Nfl Playoffs Tickets : The 2002 Changes Have Led To Two Limitations In The Playoff System

The National Football League (NFL) playoffs are a single-elimination tournament held at the end of the regular season to determine the NFL champion. Six teams from each of the league's two conferences qualify for the playoffs based on regular season records, and a tie-breaking procedure exists in the case of equal records. The tournament ends with the Super Bowl, the league's championship game, which matches the two conference champions.

The 2002 changes have led to two limitations in the playoff system: First, several division champions have hosted wild card playoff against teams that had a better win-loss record. Second, there have been division champions that have had worse records than teams failing to qualify for the playoffs. In one notorious example, 2008 saw the San Diego Chargers clinch the AFC West championship with only an 8/8 record, and thus host the 12/4 Indianapolis Colts in the Wild Card Round, while the New England Patriots failed to even secure a wild card spot at 11/5.

The Chargers then went on to defeat the Colts in that playoff game. As a result, frequent calls have been made to modify the playoff format even further.One proposal has been to expand the playoffs to 14 teams. Proponents of expansion note the increased revenue that could be gained from an additional two playoff games. They also note that the 12-team playoff system was implemented when the league only had 28 teams and six divisions (of 4 to 5 teams each).

The opposition to such a move notes that an expansion of the playoffs would "water down" the field by giving access to lower-caliber teams. Opponents to expansion further point to the NBA Playoffs and the NHL playoffs where 16 of 30 teams qualify for the post season, and there is often a decreased emphasis on regular season performance as a result.

After the 2007 playoffs saw two wild card teams with better records (Jacksonville Jaguars and eventual Super Bowl XLII champions New York Giants) go on the road to defeat division winners (Pittsburgh Steelers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, respectively) during Wild Card Weekend, the NFL explored another proposal to change the playoffs so that the team with the better record would host the game, even if that meant a division winner went on the road.

The NFL's Competition Committee withdrew the request later that offseason, with Atlanta Falcons president Rich McKay mentioning that they wanted the idea to simply get a discussion going. New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft was a strong opponent of the rule change, believing that "if you win a division, it's good for your fans to know you will have a home game."

Just before the 2010 Seattle Seahawks won the NFC West at 7/9, and then defeated the 11/5 New Orleans Saints in the opening round, becoming the first team in NFL history to win both a division and later a playoff game with a losing record, McKay wanted to revisit the previous proposal to reseed teams during Wild Card Weekend.

However, sportswriter Peter King wrote that he believed league owners were still hesitant on implementing any such changes at this time due to the then-pending 2011 work stoppage, the proposals to extend the regular season from 16 to 18 games and how it will impact the postseason, and the simple fact that not enough teams have been seriously "jobbed" by the current format.