Washington won the division at 7-9 and got a home playoff game. We all knew how wrong this was. "settle it on the field" does not work when the team that has proven to be the better team is dealt a huge disadvantage for the playoffs. Seattle had the exact same situaton after going 7-9. They won that playoff game in large part because of the huge home field advantage they enjoy.
The argument there is "so win your division." For almost 40 years you had to win your division to make the playoffs in the NFL. The question was why a second-place team in a division should be in the playoffs at all.
Yep. Systems evolve over time. We like football and the league has provided us with more high stakes football games. It’s imperative for them to constantly put their system under self study and evolve and improve when they can. Making sure that the right team hosts a playoff game is a good piece of evolution. Division championships mean very little.
Honestly I'm going to miss the worst division winner getting the home game matched up against the best wild card in rd1. For starters, you actually are putting some level of fear in not winning the division which makes the regular season matchup matter more. Secondly, often the best wild card is a team that benefitted from playing a weaker OOC schedule and the division winner with the worse record actually plays them well.
To each their own. Fair point about the 7 seed.
Packers beat the Cowboys in Dallas year before last and then nearly knocked off the #1 seed 49ers the next week, who took the lead with a minute left.
That's the one team, right?
