Knew about the banners, didnt know about the trophies.
Its also a star driven league. Been plenty of him vs him rivalries. Far less investment in teams. And generally the team rivalries we have seen have been built through the playoffs.
NFL to Potentially Examine Changing Playoff Seeding Structure for 2025 Season
- Thread starter Street Knowledge
- Start date
Its also a star driven league. Been plenty of him vs him rivalries. Far less investment in teams. And generally the team rivalries we have seen have been built through the playoffs.
I would like to see it stay the same. Divisions should absolutely matter in the NFL.
Yes, it sucks if you finish with a 13-4 record and finished second in your division while there's a division winner that goes 10-7 and gets a home game. It is what it is.
Yes, it sucks if you finish with a 13-4 record and finished second in your division while there's a division winner that goes 10-7 and gets a home game. It is what it is.
The team with the best record should host the game point blank. That's why we keep track of records. Giving a team with a worse record a home playoff game because they're in a weaker division is terrible. Theoretically a team could win a division with a losing record and still get a home playoff game? WTF is that?
Divisions already matter because if you win a division you're guaranteed a playoff spot.
So same as what the NBA did after the 05-06 season when the Clippers (who had a record which would place them as the 3rd or 4th best team in the Western Conference) played the Nuggets (who had a record which would place them in 7th or 8th, but their division was piss poor that year)
Adding regular season games and playoff spots do more to lessen the importance of divisions than not allowing teams with lesser records to host playoff games. How much does your 6 division games matter in an 18 games season, with 8 playoff teams?
As a viewer and fan, I’d rather see different and rare matchups than playing my division 2x a year for a meaningless regular season designation.
MLB and NBA have rendered division champions meaningless for the postseason- NFL might as well follow suit.
MLB and NBA have rendered division champions meaningless for the postseason- NFL might as well follow suit.
Isn't there only 7 playoff teams? The top team gets a bye and the 3 other division winners have to play wild card games against 3 wild card teams.
And most of that history involves division play making up half your schedule and winning your division was all but necessary to make the playoffs. Neither of those things are true anymore and guess what? People still care about those rivalries.
That said, 14 win teams shouldn't be going on the road to 10 win teams just so people can cling to some shyt that doesnt even exist anymore
. Again, not even saying they shouldnt get a spot (although if you cant make top 7 out of 16 you dont deserve that shyt I dont care who you grouped with and how long its been) just saying they shouldn't be guaranteed a home game destroys divisions and rivalries? 
8 playoff teams and 18 games are coming breh...no point in trying to act like its not.
Heelmatic
The Carolina Blueprint
Minnesota had two chances to beat Detroit if they wanted a home playoff game. I feel like some of y’all are already trying to make excuses for if the Vikings lose this game. Road teams ARE ALLOWED to win in the playoffs btw.
Also, this crowd will be 80% Vikings fans so why are we complaining?
Also, this crowd will be 80% Vikings fans so why are we complaining?
Its happened before. People are so beholden to the concept of division meaning something that nothing else matters. Like people abandon all logic.
And they are totally ignoring how all these others moves have and continue to actually take away from the importance of divisions. 20 game season with 10 playoff teams is ok. A division winner going on the road is sacrilege.
VegetasHairline
Veteran
They always wanna change things that don't need to be changed.
Heelmatic
The Carolina Blueprint
If you’re gonna get rid of divisions, might as well get real stupid. How about next year the 8 & 9 seeds play a play in game and seeds 1-7 get a bye week.
This year it would’ve been Colts vs Bengals, winner plays KC and Seahawks vs Falcons, winner plays Detroit.
This year it would’ve been Colts vs Bengals, winner plays KC and Seahawks vs Falcons, winner plays Detroit.
Mantis Toboggan M.D.
Drink wolf cola
Winning the division getting a playoff game is a good enough reward. Until 2002 with the realignment a wild card team got a home playoff game (the 1999 titans and 2000 ravens were wild cards at 13-3 and 12-4). We’ve had too much of this happen over the years where a team who plays in a bad division gets a home playoff game while 2-3 teams from another make the playoffs and 1-2 of them face teams on the road they had better records than during the year.
2008 you had the 11-5 pats and 9-7 jets at home while the 8-8 chargers hosted the 12-4 colts in the same conference and the 9-6-1 eagles went on the road against the 9-7 cardinals (who the eagles demolished 48-20 earlier in the year) in the conference title game because the giants won the east at 12-4.
2010 the 7-9 Seahawks host the 11-5 saints because the falcons went 14-2 and the 10-6 giants & buccaneers missed the playoffs. Then in the afc the 11-5 jets went on the road to face the 10-6 colts because the afc east happened to also have a 14-2 squad in it and the 12-4 ravens were on the road at 10-6 Kansas City.
In 2011 you have 9-7 Cincinnati on the road for the playoffs and 12-4 Pittsburgh on the road in the playoffs while 8-8 Denver is hosting a playoff game and due to the altitude Pittsburgh has to sit their pro bowl safety due to a blood condition he has, which probably was enough to cost them that game. Then the top seed in the conference gets an 8-8 team in the divisional round.
In 2020 you had 7-9 Washington win their division and hosting 11-5 Tampa bay. Sure no fans were in attendance, but that’s besides the point.
This year we have 10 win Tampa hosting 12 win Washington and 10 win Los Angeles hosting 14 win Minnesota because there happened to be a 15 win squad in the division with them.
That’s just a few years where something entirely arbitrary and random that’s entirely out of any individual team’s control makes a huge difference. If you’re worried about winning your division meaning nothing, then leave it at winning your division guarantees you a playoff spot and if both teams have the same record then the division winner gets home field but we shouldn’t be having teams with the worse record get a home playoff game anymore.
2008 you had the 11-5 pats and 9-7 jets at home while the 8-8 chargers hosted the 12-4 colts in the same conference and the 9-6-1 eagles went on the road against the 9-7 cardinals (who the eagles demolished 48-20 earlier in the year) in the conference title game because the giants won the east at 12-4.
2010 the 7-9 Seahawks host the 11-5 saints because the falcons went 14-2 and the 10-6 giants & buccaneers missed the playoffs. Then in the afc the 11-5 jets went on the road to face the 10-6 colts because the afc east happened to also have a 14-2 squad in it and the 12-4 ravens were on the road at 10-6 Kansas City.
In 2011 you have 9-7 Cincinnati on the road for the playoffs and 12-4 Pittsburgh on the road in the playoffs while 8-8 Denver is hosting a playoff game and due to the altitude Pittsburgh has to sit their pro bowl safety due to a blood condition he has, which probably was enough to cost them that game. Then the top seed in the conference gets an 8-8 team in the divisional round.
In 2020 you had 7-9 Washington win their division and hosting 11-5 Tampa bay. Sure no fans were in attendance, but that’s besides the point.
This year we have 10 win Tampa hosting 12 win Washington and 10 win Los Angeles hosting 14 win Minnesota because there happened to be a 15 win squad in the division with them.
That’s just a few years where something entirely arbitrary and random that’s entirely out of any individual team’s control makes a huge difference. If you’re worried about winning your division meaning nothing, then leave it at winning your division guarantees you a playoff spot and if both teams have the same record then the division winner gets home field but we shouldn’t be having teams with the worse record get a home playoff game anymore.
Copy Ninja
Superstar
Reducing the importance of division games would be extremely short-sighted. The best games year in year out are rivalry division games.