Over on profootballtalk.nbcsports.com, Florio posted this article about how home field in the divisional round is no longer a lock for a win. He points out that, since 2005, home teams in the divisional round of the playoffs are 12-12.
But he picked 2005 advisedly—the trend prior to that year is very much the home teams winning. In fact, if you look at the win-loss totals by 5 year periods, they are (with the exception of the early 1990s and late 2000s) fairly consistent:
| Years | Home Wins | Home Losses | % |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1970-1974 | 15 | 5 | 75% |
| 1975-1979 | 12 | 8 | 60% |
| 1980-1984 | 13 | 7 | 65% |
| 1985-1989 | 15 | 5 | 75% |
| 1990-1994 | 18 | 2 | 90% |
| 1995-1999 | 15 | 5 | 75% |
| 2000-2004 | 16 | 4 | 80% |
| 2005-2009 | 10 | 10 | 50% |
You can see there's been a fair amount of variation—the late 70s came very close to a 50% win rate for the home team as well, and in the early 90s, the home team had a virtual lock in the divisional round.
The WL totals for all home teams in the divisional rounds since 1970 (and including the 2010 games) is 116-48 (70.7%).
