• Playing paper football is not used during the tie breaking process, but a coin toss can be used.football image by Dwight Davis from Fotolia.com
  
  Winning your division in the National Football League qualifies your team for the NFL's playoffs on the way to the Super Bowl. If two or more teams are tied for the division champion, that tie must be broken to determine who gets the title of the division champ and automatic entry into the playoffs. Fans of the team that loses the tiebreaker still have a chance for their team to make it into the playoffs but without the bragging rights of being division champ.
  
  

Record Against Each Other

• The first tiebreaker is comparing how the teams involved did against each other. Games played among the teams involved in the divisional tie are analyzed. If one team has a better record than the other teams involved in the tie in games played only between those teams that are tied, that team wins the tiebreaker.
  
  

Divisional Record

• If the teams involved in the tie had the same record in games against each other, their records within their own division are compared. The team that has the best record against all the teams in their division wins the tie breaker. This record includes games played against other teams involved in the tie.
  
  

Record Against Common Opponents

• If the tie remains with the teams having the same overall record, record against each other and record within the division, their records in games played against the same opponents are compared. The team with the better record wins the tiebreaker.
  
  

Divisional Games

• Sometimes a tie is not broken even after the third step in the tie breaking procedure. At that point the record of each team still involved in the tie against all of their opponents in their own division is compared. The team with the better record wins the tiebreaker.
  
  

Strength of Victory

• The next step used in breaking the tie is comparing the number of wins by teams each team defeated. Add up the number of wins for all of each team's opponents they defeated during the season. The team that defeated teams with the most victories wins the tie.
  
  

Strength of Schedule

• When a tie remains after strength of victory, the number of wins for every team each of the teams involved in the tie played against is added up. The team that played a schedule in which their opponents won the most games wins the tie breaker.
  
  

Points Scored and Allowed

• The teams in the tie are ranked within their own conference for both points scored and points allowed. Because first place is the best and is one point, the lower the score the better. Add up each team's ranking in the conference for both scoring and points allowed. If either team has an advantage in score at this point, the team with the lower score wins. If the tie is not broken, repeat this step ranking them among all teams in the league instead of just the conference.
  
  

Additional Tie Breakers

• The tie breaking process continues until one team has an advantage. These can include comparing the points scored minus points allowed for each team against the same opponents and then recalculating against all teams if the tie remains. The next-to-last tiebreaker is comparing if either team in the tie has scored more touchdowns than their opponents to a greater extent than the other team involved in the tie. The final tiebreaker is not very scientific; it comes down to a coin toss.