1981–82 NFL playoffs
The 49ers playing against the Bengals in Super Bowl XVI | |||||
| Dates | December 27, 1981–January 24, 1982 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | 1981 | ||||
| Teams | 10 | ||||
| Games played | 9 | ||||
| Super Bowl XVI site | |||||
| Defending champions | Oakland Raiders (did not qualify) | ||||
| Champion | San Francisco 49ers | ||||
| Runner-up | Cincinnati Bengals | ||||
| Conference runners-up | |||||
| |||||
The National Football League playoffs for the 1981 season began on December 27, 1981. The postseason tournament concluded with the San Francisco 49ers defeating the Cincinnati Bengals in Super Bowl XVI, 26–21, on January 24, 1982, at the Pontiac Silverdome in Pontiac, Michigan.
Both conference champions had losing records the previous season, the only time this has happened. All four AFC playoff games were between teams who had never faced each other in the postseason before. This was the only time this happened in either conference since the playoffs were expanded to 10 teams in 1978.
This also marked the first time that the AFC playoff participants consisted only of teams that originated in the original AFL. Previous editions of the playoffs since the merger had included either the Steelers, Colts and/or Browns, each of whom joined the AFC in 1970 after beginning as an NFL team pre-merger.
This was also the first year that both New York City area teams, the Giants and the Jets, made the playoffs together in the same year. The Giants qualified for the first time since 1963, and the Jets for the first time since 1969.