No. 2 seed no longer got a bye week to begin the postseason. Instead, they had to play on wild-card weekend against the newly added No. 7 seed.
The goal of this change was twofold. From an on-the-field perspective, it made landing the No. 1 seed in each conference all the more valuable, as it was the only one to provide a bye week in addition to the home-field advantage that already came with it.