A long time ago, professional baseball was the king of sports. Everyone loved it, went to games, and followed it. With this in mind, every sports league did what baseball did. When baseball added numbers to their jerseys, other leagues started to add digits. When baseball required a different color uniform for the visiting team, all of the other leagues changed their bylaws and made that mandatory as well.
At some point, baseball added a second association called “The American League.” Teams were then listed and competed in the National League and American League. At the season’s end, the team with the best record would be declared to win “the pennant” of their respective league. Next, the pennant winners would meet in a best-of-run called “The World Series.” The winner of the series between pennant winners was then labeled World Champions.
The World Series was the only playoff format. Second-place teams stayed home while the pennant winners competed for the championship. The same occurred for third and fourth-place teams.
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Within the NFL, originally, the team with the best win percentage was declared the league winner. However, it took a vote by the owners at the winter meeting before that was certain and the champion was named.
Cleveland Browns connection:NFL Playoffs not determined by a bracket format
Some underhanded situations happened which manipulated the process.
In 1929, the Green Bay Packers won the NFL title. In 1930, they were four percentage points ahead of the second-place club which had just won their final game. The Packers had one game left on their schedule. Green Bay simply canceled the final game, thus giving them their second consecutive championship. The 1921 Decatur Staleys (later renamed the Chicago Bears) quickly scheduled two more games at the conclusion of their season against ragtag teams to gain more percentage points and after winning both contests were voted league champs at the winter meeting.
The NFL began its playoff system by accident. After the 1932 season, both the Chicago Bears and Portsmouth Spartans ended the season with different records but had the same percentage points. It was decided instead of sharing the league title with co-champions, that a one-game playoff would decide the championship.
From The Archive: The Patriots In The 1960s Photo by Paul J. Maguire/The Boston Globe via Getty Images
The game was set to play at Wrigley Field, home of the baseball Cubs and also the NFL Bears. But days before the game, a huge blizzard blanketed the entire area. Instead of canceling the game, it was moved indoors to Chicago Arena, home of the hockey Blackhawks. Rules were changed and the field was miniaturized.
But what came out of this game was the fact that the league decided they liked a game that pitted the league’s best two teams against each other. For one, it became a packed house full of paying customers which provided another payday.
The league then decided to split into two divisions. In 1933, the NFL had 10 teams, so two divisions were formed with five clubs in each division labeled Eastern Division and Western Division. It was decided that the division winners each year would compete in a single title game. And the first “NFL Championship Game” was born.
This did not guarantee that the two best teams would compete for the league title. In just the second year of enacting the championship game, the 13-0-0 Bears met the 8-5-0 New York Football Giants in the title game while the 10-3-0 Detroit Lions remained home. The 1936 Bears went 9-3-0 and ended up in second place in the Western Division behind the 10-1-1 Packers and were idle while the 7-6-0 Boston Redskins competed for the championship.
Over the decades, teams were added to the playoff format. Clubs were grouped into conferences and divisions within each conference. In every scenario, the division winners advanced to the post-season. Later, second-place teams were added labeled as “Wild Card” entrants. Then a second “Wild Card” entry was approved.
The last time the playoffs were changed was in 2020 when a third “Wild Card” team was added which implemented a 14-team playoff format.
That is the format the league goes by today: Two conferences, four divisions within each conference which results in four playoff seeds for the division winners. Then the top three remaining teams earn a “Wild Card” spot.
Division winners have always been a part of the NFL’s playoff system since the first year it was implemented in 1933.
But now, one NFL club wants to change that.
After the league begins in early March, teams have the opportunity to suggest new rules and changes for discussion. Then at the late March owner’s meeting usually held in Florida, those ideas are brought up and discussed. Some items advance and eventually are voted on, like the league’s use of the XFL kickoff system a year ago. Other items are tabled for future discussion while some concepts just die an early death.
Owners are scheduled to meet on March 30 - April 2 in West Palm Beach, Florida.
An attempt to change the playoff format
The Detroit Lions have made a proposal to alter how the current playoff arrangement operates.
Detroit is suggesting that the league abandon the process that teams that win their division receive an automatic playoff bid. Division winners are also guaranteed a home playoff game regardless of win-loss record.
With the current format, all four division winners in each conference receive a seed number 1 through 4. This is based on win-loss records and if needed, any tiebreakers. Next, three “Wild Card” clubs are slotted by win-loss records 5th through 7th seeds.
Because there are 14 playoff teams in each conference, it provides an odd number of playoff teams. So, the team in each conference with the best win-loss record receives a first-round bye plus is guaranteed all games played at their home stadium as long as they win. The remainder clubs are seeded by best records to the lowest win-loss record. Then as teams lose, the post-season format always allows the highest seed to compete against the lowest seed.
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Just like when the playoff system was put into place back in the 1930s, there have been situations where one team will win the division without a good win-loss record while another team sits home with double-digit wins.
An example occurred in 2010. The Seattle Seahawks won the NFC Western Division with a 7-9-0 record and limped into the post-season. They hosted a home playoff game while the 10-6-0 Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the 10-6-0 Giants watched the playoffs from the comfort of their homes. The 2020 Washington Football Team won the NFC East with a 7-9-0 record in spite of the Arizona Cardinals’ 8-8-0 record which did not advance.
Under the Lions’ proposal, the team with the best record in each conference would still receive the #1 seed and be awarded a first-round bye. But now it would prioritize regular season records over division winners. The idea apparently stemmed from Lions WR Amon-Ra St. Brown prior to the Lions versus Minnesota Vikings game late last season.
But after that, teams would be grouped by win-loss records and tie-breakers from the second-best record to the seventh-best record, regardless of division. In essence, clubs would be stacked by records and not categorized by division winners.
In college football, the ACC always had two divisions but disbanded that format because the conference’s best three teams annually all came from the same division. This set up a conference championship game that was always a boring lopsided affair. Now, the ACC has every team stacked so that the top two teams play in the title game.
That is exactly what the Lions are suggesting in both the AFC and NFC. Not do away with divisions, just do away with division winners with their attached automatic playoff berth.
If passed, this could mean one team could actually win their division and not advance to the postseason. It would also take away automatic home games for the first round for each division winner.
Back in 2023, the Los Angeles Chargers had a similar proposal so the idea is not new.
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The Browns had a better record than their playoff opponent two seasons ago but were forced to go on the road and lost to the Houston Texans.
Last year the Chargers went 11-6-0 but traveled to their first playoff game against the Texans because they fell short of winning the AFC West Division behind the 15-2-0 Kansas City Chiefs. Los Angeles became the #5 seed. With this new format, the Chargers would have been the #4 seed which meant playing at home in their first game instead of traveling.
Back in 2023, the Chargers’ proposal did not get past the discussion stage.
It is not clear why Detroit is unhappy with the current playoff tiering. Last year they had the NFC’s best record and received a first-round bye, so if this new format was in place in 2024 it would not have altered the Lions’ playoff perspective at all.
Supporters of the current system point out that winning a division is the first goal for every NFL club every season. It is preached on the first day of training camp. The fact that every team plays every other club in their division twice each season is testimony to how important the division structure remains.
Stadiums are full of banners hanging that identify how many divisions they have conquered. Not a single team has yet to erect a banner stating “We were the #3 seed.” But beating all of the other clubs that hate you and you hate them for the division crown? That’s a start. And a sense of pride.
Changing the NFL's playoff format as suggested by the Lions would make division games meaningless. That and more in today's Steelers 5 for Friday.
5 for Friday: Proposal to mess with playoff format lacking https://t.co/iJZVISYOQ3
— Dale Lolley (@dlolley_pgh) March 21, 2025
By taking away division winners and the advantages that follows, it would make division games pretty much meaningless during the regular season. The 1966 season was the last one for two conferences without divisions.
The Lions will need to state what the advantage would become, and what changes will happen. Yes, occasionally a team will win more games than one of the division winners and get shut out of the post-season. But with 14 playoff teams, that is extremely rare. Are they suggesting ditching all divisions altogether? Stack all 16 AFC teams into one row and all 16 NFC teams into another pile?
Right now, the league is in this tidy formation of two conferences with four divisions shaped with four clubs in each division. The only reason to muck it up is to add expansion franchises.
What other motive does Detroit offer in altering the current playoff arrangement? A seeding up or down?
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As a comparison, the NBA has divisions but for the playoffs, they stack all teams in each conference, seed them accordingly, and away they go.
All rule and bylaw proposals will be voted on later this month. It takes two-thirds votes (24) to change any by-law.
However, if a suggested rule change goes through the competition committee first and is approved, the owners are more likely to pass it than when an individual club makes the proposal at the “NFL Annual League Meeting” in Florida.
Do you support the Lions suggested playoff change? Do you think a home game could have changed the outcome of the Browns 2023 playoff loss to the Texans?
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