Better record should have home-field advantage.

 

No, division winner should. 

 

You shouldn't get rewarded just because you happen to luck out with an easy schedule and get a bunch of wins vs cream puffs. If you can't win your division, you don't deserve the higher seeding. 

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Better record should have home-field advantage.

No. 

 

Might as well just advocate getting rid of divisions altogether.

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I was wrong about Trent Baalke. 

Better record should have home-field advantage.

I agree with that. Best way to do that is to just take the top 6 teams in each conference regardless of their division. If it were done like that, there would be no need to play each division team twice.

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I agree with that. Best way to do that is to just take the top 6 teams in each conference regardless of their division. If it were done like that, there would be no need to play each division team twice.

 

Under this formula though,  what would be the purpose of even having divisions?

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No, division winner should. 

 

You shouldn't get rewarded just because you happen to luck out with an easy schedule and get a bunch of wins vs cream puffs. If you can't win your division, you don't deserve the higher seeding. 

 

You shouldn't get rewarded for playing in a terrible division while another team gets punished for playing in an elite division.

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Why? So we can get essentially NFL-Welfare to make the playoffs?? Screw that. Its why making the playoffs in the NBA is hardly an accomplishment. 

 

10 win teams usually make the playoffs in the NFL. Its rare they don't. 

 

I guess what you want to see is more 8-8 teams and even more 7-9 teams make the playoffs, because thats whats going to happen. 

 

Yay! - mediocrity!!!

 

Your statement about the teams that would make the playoffs in the expanded playoff format piqued my interest so I went back over the past 10 seasons and below is a spreadsheet that I put together.  Of note is that no 7-9 team would have been the added wildcard over that period, though six 8-8 teams would have made it out of the additional 20 teams added over the ten year period.  Also, the average record of all of these teams is just a hair over 9-7.  I wasn't spending the time to figure out which team got in due to a tie as it was irrelevant to the discussion.  I'm not posting this to validate anyone's argument, just for context.  As I said before, I'm not going to have any problem watching the extra games on wildcard weekend.  But an eventual 16 team playoff, which would be detrimental to the game, seems like the next likely step.

 

Year       Team              W            L             

2013       Steelers           8             8             

2013       Cardinals       10             6             

2012       Steelers           8             8             

2012       Bears             10             6             

2011       Titans              9              7             

2011       4-way Tie         8              8             

2010       Chargers         9              7             

2010       2-way Tie        10             6             

2009       2-way Tie         9              7             

2009       Falcons            9              7             

2008       Patriots           11              5             

2008       3-way Tie         9              7             

2007       Browns            10             6             

2007       3-way Tie         8              8             

2006       Broncos            9              7             

2006       3-way Tie          8              8             

2005       Chiefs              10             6             

2005       2-way Tie          9              7             

2004       3-way Tie          9              7             

2004       Saints               8              8             

                                      9.05        6.95        = Avg Record

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No. 

 

Might as well just advocate getting rid of divisions altogether.

 

4 division winners make playoffs. From there, it is record based. Divisions still matter and teams that took care of business all season don't get shafted. I don't like rewarding a team because they played in a trash division and still struggled to finish .500 in it.

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Under this formula though,  what would be the purpose of even having divisions?

There wouldn't be a purpose. I am not fond of that though.

All in all, the way it is now is probably best. Every now and then it is an issue when a far superior team visits an 8-8. But it's not that big of a deal to me.

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Better record should have home-field advantage.

 

Using that logic, the 12 best teams should get in regardless of their divisions. There would be no need for either divisions or conferences if the NFL did that. Then who plays in the Super Bowl?

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Using that logic, the 12 best teams should get in regardless of their divisions. There would be no need for either divisions or conferences if the NFL did that. Then who plays in the Super Bowl?

 

Quit using strawmen and hyperboles.

 

Do you follow any sport besides the NFL? The NHL and NBA both have two conferences. East always plays West. It's not hard to wrap your head around.

 

 

I agree that it needs to remain at 12 teams. Home field advantage, though, is suppose to be a reward. a 12-4 team like San Francisco deserves to play at home more than a 8-7-1 Green Bay team. If San Fran was in the NFC North, they get a first round Bye as a 2 seed. If Green Bay was in the NFC West, they don't even make the playoffs. Yet it makes sense to give Green Bay the reward of home field advantage? All you are doing is rewarding teams for playing in crappy divisions.

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Also, divisions will always be important because you will always play your division teams two times per year. Other teams, you will face on a rotating schedule. Divisions still matter.

 

Further, like I said, you can still reward all division winners with playoff births, if you'd like, to keep divisions important. There is no reason bad teams in crappy conferences (Green Bay) should be rewarded while good teams in power conferences (San Francisco) should be punished.

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Goodell is [BLEEP]. All a Friday or Monday night game would do is either hurt one team or benefit another in terms of rest. Both coming into those game and considering the winners from them. 

 

I can't stand Goodell and many of the "new (Greedy $$$) guard" of owners. 

 

Rozelle and the old guard had it right and would always make moves that were best for the league. Today everything is about the immediate bottom line. 

 

 

Goodell is "[BLEEP]" and "I can't stand Goodell".

 

Goodell, head of the most successful sports league in the history of America (the world?) -

 

And you are ... you.

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The sun's not yellow, it's chicken.

Goodell is "[BLEEP]" and "I can't stand Goodell".

 

Goodell, head of the most successful sports league in the history of America (the world?) -

 

And you are ... you.

 

Easily.

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Quit using strawmen and hyperboles.

 

Do you follow any sport besides the NFL? The NHL and NBA both have two conferences. East always plays West. It's not hard to wrap your head around.

 

I agree that it needs to remain at 12 teams. Home field advantage, though, is supposed to be a reward. A 12-4 team like San Francisco deserves to play at home more than a 8-7-1 Green Bay team. If San Fran was in the NFC North, they get a first round Bye as a 2 seed. If Green Bay was in the NFC West, they don't even make the playoffs. Yet it makes sense to give Green Bay the reward of home field advantage? All you are doing is rewarding teams for playing in crappy divisions.

 

No, I don't follow any other sports. I only like one men's sport.

 

The NFL was not rewarding Green Bay for playing in a bad division. The Lions started out very good and for a few weeks, they were the favorite to win the division. Also I remember the Bears, Packers, and Lions being tied multiple times. It looked like a strong conference before Aaron Rodgers got hurt and the Lions stopped looking good. Also, if Rodgers had been able to play all 16 games, chances are pretty good the Packers would be 12-4 too.

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Lol.... The NFC West is much better than the NFC North. How can you think the NFC North > the NFC West?!?

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LOL. The NFC West is much better than the NFC North. How can you think the NFC North > the NFC West?!?

 

I did not say the NFCN is better than the NFCW. All I am saying is you underrated it.

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I did not say the NFCN is better than the NFCW. All I am saying is you underrated it.

 

The NFC West had 30 wins and 10 losses against non-NFC West teams.

The NFC North had 17 wins and 23 losses against non-NFC North teams.

 

Records vs non-NFC West Teams

Seattle 9-1

San Francisco 7-3

Arizona 8-2

St. Louis 6-4

 

Records vs non-NFC North Teams

Green Bay 5-5

Chicago 6-4

Detroit 3-7

Minnesota 3-7

 

NFC West went 4-0 vs the NFC North in the regular season.

St. Louis beat Chicago 42-21.

San Francisco beat Green Bay 34-28

Seattle beat Minnesota 41-20

Arizona beat Detroit 25-21

 

The NFC West was loaded this year. Finishing 12-4 and 2nd place in the NFC West is more impressive than finishing 8-7-1 and 1st place in the NFC North. San Francisco was punished because they played in a loaded division and Green Bay was rewarded for sneaking into the playoffs in a bad division.

 

If San Francisco and Green Bay flipped divisions, Green Bay would not have made the playoffs while San Francisco would have had a 1st round bye. Instead, because division winners get rewarded (even if their division sucked), San Francisco has to travel across two time zones and play in sub-zero temperatures in the snow at Lambeau Field.

 

That isn't right.

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In the end, it did not matter. The 49ers won at Green Bay and are going to Carolina. I doubt they care right now about the fact they played in freezing Green Bay to get a game in Charlotte.

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The outcome of that game does not erase the fact that it shouldn't have happened. The current system rewarded Green Bay for winning a bad division (17-23 vs non division opponents) and punished San Francisco for playing in a good one (30-10 vs non division opponents). The home-field advantage is suppose to be a reward and it should be a reward for the teams who had the best regular season results. 8-7-1 while playing in a below average division does not trump 12-4 while playing in the best division in the league. San Fran earned home-field advantage more than the Packers did. The Packers just got lucky that they were in the North. If they went 8-7-1 in any other division, they miss the playoffs. Instead, they get home field advantage against a 12-4 team that beat them in the regular season. Great system.

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The outcome of that game does not erase the fact that it shouldn't have happened. The current system rewarded Green Bay for winning a bad division (17-23 vs non division opponents) and punished San Francisco for playing in a good one (30-10 vs non division opponents). The home-field advantage is suppose to be a reward and it should be a reward for the teams who had the best regular season results. 8-7-1 while playing in a below average division does not trump 12-4 while playing in the best division in the league. San Fran earned home-field advantage more than the Packers did. The Packers just got lucky that they were in the North. If they went 8-7-1 in any other division, they miss the playoffs. Instead, they get home field advantage against a 12-4 team that beat them in the regular season. Great system.

But what your saying is there should be no divisions, just conferences.   It's just like the AFC west this year, they sent three teams because there division was that strong, that's the reward for being a strong division.  If SF wanted to play at home they should of beat the Seahawks and won more games. I like division rivals, I think it adds to the game.  Just like the commercial, where the Eagle's fan and Giant's fan are friends for a day because the Eagles are playing the Cowboys, even though every other day of the year, the eagle's fan and Giant's fan would hate each other, that's pretty cool.  Divisions are worth while, and winning the division should count for something.  Something being a home playoff game, even if it's only one and then your on the road.  If the both wildcard teams make the final then SF will be rewarded for the better the record.

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"Gentlemen, it is better to have died a small boy than to fumble this football" - John Heisman