NFL Conference Playoffs, 1933-66

[Andy Piascik]

There were nine such games during that era and my understanding is that on those occasions where both teams were playing in such a game for the first time, home field advantage was determined by a coin toss, while those occasions where one or both teams had previously played in a conference playoff, home field was determined by who had most recently played at home in such a game. So:

-the 1941 Bears-Packers game was played in Chicago because the Bears won a con toss;
-the 1943 Redskins-Giants game was played in New York because the Giants won a coin toss;
-the 1947 Eagles-Steelers game was played in Pittsburgh because the Steelers won a coin toss;
-the 1950 Rams-Bears game was played in Los Angeles because the Bears had previously hosted the 1941 game vs. the Packers;
-the 1950 Browns-Giants game was played in Cleveland because the Giants had previously hosted the 1943 game vs. the Redskins;
-the 1952 Lions-Rams game was played in Detroit because the Rams had previously hosted the 1950 game vs. the Bears;
-the 1957 Lions-49ers game was played in San Francisco because the Lions had previously hosted the 1952 game vs. the Rams;
-the 1958 Giants-Browns game was played in New York because the Browns had previously hosted the 1950 game vs. the Giants;
-and the 1965 Packers-Colts game was played in Green Bay because the Packers had previously lost the coin toss and had to play on the road in 1941 game vs. the Bears.

It seems highly unlikely that things worked out like that based on a coin toss for every game. Does anybody know?

[Rupert Patrick]

Ivan Urena would know the answer to this. He and I have been working for a couple years on a NFL tiebreaker matrix, which is an excel file where you pick the season and it pulls up all of the NFL playoff tiebreakers for that season. it only runs from 1967-2019, but I think we will have to revise it to cover how home teams were chosen for pre-1967 postseason games.

[IvanNYC]

Sites for all division/conference playoff games through 1966 (and in the AFL through ‘68) were determined by coin flip.

[Andy Piascik]

Thanks, Ivan. That's some string of coincidences.