I agree - unless maybe if they played and during the regular season and lost head-to- head, but for consistency sake you have to draw the line somewhere, and your way does that.

It would probably be fairer to blow up the Conferences completely, and restructure into 8 geographic divisions of 4 teams each, with the top however-many, regardless of division, going to the playoffs.

Northwest: Seattle, Oakland, Denver, KC
Southwest: San Francisco, San Diego, Phoenix, Dallas (or LA, if the Rams move)
South: Houston, New Orleans, Tennessee, St. Louis (or Dallas)
North: Minnesota, Chicago, Green Bay, Detroit
Central: Indianapolis, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh
Southeast: Miami, Tampa, Jacksonville, Atlanta
East: Carolina, Washington, Baltimore, New York Giants
Northeast: New York Jets, New England, Buffalo, Philadelphia

But, there's all of the history and rivalries to think of. Just like our states have their formations to blame for why Delaware and California have the same number of Senators, and why Texas takes days to cross when you can walk across Maryland in less than an hour if you're at the right spot, the rather piecemeal method of how the NFL was constructed is intrinsic to its organization now. Plus, while this way keeps together two of the NFL's three most intense rivalries (Chiefs-Raiders and Bears-Packers), there are a lot of others that sell a lot of tickets; I can't imagine the Falcons ownership would be too drop-dead crazy to have to explain to its fans why three home games a year against the Dolphins, Jaguars, and Bucs are thrilling showdowns worthy of a ticket price.

So it's not perfectly optimized, but we've got what we've got.

That said, a few extra Wild Card games wouldn't hurt.

New Orleans is going to win that division anyway. They play the Bears tonight, and the Bears aren't a dumpster fire. They're a god damned landfill fire. Then they play two weak teams to close out. It wouldn't surprise me if they win three straight to close the year making it to 8-8.

Except that Pittsburgh didn't beat up on the NFCS.

They went 2-2.

As long as we're offering up options, how about this as one that's outside the box?

You have 4 divisions of 8 teams, but teams aren't permanently attached to any division.

Division A is the powerhouse division. Division B is the second tier. Division C is the third tier. Division D is the bottom tier.

The Division A teams play 7 games against Division A, 4 against B, 3 against C, and 2 against D. The other divisions similarly get stacked schedules. At the end of the season, 12 teams make the playoffs - 6 from Division A, 3 from B, 2 from C, and 1 from D.

Each season the top team in each division moves up two divisions and the bottom team moves down two divisions. The second-place team moves up a division and the 7th place team moves down a division.

The outcome is that you have a lot more games that are competitive, you create dynamic rivalries among strong teams, and rivalries ebb and flow as teams have up and down eras. Fans also get to see a wider variety of teams with their season tickets.

Interdasting...

Once again CP proves that those in charge don't always know the most or have the best answers.

Rain man knows and offers up a good solution. Others have too.

I would like to know how the players think about the playoff structure when 7-9 gets into the playoff

Now I wish the bosses up the ladder from me would understand they don't know it all.

Yeah, but you know what I mean. Don't be disingenuous. That division has had four teams .500 or above basically all season. That's not a common occurrence. It's not a coincidence, and don't pretend it is.

Well.. the Bucs put their best player on IR today.

They have one?

They may, but nobody gives a shit who it is on this board or anywhere else for that matter.

****wad.

You know I'm right. Nobody gives a shit about your trash team outside of Tampa. You have less market coverage and appeal than a shitty Chiefs franchise.

That's just sad.

And they screwed up what might have been the best looking uniforms in the game.

Who's their best player? Does Warrick Dunn still play for that team?