NFL Proposes Changes to Playoff Format

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This change is not in the far off future. If this change indeed goes through, it would begin this coming season, so the changes would come into effect right away.              

The positives, at least for the league, is that it would add two more playoff games on Wildcard weekend. And for the weaker teams that have just been eliminated in the past, there is less of a chance now that teams with solid records or performances in the regular season will be kept out, as they had in the past. Obviously, with one more playoff spot for each conference, more teams will qualify, and so that will be good news for those teams.              

That said, however, it seems to water down the quality of the playoffs. In the AFC, the team that just missed out on the playoffs were the Pittsburgh Steelers, who went 8-8. In the NFC, the 9-7 Los Angeles Rams would have qualified, and thus gotten the chance to defend their NFC title from the previous season. They would have gone to Lambeau Field to take on the Green Bay Packers, who would have needed to win in order to advance to the divisional round. The Chiefs would have had to face and defeat the Steelers if they were going to advance to the divisional round, and they traditionally have struggled in the playoffs against Pittsburgh, although they appear to be much better these days than they have been in the past during earlier meetings.              

Yet, this begs the question of just how exhausting the schedule will make it for more teams. This does add extra incentive to win the home field advantage throughout the playoffs, because playing one less game – and thus facing elimination one less time – would be a clear advantage, yet it not only goes to the very top team in each conference.              

As for the rest, they will each be forced to play at least three games in order to reach the Super Bowl. The number two seed in each conference would have to play that extra game, and that adds an extra opportunity to face a presumably tough team and get eliminated, or to suffer some injuries or get weaknesses exposed. It will make the advantage of being a second seed versus being a third seed feel almost negligible, frankly.              

Still, change is inevitable, and this is one change that, apparently, is virtually inevitable. The NFL has wanted to do this for a while, because it adds key games during the big moneymaking time for the league, in the playoffs. More teams will qualify for the postseason, and that is exciting news for teams that too frequently just miss out on the playoffs, like the Steelers have the past couple of seasons.              

It does not seem like all that long ago when the NFL last expanded the playoffs to include six teams per conference. That was back in the 1990-91 season, and it did not alter the format of the top two teams in each conference having playoff byes. But logically, the next step for the league would be to add an eighth team, and for none of those teams to have playoff byes. That would make it more similar to the playoff formats for both the NBA and the NHL, where the eight teams play each other according to seeds, but have to go through three rounds of playoffs before reaching the championship round, which in the case of the NFL would be the Super Bowl. Sooner or later, it feels like that is going to happen. At least it feels like the next logical step.

Whether or not that is a good idea or not may be a better question.



NFL playoffs set to add 7th team, per report By Jason Marcum@marcum89  Feb 19, 2020: 
The 2020-21 NFL playoffs will likely have seven teams making the postseason in each conference.

https://www.cincyjungle.com/2020/2/19/21144690/nfl-playoffs-2020-team-rules-7th-cba-news-rumors