For the last 10 years, there are patterns for whether a playoff game was won by the home (H) or the visiting (V) teams:
Wildcard Rounds
It has been five years since the last time that there were more home wins than road wins. This is the round that has the most visitors win and the last three years saw more visitors than home teams win. And yet – all of the home teams are favored this year and in almost every year.
Adding an additional wild card team (No. 7 seed) would seem to make it more likely that home teams would win more, but not so. There were ten road teams and only four home teams that won in the last three seasons. By this point, it would be a major surprise that all home teams won, regardless what the betting lines are.
- 2011 Winners
H – Cincinnati 10, Houston 31
H – Detroit 28, New Orleans 45
H – Atlanta 2, New York Giants 24
H – Pittsburgh 23, Denver 29 - 2012 Winners
H – Indianapolis 9, Baltimore 24
H – Cincinnati 13, Houston 19
H – Minnesota 10, Green Bay 24
V – Seattle 24, Washington 14 - 2013 Winners
H – Kansas City 44, Indianapolis 45
V – San Francisco 23, Green Bay 20
V – New Orleans 26, Philadelphia 24
V – San Diego 27, Cincinnati 10 - 2014 Winners
H – Arizona 16, Panthers 27
V – Baltimore 30, Steelers 17
H – Bengals 10, Colts 26
H – Lions 20, Cowboys 24 - 2015 Winners
V – Chiefs 30, Texans 0
V – Steelers 18, Bengals 16
V – Seahawks 10, Vikings 9
V – Packers 35, Redskins 18 - 2016 Winners
H – Raiders 14, Texans 27
H – Lions 6, Seahawks 26
H – Dolphins 12, Steelers 30
H – Giants 13, Packers 38 - 2017 Winners
V – Titans 22, Chiefs 21
V – Falcons 26, Rams 13
H – Bills 3, Jaguars 10
H – Panthers 26, Saints 31 - 2018 Winners
V – Colts 21, Texans 7
H – Seahawks 22, Cowboys 24
V – Chargers 23, Ravens 17
V – Eagles 16, Bears 15 - 2019 Winners
H – Bills 19, Texans 22 OT
V – Titans 20, Patriots 13
V – Vikings 26, Saints 20 OT
V – Seahawks 17, Eagles 9 - 2020 Winners
H – Colts 24, Bills 27
V – Rams 30, Seahawks 20
V – Buccaneers 31, Washington Football Team 23
V – Ravens 20, Titans 13
H – Bears 9, Saints 21
V – Browns 48, Steelers 37
Divisional Rounds
The divisional round rarely contains more than one road winner. nine of the last ten years saw at least three home teams win and twice it was all home teams. The most common is one road winner. Over the last ten years, the 40 games have seen 31 home winners and 9 road winners. So road winners are only 23%.
- 2011 Winners
H – New Orleans 32, San Francisco 36
H – Denver 10, New England 45
H – Houston 13, Baltimore 20
V – NY Giants 37, Green Bay 20 - 2012 Winners
V – Baltimore 38, Denver 35
H – Houston 28, New England 41
H – Seattle 28, Atlanta 30
H – Green Bay 31, San Francisco 45 - 2013 Winners
H – New Orleans 15, Seattle 23
H – Indianapolis 22, New England 43
V – San Francisco 23, Carolina 10
H – San Diego 17, Denver 24 - 2014 Winners
H – Ravens 31, Patriots 35
H – Panthers 17, Seahawks 31
H – Cowboys 21, Packers 26
V – Colts 24, Broncos 13 - 2015 Winners
H – Chiefs 20, Patriots 27
H – Packers 20, Cardinals 26
H – Seahawks 24, Panthers 31
H – Steelers 16, Broncos 23 - 2016 Winners
H – Seahawks 20, Falcons 36
H – Texans 16, Patriots 34
V – Packers 34, Cowboys 31
V – Steelers 18, Chiefs 16 - 2017 Winners
H – Falcons 10, Eagles 15
H – Titans 14, Patriots 35
H – Saints 24, Vikings 29
V – Jaguars 45, Steelers 42 - 2018 Winners
H – Chargers 22, Patriots 41
H – Colts 13, Chiefs 31
H – Cowboys 22, Rams 30
H – Eagles 14, Saints 20 - 2019 Winners
V – Titans 28, Ravens 12
H – Vikings 10, 49ers 27
H – Seahawks 23, Packers 28
H – Texans 31, Chiefs 51 - 2020 Winners
H – Rams 18, Packers 32
H – Ravens 3, Bills 17
H – Browns 17, Chiefs 22
V – Buccaneers 30, Saints 20
Championship Rounds
This is why home field is so important. The trend is strongly both home teams win and this is why that homefield advantage and the No. 1 seed is so important. Six of the last seven years saw both home teams win, broken up only by the shocker of 2018 when both road teams won in overtime, including the contested win by the Rams over the Saints. When it comes to betting, the home team wins about 70% of the time in the last decade
- 2011 Winners
H – Baltimore 20, New England 23
V – NY Giants 20, San Francisco 17 - 2012 Winners
V – 49ers 28, Falcons 24
V – Ravens 28, Patriots 13 - 2013 Winners
H – New England 16, Denver 26
H – San Francisco 17, Seattle 23 - 2014 Winners
H – Packers 22, Seahawks 28
H – Colts 7, Patriots 45 - 2015 Winners
H – Patriots 18, Broncos 20
H – Cardinals 15, Panthers 49
- 2016 Winners
H – Packers 21, Falcons 44
H – Steelers 17, Patriots 36 - 2017 Winners
H – Jaguars 20, Patriots 24
H – Vikings 7, Eagles 38 - 2018 Winners
V – Rams 26, Saints 23 OT
V – Patriots 37, Chiefs 31 OT - 2019 Winners
H – Titans 24, Chiefs 35
H – Packers 20, 49ers 37 - 2020 Winners
V – Buccaneers 31, Packers 26
H – Bills 24, Chiefs 38