How can the 11-5 New England Patriots miss the playoffs this year, while the 8-8 San Diego Chargers host a playoff game?The same way two teams with losing records – Atlanta and Philadelphia - made the NBA playoffs last season, while the 48-34 Golden State Warriors missed out.
Divisions and dinosaurs running those leagues.
The NFL is locked into divisions that make no sense. Questionable teams like Arizona play their way to a divisional title by beating up patsies San Francisco, Seattle and St. Louis, while San Diego can lose 8 of its first 12 games and still make the playoffs. [Yes, Arizona and San Diego won wildcard playoff games AT HOME, but they should not have been playing at home since they did not possess the better records and would not have beaten Atlanta and Indianapolis on the road.]
We should have each team in the NFC play each other during the regular season, while each team in the AFC plays each other. That makes 15 games. Then, each team plays one other team from the other conference, based on how well they did the previous season. For example, next year, the top seed in the NFC, the New York Giants, would play the top AFC seed, the Tennessee Titans, in the regular season. And the winless Detroit Lions would play the AFC’s doormat, Kansas City.
Besides making for a fairer and more interesting schedule, you wouldn’t have 8-8 teams hosting playoff games when there are 11-5 teams sitting at home.
As for the NBA, league bigwigs either should cut the playoff field from eight to six teams like the NFL does, or pass a rule that no team with a losing record can make the playoffs if there are still winning teams left. If one conference doesn’t have eight teams that won at least half of their games, then a winning team from the other conference that is left out makes the weaker conference’s playoffs. If there is not a winning team left from either conference, then the loser in that conference can go.
The schedules can be managed so each team plays one another about the same number of times during the regular season. Purists say that doing away with divisions takes away from historic rivalries. So what? Do you want to see a fair playoff system that rewards teams based on performance on the field, or do you want to continue with the system in place that favors teams based on their luck of being in a weak division? Rivalries such as Dallas-Washington and Green Bay-Chicago will remain intense, as they will still play each other once a year and perhaps another time in the playoffs.
