NFL Needs To Go To NBA-Style Playoff Seeding

[Wallyhorse]

Also did this a blog as posted here:

As we reach the final week of the 2018 NFL regular season, we have the usual assortment of meaningful and meaningless games as determined by who is still in the playoff race, as for the AFC would be like this:

AFC:

#1 seed: Ravens (13-3, AFC North leader, clinched #1 seed)

#2 seed: Dolphins (11-5, AFC East leader)

#3 seed: Chiefs (10-6, AFC West leader)

#4 seed: Jaguars (9-7, AFC South leader)

#5 seed: Browns (11-5, Wild Card)

#6 seed: Bills (10-6, Wild Card)

#7 seed: Colts (9-7, Wild Card)

This shows the Chiefs locked into being seeded third regardless of the outcome of games in the final week of the regular season and the Browns are locked into the fifth seed regardless of what happens Sunday.  The NFC picture going into the final week of the regular season looked like this:

NFC:

#1 seed: 49ers (12-4, NFC West leader and clinched #1 seed)

#2 seed: Cowboys (11-5, NFC East leader)

#3 seed: Lions (11-5, NFC North leader)

#4 seed: Buccaneers (8-8, NFC South leader)

#5 seed: Eagles (11-5, Wild Card)

#6 seed: Rams (9-7, Wild Card)

#7 seed: Seahawks (8-8, Wild Card)

            Most notable here going into the final week are the Eagles and Cowboys.  If the Cowboys win on Sunday, they will be the #2 seed in the NFC even if the Lions win on Sunday because they beat them in the regular season (a highly controversial finish in Dallas on December 30) and the Eagles on conference record (8-3 for the Cowboys vs. 7-4 for the Eagles) and will host the seventh seed while the Eagles will play at the #4 seed, the NFC South winner in the first round.  If the Eagles win AND the Cowboys lose, the Eagles would finish as the #2 seed regardless of the Lions game and the situation with the Cowboys and Eagles is reversed.  The only way the Lions can be the #2 seed is if BOTH the Cowboys and Eagles lose their final games and they win their game against the Vikings (otherwise, they will be the #3 seed).

This to me is exhibit A for WHY the NFL needs to go to NBA-style playoff seeding. If that were the case, the seeds would be like this:
 

AFC:

#1 seed: Ravens (13-3, AFC North leader, clinched #1 seed)

#2 seed: Dolphins (11-5, AFC East leader)

#3 seed: Browns (11-5, Wild Card)

#4 seed: Chiefs (10-6, AFC West leader)

#5 seed: Bills (10-6, Wild Card)

#6 seed: Jaguars (9-7, AFC South leader)

#7 seed: Colts (9-7, Wild Card)

 

NFC:

#1 seed: 49ers (12-4, NFC West leader and clinched #1 seed)

#2 seed: Cowboys (11-5, NFC East leader)

#3 seed: Lions (11-5, NFC North leader)

#4 seed: Eagles (11-5, Wild Card)

#5 seed: Rams (9-7, Wild Card)

#6 seed: Buccaneers (8-8, NFC South leader)

#7 seed: Seahawks (8-8, Wild Card)

Going to NBA-style playoff seeding where winning your division only guarantees you a playoff berth would in most years make for many more meaningful games the final week of the season. If that were the case here, the Browns would instead of playing a meaningless game would be needing to win in Cincinnati against the Bengals to finish 12-5 and with a win over the Bengals coupled with a loss by the Dolphins to the Bills would as a wild card move up to the #2 seed. Bills would be the 3 seed if they beat the Dolphins in this scenario and the Browns also win while the Bills would be the 2 seed if they won and the Browns lost as while they would have identical records, a division winner would still get preference over a wild card for seeding if they finished with the same record unless the wild card team beat the division winner head-to-head in the regular season.  Bills in this scenario would get preference over the Chiefs for seeding because the Bills beat the Chiefs head-to-head.  In the NFC, it would mean the Eagles would at worst be hosting if the standings held the Rams in the first round as both teams would if both won on Sunday finish with a better record than the NFC South winner, with whoever is the #3 seed in this scenario hosting the NFC South winner or possibly the last wild card as in this format, a division winner can finish as the bottom seed of a conference.

This to me is how the NFL should be seeding the teams. The Rams-49ers and Browns-Bengals games would likely be the most positively affected with regards to meaning by such a scenario.