Football playoff system needs fixing

[CBAreject]

This season, there will be a team from the NFC and AFC who will win 8 or 9 games and still make the playoffs. Furthermore, that team will host a first-round playoff game with a better team with a better record. In the AFC, there will be at least one (and as many as 2) 10-win team(s), and possibly one 11-win team to MISS the playoffs in lieu of an 8 or 9-win team. In the NFC, there could be 2 10-win teams to MISS the playoffs in favor of the Arizona Cardinals who will be 8-8 or 9-7. The Cardinals play in the worst division in football, and as a result have gone 5-0 in-division and 3-7 outside their division. Surely, this should be viewed as a travesty! As the ESPN power poll says, nobody is playing better than the patriots (10-5), but they may miss the playoffs! Imagine an 11-5 Patriots team staying home while an 8-8 Chargers team HOSTS a game in round one.

The problem is that 4-team divisions are simply too small to ensure that there is a good (or even average) team in each division. Winning one's division simply isn't that much of an accomplishment, given that there could be 3 horrible teams in one division, as is the case in the NFC west. Since the NFL just went to a 4 division system, I think it's unlikely that they'll go back to a 3 or 2 division system. The playoffs could be expanded, but not without either doing away with a first-round bye or adding a play-in game (7 teams) that would cause the bye teams to have 2 weeks off.

Any other thoughts besides:

1) expand to 8 teams and do away with bye week

2) expand to 7 teams and have a play-in game

I don't like either of these, and the second would add an extra week (and the NFL would never go for that--SB in feb).

[Guest]

Having 4 divisions makes sense for scheduling, with 16 teams in each conference it makes a natural breakdown of 4 teams in 4 divisions who play 6 games within their division each season and then rotate around playing other divisions. The scheduling makes sense, but I don't like this idea that if you win your division then you should host a playoff game. The division is a relative measure, winning your division does not mean you are a top team in the conference it only means you are at least better than 3 other teams.

Only thing I would say is use best overall record for a conference in determining seeds. Winning your division shouldn't matter. Going to this system does create an argument of "hey my division is real tough, so I am penalized for this" but currently that is going on. I don't think this system would fly though just because the general public wouldn't be able to grasp the idea that divisions are for scheduling purposes and not some sort sacred concept that winning it means you earned a playoff spot.