Re-envisioning the re-envisioned NFL season to be even better

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Couple of significant tweaks from the last time, but not at the expense of completely writing-off original intent...

(1) Have a way of still ending the season so that for most teams there is something to actually play for, though without an overhaul to the beginning of the playoffs... the last weekend is different, but the start of the playoffs is exactly as-is.

(2) That "something to play for" is a novel twist (as far as I can know) to how draft order is set for non-playoff teams. That is, the idea is to make draft order based on "adjusted W/L record," which is a slightly different thing than straight-up W/L record. For that last weekend's games, winning non-playoff teams are credited with a loss where draft order is concerned; and of course then, the converse is also true... losers are credited with a win where their draft placement is concerned.

So, translating all these words and boxes and columns and arrows to real life...

The upshot of this concept applied to the 2023 season's finish would look like this, and assuming that the higher seeds and better records win all the way through:

This weekend 1/28 (Conference Matches)
Lions @ Niners
Chiefs @ Ravens

Next weekend 2/4 (Bronze Weekend--ie, shrinking teams to 3)
Niners (1-0) vs. Ravens (1-0) in Kansas City
Chiefs (0-1) vs. Lions (0-1) in Baltimore

Following weekend 2/11 (Silver Weekend--ie, shrinking teams to 2)
Niners (1-1) vs. Lions (1-1) in Las Vegas
Ravens (2-0) enjoy bye weekend

Following weekend 2/18 (Super Bowl Premiere)
Niners (2-1) vs. Ravens (2-0) in Las Vegas

If Niners defeat Ravens, both teams are 1-1 against each other in post season, which forces Super Bowl Finale on 2/25. But Ravens have opportunity to win it all on 2/18.

Ostensibly, the 2023 season ends with Ravens #1, Niners #2, then Lions #3, and Chiefs #4.



Ready for the rotten tomato treatment... ... fire away!

 

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Whoa... come back and find... what's this... zero??? No rotten tomahtoes whatsoever? Either the congregation is satisfied with the revision of the revision, or they're just tired of me talking about it and would rather not encourage any further discussion. I'm betting the latter... hehe.

But, I'm returning nevertheless in order to correct a typo, and maybe (?) make this a little easier to read, with slightly less pixel vomit (... though, for whatever reason, I'm just not able to make it vivid here).

 

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By way of explanation... it's like this. You know how some people like crossword puzzles... or sudoku... or wordle. Well, I get a kick out of, instead, applying some of the same frontal cortex gray matter toward thinking of ways to improve professional sports seasons. Except I'd only played with ideas for MLB and NBA. And originally, it was all about NCAA FBS. And not like all the time, but rather once every few years, really.

With this, I've finally come around to the NFL. And while it's all only in my mind, I'm enjoying the thought of what-if... ie, that this very weekend, under the revised format, we'd be watching the Chiefs and Niners playing a neutral site game in Baltimore for the right to a bye to Super Bowl Premiere... and the Lions and Ravens playing a neutral site game in Kansas City that eliminates one or the other from the Super Bowl Tournament... and sending the winner to Las Vegas next weekend to play the Niners/Chiefs loser, determining then the other Super Bowl finalist.

Call me crazy. Nothing novel there. But it's fun to think about over here where I sit.

Sooooo... what do I have that's new to add. Well, I got to thinking more intensely about the logistics and math, and how the Thursday night games, the international games, the bye weeks (2 for each team), and the season structure would actually work out (for the Cowboys, 6 NFC East games, 4 NFC interdivision games and 1 other NFC contest, 4 AFC interdivision games and 1 final regular season weekend AFC contest) ... or if it would at all.

After wrestling with it, the answer is "yes," it does work out. And so for the heckuvit, whether anyone cares or not to dive in, here's a screenshot of what that that would look like.

 

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Following weekend 2/11 (Silver Weekend--ie, shrinking teams to 2)
Niners (1-1) vs. Lions (1-1) in Las Vegas
Ravens (2-0) enjoy bye weekend

Just your reminder that, tomorrow, in the alternative universe where the Super Bowl Tournament format was accepted and implemented already...

The Chiefs (1-1 in post season) and the Ravens (1-1 in post season) have a rematch in Vegas for the right to play the Niners (2-0) next weekend... and still a chance to win it all the following weekend after that if they can pull off this one and that one.

 

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Following weekend 2/18 (Super Bowl Premiere)

Just your reminder that, in the alternative universe where the Super Bowl Tournament format was accepted and implemented already...

The Chiefs (2-1) having defeated the Ravens, they now look forward this Sunday to Super Bowl Premiere... effectively, the traditional Super Bowl, but with the caveat that the Niners (2-0) need only to defeat the Chiefs to win it all... but the Chiefs very well might force a Super Bowl Finale with a win.

So, in successive Sundays, football addicts and more casual observers worldwide would have enjoyed Chiefs/Ravens two days ago... Chiefs/Niners this Sunday... and more than plausibly given what we just viewed... Chiefs/Niners the following Sunday in the death match. Three glorious Sundays no matter who your "real team" is.

 

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The vision grows... and it's now officially the off-season, so I'm not even apologizing now ...

Selfishly, how cool to play our traditional rivals PHI, NYG and WAS every season, plus games vs. SF, LAR and LAC every season.

And you'll see some other reshaping of both the regular and post season accordingly... still anticipating the rotten tomato treatment, so fire when ready ...

 

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Playing with this as the newly embraced set-up, it definitely marks some changes to how the schedule accommodates the international game and its bye that follows, and the bye 4-6 weeks later immediately ahead of each team's one Thursday night (or Black Friday late afternoon) game... we're squeezing all of that into the period between Weekends #2 and #15 after all.

But the good news (at least for me, the one who's put the time into analyzing it) is, it all works without a hitch. It's just more likely to drive the AI machine figuring out each season's schedule to commit suicide earlier in its life, out of exhaustion.

There is one quirk I've discovered, though, when you do this thing of allowing MIA, BAL, CLE, PIT, CIN, IND, KC and DAL to enjoy rivalry games every season against their former AFC and NFC division mates. You end up with having to have exactly one interconference match-up played as a home and away. That may not be all that chilling since we're all very used to home and away games as-is, but in the context of this format, none of the 13 games scheduled ahead of season for any team is a second contest between the same two opponents. But/and I think it's actually truly not that chilling since it's just that one match-up, and that's because it lends itself to having the first of the two games to be the grand opening game of the season. And because, unlike the current system that wouldn't consistently allow for this, the proposed system removes those constraints... you actually could dependably anticipate having the new season open with the same two opponents that closed the previous season in the Super Bowl. And, yeah, they would be the one pairing that would be scheduled to play home and away, in fact. Kinda cool if you ask me, which you didn't, of course.

Running this first hypothetical schedule I worked up, the Cowboys would draw...

Conference games: SEA, SF, LAR, LAC, DEN, LV and ARZ (three home, three away, and one neutral, ie, international)
Rivalry games: NYG, PHI and WAS (one home, two away)
Planned interconference games: PIT, HOU and CHI (two home, one away)

(The three games over weekends 16, 17 and 18, as mentioned, depend on (a) whether DAL would finish 13 games having earned post season... and thus, play those last three games for playoff seeding purposes... or having to play for a better draft slot and (b) how teams who fared the same as DAL in each of the other conferences finished their 13 games.)