Playoffs need altering!

[lqmac1]

The NFL needs to redo the playoffs system. Division winners must have atleast a .500 record, if not, they just need to allow the 6 best teams! It's an embarrassment to the league and the game to have anyone from the NFC south in and an 11-5 team (potentially) out!

 

[jazzcat22]

What if we were 7-9 but won the division, but yet weren't allowed in the playoffs, because it was the worst record for playoff teams, so we are ousted from a team finishing 8-8.

 

[big dog cowboy]

The league already knows that. Expect changes this off season.

 

[Crown Royal]

I am for anything that still keeps the division important, but does not over reward for a poor division.

 

[landroverking]

The league already knows that. Expect changes this off season.

I don't think changes are coming unless it is to add one more team in each conference and have only the top seed get a bye.

 

[links18]

The league will continue to give division winners an automatic playoff birth. The four team races keep things interesting for more fans longer into the season and that is what they want. I can see them adding another wild card team though. They have already talked about that.

 

[a.stovall2]

It's part of sports. In divisional formats this will happen. Who cares what the records are.

 

[Crown Royal]

The league will continue to give division winners an automatic playoff birth. The four team races keep things interesting for more fans longer into the season and that is what they want. I can see them adding another wild card team though. They have already talked about that.

Yeah I think this is the most likely scenario. It sucks when you see divisions like the NFC South steal away a playoff birth from better teams, but that's an anomoly more than a norm. I, for one, enjoy the importance of division games in the NFL.

 

[khiladi]

The NFL needs to redo the playoffs system. Division winners must have atleast a .500 record, if not, they just need to allow the 6 best teams! It's an embarrassment to the league and the game to have anyone from the NFC south in and an 11-5 team (potentially) out!

Unless of course the Cowboys are 8-8 and can go into the playoffs like this...

 

[Givincer]

I really think this gnashing of teeth over the winner of a bad division getting in the playoffs is quite silly.

Take this to its logical end.

If we go to a system where the 6 best teams in each conference are awarded playoff berths, what happens when the AFC has a 10-6 team that misses the playoffs, and the NFC has a 9-7 team that made the playoffs? Why not, by the same logic, just have the 12 teams with the best records in the NFL make the playoffs.

I like the fact that divisions and conferences exist and matter.

 

[khiladi]

The issue with divisions is you play teams twice in them. Are you going to stop that format?

 

[Super_Kazuya]

I think the best you can hope for is a re-seed, sending a 6 or 7 win division winner in the road instead of hosting a playoff game. Eliminating division winners will make playing the current schedule pointless and in some cases unfair.

 

[cowboys2233]

The NFL needs to redo the playoffs system. Division winners must have atleast a .500 record, if not, they just need to allow the 6 best teams! It's an embarrassment to the league and the game to have anyone from the NFC south in and an 11-5 team (potentially) out!

Coming at this time, this sounds like nothing more than sour grapes. Where was all this talk before? Sorry, no excuses.

 

[Doomsday101]

I don't see any changes coming other than the leagues desire to add a team to the post season. Division winner have always gone in and that is not going to change. If they were going to do that they would just do away with divisions all together and just have 16 teams in the NFC and 16 in the AFC and take the top 6 from each conference

 

[a.stovall2]

If you want to keep rivalries like they are you have to keep divisions. I like playing the NFCE twice and want it no other way. In best record format the schedules would all almost have to be identical to be fair.

 

[Crown Royal]

Coming at this time, this sounds like nothing more than sour grapes. Where was all this talk before? Sorry, no excuses.

I felt the same way in I think 2011 or 2012 when Seattle made it at 7-9 I think?

 

[Crown Royal]

I don't see any changes coming other than the leagues desire to add a team to the post season. Division winner have always gone in and that is not going to change. If they were going to do that they would just do away with divisions all together and just have 16 teams in the NFC and 16 in the AFC and take the top 6 from each conference

What would the effect be to keep it the way it is, except adding the one caveat that the Division winners MUST have winning records?

 

[Direwolf63]

What if we were 7-9 but won the division, but yet weren't allowed in the playoffs, because it was the worst record for playoff teams, so we are ousted from a team finishing 8-8.

Too bad. Win more games.

I don't see changes coming either. But it should be changed. I proposed changes in another thread a couple of weeks ago.

If a division winner had 7 wins or less, they are replaced by a 3rd wildcard team if they have a better record. If the division winner and the 3rd WC team is tied, the division winner gets in.

 

[big dog cowboy]

add one more team in each conference and have only the top seed get a bye.

That is what I was referring to.

 

[cowboys2233]

I felt the same way in I think 2011 or 2012 when Seattle made it at 7-9 I think?

Yeah, and they also beat a highly favored Saints team in the playoffs. Not exactly strong support for keeping sub .500 teams out -- they represented themselves well in the playoffs that year.