Posted by Dr Fro 7:24 AM
End the NFL Playoffs!

When will the madness end? Let's look at how successful the NFL playoffs have been this decade:

2007: The Giants won the championship despite not winning their division and having 6 other teams with a better regular season record.

2006: Indianapolis won the Super Bowl despite Baltimore and San Diego having better records in the AFC.

2005: Pittsburgh won the Super Bowl even though 3 other teams had a better record in the AFC. They also lost their division to Cincy via the tiebreaker. Yes, the won the Super Bowl even though they couldn't win their division.

2004: New England won the Super Bowl even though Pittsburgh had a better record in the AFC

2003: New England won the Super Bowl, and they were the best team in their division, conference and league.

2002: Tampa Bay won it all. They were tied for the best record in the regular season, but Philly won the regular season conference tilte (aka 1 seed) due to a better conference record (11-1 as opposed to 9-3).

2001: New England won the Super Bowl even though Pittsburgh was the best team in the conference (by 2 games). The Bears and Rams also did better than New England in the regular season.

2000: Baltimore won the Super Bowl. They didn't win their division (Tennessee did).

So, in summary, out of 8 years, only once did the best team in the regular season win the Super Bowl. Of the remaining 7 years:
- 4 of the 7 of the champions did not even win their division
- 7 of the 7 of the champions was not the best team in their conference

When will the madness end? When will we finally institute a system where the regular season matters? It is just a big money grab by the owners and the television execs. I wish there was a system in place somewhere whereby the regular season mattered and a bunch of suits didn't muck it all up with a playoff which, while exciting to watch, does a poor job of crowing a champ.

1 Comment(s):

Posted by  Anonymous, at 7:12 PM, November 15, 2008  

Yeah, you could get rid of the playoffs and make the regular season mean something, but that has one big drawback. The Cowboys might actually have a chance to win another Super Bowl. For that reason alone, your argument falls apart.

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