Ah, don't sell them short. The Panthers stink, and their star quarterback has a broken back.

Mustn't skip the details!

That's already happened, so yes

Yeah, I can't imagine it not happening. There's money to be made.

I think the only thing that would stop it would be the player's union. Ironically, I think the players would be the only population against a playoff expansion. What does that say about the state of the sport?

I think the players would be okay with playoff expansion, it'd mean more money for them too. And it wouldn't add an extra weekend unless they tried to go beyond 8 teams. They'd probably prefer that to the 18 game season.

Good thing to happen to Pioli

So, if the playoffs expanded to 8 teams per conference, and the playoffs ended today, we'd add Chargers at Patriots and Chiefs at Broncos, and in the NFC there would be a Saints at Cardinals game, and Eagles at Lions. The other four games would remain the same. I don't have a problem with that.

Wow...You don't have a problem with 25% of the teams making the playoffs in the NFC would have a losing record? Problem is they don't end TODAY.. There are still two more games and chances for more losses to the teams that will eventually get in.

This is the NFL, not he NBA...

This is an unusually lopsided year, though. Last year, this would have given us the 10-6 Cardinals at Carolina, the 8-8 Cowboys or Bears at Seattle, and two 8-8 teams (Jets, Dolphins, Steelers, or Ravens) at the Broncos and Patriots. In 2012, it would have been the 10-6 Bears at San Francisco, the 9-7 Giants at Atlanta, the 8-8 Steelers at New England, and the 7-9 Chargers or Dolphins at Denver. The same holds true looking further back: in 2011, the added teams would have been 9-7, 8-8, 8-8, and 8-8; in 2010, 10-6, 10-6, 9-7, and 8-8; in 2009, 9-7, 9-7, 9-7, and 8-8.

So across the previous five seasons, an expanded playoffs would have added twenty games, only one of which would have gone to a 7-9 team. Half of the time - including for four 10-6 teams - it would have meant playoff appearances for teams with winning records when under the current system they would get sent home.

I'm starting to talk myself into liking this idea.

Please STOP!
Even FUGLY women look at 2:30AM after many beers... ;)

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The Panthers fans have to be miserable. They are like 49er fans who are stuck with Kaepernick for the time being, but most everyone has now realized that Kaepernick needs to go. Newton will never take a team anywhere but he still puts up decent enough numbers to hide it.

Adding more teams to the postseason is dumb as ****.

Ignore conferences and divisions in playoff seeding.


Give viewers the best 12 teams any given season.

Get rid of divisions altogether.

Every year, teams play 10 opponents from their own conference, 4 from the other conference, and 2 that are designated "traditional rivals" whom the team would play every year.

The top 6 records in each conference get into the playoffs. Second tiebreaker is head to head. Third is strength of schedule.

A division winner shouldn't automatically get into the playoffs, period. There's 8 divisions out there, not 2. As I've said before, it's not an exclusive club. When you've won 7 games, and someone else has won 10, that other team had a much, much better season than you. It's not fair to punish the 10 win team to miss the playoffs and allow the 7 win team in.

The top 6 teams in the Conference should get in. Regardless of divisions.

The Panthers have had a terrible year. The kind of year that gets coaches fired and QB's benched. When you're 5-8-1, your'e not very good.

Instead, if the playoffs started today, they'd get to host a playoff game. That's why this system needs changing.

This season is an extreme example, but I'll give you an example of a scenario that isn't extreme. If the Panthers were 9-7, and someone else were 10-6, and both teams were in the top 6 and deserved to be in the playoffs, I'd still have the Panthers going on the road to face the 10-6 team, even if the Panthers won their division. Instead, under the current format, the Panthers would host the game. This kind of thing happens every season, where a division winner hosts a game against a team with a better record than them. It should never happen.