How horrible is the NFL's playoff system? If the season ended right now, the 6-5 Jaguars would be seeded over the Patriots and the Steelers. The 7-4 Eagles would be seeded over the Saints and the 5-6 Rams would be seeded over the Saints and Giants. Makes no sense whatsoever. Here is a current look at the playoff picture: http://espn.go.com/blog/nflnation/post/_/id/32761/playoff-picture-if-the-season-ended-today
The NFC West is just laughable but we've seen situations like this before and they've never changed it so I doubt they'll be doing anything about it now.
I don't think there's a problem with the system. You can't always compare records between divisions, so its just as unfair to simply look at record. For example, the AFC West gets to play the NFC West this year, while the AFC North is stuck playing the the NFC South. What if (in a theoretical world), the AFC North winner was 9-7, but the AFC West Wildcard was 10-6. Would the Wildcard really deserve a better seed, given that they got to play a joke of a schedule thanks to the NFC West? The current system simply says "win your division - against whom you play almost identical schedules - and you get a home playoff game." It keeps it simple.
This. It's not perfect, but it gives teams the opportunity to just take care of business within the division and not worry about everything else. If you perform the best in your division, where each team has a very similar schedule, you get a top seed. If not, you get a shot at a wildcard where it becomes much tougher with tiebreakers, etc.
I don't necessarily have a problem with a team getting in because they won their division but to be seeded higher than somebody who has a better record, and in this year it looks like a much better record, just doesn't sit right with me but oh well everybody has their opinions.
The system giveth and the system taketh away. In 2008 the NFC West Champion Arizona Cardinals got into the playoffs with a 9-7 record, while the 11-5 Patriots sat at home... But the Cards made the Superbowl and almost won the damn thing. Surely there have been other week division winners that went on to playoff success.
It's the same thing with the NBA, hell even the MLB. I've said it before and I'll say it again, the "divisions" system is ridiculous and unfair. Rank the damn teams 1 to 16, and have 1 play 16, 2 play 15, etc...
Let's just wait until the first 7-9 team makes the playoffs. Then Goodell will try to change things, like everything else seems to be changing.
Jets got in with 9-7, and they just got in because Colts and Bengals benched their starters, but they almost got to the superbowl.
I did my own and here were my playoff teams and seedings: AFC: 1. Baltimore Ravens 2. New York Jets 3. San Diego 4. Jacksonville 5. New England 6. Pittsburgh NFC: 1. Atlanta 2. Philadelphia 3. Green Bay 4. San Francisco 5. New Orleans 6. Washington hahaha
