New NFL Playoff Expansion
CBS Sports
Posted: 2020-04-01
NFL owners officially voted to expand the playoff picture for the upcoming season, adding one additional postseason team per conference. CBS Sports sorted it all out. Here are the details to digest:
Seven teams from each conference will qualify for the playoffs, bumping the number of total postseason teams from 12 to 14
Only the top team from each conference will get a first-round bye (the No.2 seed will face the No. 7 seed)
Wild-Card Weekend for the 2020 season will consist of three games on Saturday and three games on Sunday
Under the new format, the 8-8 Steelers and 9-7 Rams would have made the playoffs in the 2019-2020 season
The NFL will wait at least until 2021 to increase its regular season from 16 to 17 games
Is this expansion is good for the league? Do we really need the .500 Steelers and nine-win Rams in the postseason? Sort of watering things down while making it harder for the No. 2 seeds to make deep runs, aren't we?
That being said, this does essentially rule out the possibility of a 10-win team getting jobbed, which is nice. Since 2002, 10 different 10-win teams failed to make the playoffs and, under the new format, only the 2010 Buccaneers would have still missed out on the postseason while the other nine would have gotten in.
CBS Sports
Posted: 2020-04-01
NFL owners officially voted to expand the playoff picture for the upcoming season, adding one additional postseason team per conference. CBS Sports sorted it all out. Here are the details to digest:
Seven teams from each conference will qualify for the playoffs, bumping the number of total postseason teams from 12 to 14
Only the top team from each conference will get a first-round bye (the No.2 seed will face the No. 7 seed)
Wild-Card Weekend for the 2020 season will consist of three games on Saturday and three games on Sunday
Under the new format, the 8-8 Steelers and 9-7 Rams would have made the playoffs in the 2019-2020 season
The NFL will wait at least until 2021 to increase its regular season from 16 to 17 games
Is this expansion is good for the league? Do we really need the .500 Steelers and nine-win Rams in the postseason? Sort of watering things down while making it harder for the No. 2 seeds to make deep runs, aren't we?
That being said, this does essentially rule out the possibility of a 10-win team getting jobbed, which is nice. Since 2002, 10 different 10-win teams failed to make the playoffs and, under the new format, only the 2010 Buccaneers would have still missed out on the postseason while the other nine would have gotten in.