NFL considering change to playoff format next season

The NFL playoffs kicked off Saturday as the Houston Texans hosted the Los Angeles Chargers in the Wild Card round. The Texans (10-7) were awarded the No. 4 seed as the winners of the AFC South division while the Chargers (11-6) finished below them as the No. 5 seed despite having a better regular season record.

That allowed Houston to have a home game for the opening round, but according to CBS’ Jonathan Jones, that might not be the case come next year.

“The NFL will take another look this offseason at potentially changing the playoff format,” Jones reported on air before Saturday’s games. “Maybe the top four teams in win percentage get a home game instead of division winners. Team owners haven’t shown much of an appetite for changing, though.”

If the top four seeds were determined by record, then the Chargers would have received the No. 4 seed and got to host a game in Los Angeles. They wouldn’t be the only one, as there are two other instances where teams finished with a better record but got a lower seed because they were not division winners.

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Although the Chargers won’t get to host a game in LA, the Rams will after winning the NFC West with a 10-7 record. The Minnesota Vikings will face them Monday as the No. 5 seed despite finishing with four more wins for an overall record of 14-3.

Finally, the Washington Commanders are the No. 6 seed in the NFC and will travel to Tampa Bay to take on the No. 3 seed Buccaneers on Sunday. The Commanders finished with a 12-5 record, but the Buccaneers (10-7) won the NFC South.

There is something to be said for a team that can win its division, and in particular it gives teams something to fight for at the end of the regular season. However, the disparity between the teams particularly in the NFC is so large that it is worth at least considering over the offseason.

For now, we’ll just enjoy that the playoffs are here and soak up all the action through the weekend and into Monday. In addition to the game between the Chargers and Texans, the Baltimore Ravens will face the Pittsburgh Steelers this evening.