Which playoff format do you prefer?

Right now we have some wild card teams with better record than division leaders. The 9-3 Panthers would travel to the 7-5 Cowboys & the 8-4 49ers would travel to the 7-5 Lions. When the better record should be hosting a playoff game. Teams like the 7-9 Seahawks wouldn't have made the playoffs a couple years back.

I'd like to see the playoffs have a top seed vs the bottom seeded teams. What do you guys think?

Also, what about adding another team or two to the playoffs?

you have to get something for winning your division otherwise just do away with the divisions all together and just take the 6 best teams. if you're going to have divisions they have to get a home game.

Strength of schedule and distribution of talent fluctuates too much...it'd become too much like the NBA where the same teams always make the playoffs

Plus it'd wreak havoc with the scheduling format itself; say you did away with the 4-team divisions and just had two 16-team superconferences, it could be years for an AFC team like the Raiders would face an NFC team like the Niners (that is unless league completely realigns geographically into eastern and western conferences)

Best and quickest fix would be to expand the playoffs to include more wildcard teams, but then that opens up the scheduling conflict of how many if the top seeds get a bye week and are there an even number if matchups to provide the right number if winning teams to face the corresponding number of topseeded teams that got a bye? Football isn't like the MLB where you can have a quick turnaround between a one game playoff and a wild card game a couple days later; and it wouldn't be fair if one team got an extra long bye just so the wildcard matchups could even out.

If we went to seeded playoffs, then what point would there be on having divisions?

Originally posted by crabman82:
you have to get something for winning your division otherwise just do away with the divisions all together and just take the 6 best teams. if you're going to have divisions they have to get a home game.

Agree.. leave well enough alone on this, me says.

It seems to work pretty good the way it is.

interesting, thanks for your comments. I always figured fans would love for it to be seeded. but, only 8 votes so let's see what everyone else thinks.

Not only would I do away with divisions, I'd get rid of conferences also and seed the playoffs purely according to W/L record. Divisions and conferences are fun, but not when they keep better teams out of the playoffs and give 8-8/7-9 teams home.field advantage over 11-5 teams, such as 7-9 Seattle keeping the 10-6 Giants out of the playoffs (a team that had demolished Seattle in Seattle 41-7) and then forcing 11-5 New Orleans to go to Seattle (and no, Seattle winning that game doesn't prove they belonged, as any team can win on any given Sunday, especially with Seattle's home field advantage). Two years before that, 8-8 San Diego got in over 11-5 New England. It's completely illogical.

Under my preferred system, only winning teams would make the playoffs, and we would've had several Brady vs. Peyton Super Bowls, and SF vs. Dallas in the '90s.

the only way it works is, if they expand the playoffs to 8 teams.

Originally posted by vaden:
Not only would I do away with divisions, I'd get rid of conferences also and seed the playoffs purely according to W/L record. Divisions and conferences are fun, but not when they keep better teams out of the playoffs and give 8-8/7-9 teams home.field advantage over 11-5 teams, such as 7-9 Seattle keeping the 10-6 Giants out of the playoffs (a team that had demolished Seattle in Seattle 41-7) and then forcing 11-5 New Orleans to go to Seattle (and no, Seattle winning that game doesn't prove they belonged, as any team can win on any given Sunday, especially with Seattle's home field advantage). Two years before that, 8-8 San Diego got in over 11-5 New England. It's completely illogical.

Under my preferred system, only winning teams would make the playoffs, and we would've had several Brady vs. Peyton Super Bowls, and SF vs. Dallas in the '90s.

So what happens when the entire league finishes 8-8? No playoffs that year? No system is perfect, but divisions are important because it gives every team a better chance of making the playoffs and there is a fairness component because every division team plays 14 common opponents - so teams are somewhat in better control over their own destiny.

Originally posted by 49AllTheTime:

the only way it works is, if they expand the playoffs to 8 teams.

Like I said, the math doesn't compute:

Wild card round =
2 x teams on a BYE
3 x pairs of wildcard matchups (6 teams) --> 3 winners moving on

Divisional round=
Top 2 seeded teams that had a BYE vs 3 teams that won in wildcard round

There's obviously gonna be an odd team out, and to give a #1 seed an extra-long 2-week bye would be too much of a competitive advantage (or disadvantage if you factor in the "rust" of a long layoff)..

Expansion to 10 teams has the same problem

Originally posted by Dr_Bill_Walsh:

Originally posted by 49AllTheTime:

the only way it works is, if they expand the playoffs to 8 teams.

Like I said, the math doesn't compute:

Wild card round =
2 x teams on a BYE
3 x pairs of wildcard matchups (6 teams) --> 3 winners moving on

Divisional round=
Top 2 seeded teams that had a BYE vs 3 teams that won in wildcard round

There's obviously gonna be an odd team out, and to give a #1 seed an extra-long 2-week bye would be too much of a competitive advantage (or disadvantage if you factor in the "rust" of a long layoff)..

Expansion to 10 teams has the same problem

4 div winners get a bye

Originally posted by 49AllTheTime:

4 div winners get a bye

Still doesn't compute evenly...

8-team playoffs:

Wildcard round =
- 4 div winners with byes
- 2 wildcard matchups (remaining 4 teams) --> 2 winners moving on

2nd round =
- three matchups: #1 vs lowest seed; #2 vs next lowest remaining seed; #3 vs #4;
- 3 winners move on

3rd round =
How do you decide a championship among 3 teams unless one gets a BYE?

10-team playoff again poses matchup alignment problems and having to maybe give a team too much time off

Originally posted by midrdan:
So what happens when the entire league finishes 8-8? No playoffs that year? No system is perfect, but divisions are important because it gives every team a better chance of making the playoffs and there is a fairness component because every division team plays 14 common opponents - so teams are somewhat in better control over their own destiny.

There's no fairness in 7-9 making the playoffs over 10-6.

The entire league finishing 8-8? Has never happened and never will. I might as well ask you what happens if a division winner goes 3-13.

It needs to be seeded. I say let the league try it for a few years and if it fails, go back to the current system