Every 1988 NFL playoff game, three ways: the season race carried on into the postseason, how far each club went against its record, and the bracket.
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The same race these clubs ran all season, carried on through the postseason on one scale and on real dates.
Where each club finished the season against how far it went, ranked on record rather than seed.
Who played whom, round by round, which no line chart can say.
San Francisco 49ers won the 1988 title from a regular season record of 10-6. 10 teams reached the playoffs and the bracket ran 4 rounds. Every game below is taken from FiveThirtyEight's openly licensed NFL data; nothing on this page is estimated.
| Round | Won by | Result | Opponent | Played |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wild Card Round | Minnesota Vikings | 28-17 | Los Angeles Rams | December 26, 1988 |
| Wild Card Round | Houston Oilers | 24-23 | Cleveland Browns | December 24, 1988 |
| Divisional Round | Chicago Bears | 20-12 | Philadelphia Eagles | December 31, 1988 |
| Divisional Round | Cincinnati Bengals | 21-13 | Seattle Seahawks | December 31, 1988 |
| Divisional Round | Buffalo Bills | 17-10 | Houston Oilers | January 1, 1989 |
| Divisional Round | San Francisco 49ers | 34-9 | Minnesota Vikings | January 1, 1989 |
| Conference Championship | San Francisco 49ers | 28-3 | Chicago Bears | January 8, 1989 |
| Conference Championship | Cincinnati Bengals | 21-10 | Buffalo Bills | January 8, 1989 |
| Super Bowl | San Francisco 49ers | 20-16 | Cincinnati Bengals | January 22, 1989 |
The left column ranks this field by regular season record, not by seed number: seeding rules differ by era, so this site uses records everywhere instead. The right column groups clubs by the round they went out in, which is not the same as the number of rounds they won, because a bye carries a club further without it winning anything. The figure beside a name is places moved between the two columns, and part of it is only where a club sat inside its band. Nothing here is a prediction. The data notes carry the whole method, and a standings race and the playoffs that followed it says what each of the three views is for.
The races that filled this bracket: AFC Central AFC East AFC West AFC Wild Card NFC Central NFC East NFC West NFC Wild Card