Thank you for more football: NFL officially approves 14-team playoffs starting next season
By Matt Dolloff, 985TheSportsHub.com
As first reported by The NFL owners have confirmed, via a vote on today’s teleconference, that there will be expanded playoffs after the 2020 season, source said. Expected and now official. One more team per conference.
The important parts: each conference will now field seven playoff teams, with only one getting a first-round bye. The other six will play each other in three Wild Card games per conference on the first Saturday and Sunday of the 2020 playoffs.
If the format were in place for the 2019 playoffs, this means the Pittsburgh Steelers would have made it in and visited the Kansas City Chiefs in the wild card round, significantly altering the road for the eventual Super Bowl LIV champions. In the NFC, the Los Angeles Rams would have snuck in at 9-7 and faced the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field.
Speaking of records, this ruling will inevitably lead to squawking around here about the league adding “bad” teams to the NFL Playoffs. It’s partly a product of how the Patriots have warped everyone’s sense of a “good” and “bad” team. The Steelers and Rams were not bad teams. Mediocre, you have an argument.
Rapoport himself supports the idea, and has Two notes:
— This likely makes regular season games more important for all, with top teams fighting for the one by per conference.
— Had this been adopted in 1990, just 1.6% of teams would have had a losing record. A bunch more 10-win teams would’ve gotten in. https://t.co/mspFzj7zXL
Ultimately, more football is better than no football. There’s still the specter of the COVID-19 pandemic and the threat it will inevitably pose to the NFL starting the 2020 season on time. But if America loses the other major sports for the summer and the NFL comes back on time as the only game in town, you’ll be begging for as much football as possible.
Wonder how those people who complained about more football feel about it now.
Matt Dolloff is a digital producer for 985TheSportsHub.com. Any opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of 98.5 The Sports Hub, Beasley Media Group, or any subsidiaries. Have a news tip, question, or comment for Matt? Follow him on Twitter @mattdolloff or email him at matthew.dolloff@bbgi.com.
