Football fans noticed something strange about NFL Wild Card Weekend, and the mystery prompted one NFL insider to get to the bottom of it.
The 2024-25 NFL Wild Card Weekend begins on Saturday with two games: Los Angeles Chargers at Houston Texans and Pittsburgh Steelers at Baltimore Ravens. Sunday will feature the Denver Broncos at Buffalo Bills, Green Bay Packers and Philadelphia Eagles and Washington Commanders at Philadelphia Eagles, with the Minnesota Vikings-Los Angeles Rams game at SoFi Stadium concluding the Wild Card Round on Monday.
From 2020 to 2023, the first round of the NFL Playoffs was known as “Super Wild Card Weekend.” But several fans on X/Twitter, as well as Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio, pointed out that “Super” had been removed from the “Wild Card Weekend.”
What happened to “Super” Wild card weekend? @NFL
— Michael Brown (@The_MBB91) January 8, 2025
Is Wild Card Weekend no longer super?
— Banks (@BarstoolBanks) January 6, 2025
What has this country come to https://t.co/ZjXdKVlHCT
Florio contacted the league to find out why “Super” had been dropped. Here’s the answer to the compelling mystery:
“Super’ debuted during the 2020 season playoffs when the NFL introduced the new Wild Card format and the addition of a team from each conference making the playoffs, the first change since 1990,” the league said via email. “‘Super’ was used the last four seasons to help differentiate from the previous 30 years of the Saturday/Sunday schedule and further drive awareness of the three days of Wild Card games. It served its purpose as fans have responded well. While it has been retired, there’s no doubt the Wild Card games will continue to be super.”
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And football fans were losing their minds with all sorts of interesting reactions to the news of the NFL changing it to Wild Card Weekend:
“It’s gonna be pretty great, but yeah, maybe not super!,” one fan said.
“We now have three divisional winners that play in it. We need to call it something else,” another suggested.
“If it’s not super wild card weekend any more can they just get rid of the MNF game already,” a fan opined.
“BOYCOTT!,” said another.
BOYCOTT!
— Joe Osborne (@JTFOz) January 8, 2025
“Why would you call it super wild card weekend in the first place,” one fan asked.
“Win. Never really got use to that,” another said.
“Nobody is upset about this. I hope,” wrote one user.
“When you call the championship game Super Bowl, and call the 1st Rd Super Wild Card Weekend, how can you also not call it Super Conference Championship Game Weekend?,” asked a fan.
When you call the championship game Super Bowl, and call the 1st Rd Super Wild Card Weekend, how can you also not call it Super Conference Championship Game Weekend?
— Stephen Eckhardt ❄️ (@seckhardt) January 8, 2025
The league expanded the postseason format in the 2020 season, with an extra wild card team being added to each conference. Instead of two teams in each conference getting a first-round bye, however, it was only assigned to the top seed in the AFC and NFC.
NFL Wild Card Weekend Should Be Epic This Weekend
With or without the word “Super” in their official title, this weekend’s slate of games should not disappoint. One might even say that it’ll be the most “super” Wild Card Weekend of them all under the current playoff format.
Every Steelers-Ravens battle is must-see TV, and Saturday will mark their first playoff meeting in 10 years. The Packers-Eagles tilt marks a showdown of two bonafide Super Bowl contenders, too. And a Vikings-Rams showdown wrapping it up? That’s a true game of the year candidate featuring two elite coaches and high-powered offenses.
