As the Detroit Lions clinched their division title, locked up the NFC’s No. 1 seed, and secured the conference’s lone postseason bye, the team also put forward a controversial proposal: stripping division winners of their automatic right to host a playoff game.
Rich McKay, chairman of the NFL’s Competition Committee, acknowledged the idea was bound to generate plenty of conversation.
“This will certainly create some fresh discussion,” McKay said.
One person firmly against the proposal? Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin.
Speaking to reporters at the NFL’s annual league meeting, Tomlin made it clear he believes the current system should remain intact.
“I’m a division purist,” Tomlin said bluntly. “I love the rivalries that is division play. I love the structure of our scheduling that highlights it… I think the division winners should get a home playoff game.”
Detroit’s controversial proposal would allow wild card teams to be ranked higher than division winners if they have a better regular season record.
Currently, division winners automatically claim the top four seeds in each conference, ensuring them at least one home playoff game. This often results in lower-ranked division winners hosting stronger wild card teams in the opening round.
A prime example occurred last season when the 14-3 Vikings were relegated to the No. 5 seed and had to play on the road against the 10-7 Rams.
Over the years, sub-.500 division champions – such as the 2010 Seahawks, 2014 Panthers, and 2020 Washington Football Team – have hosted playoff games despite weak regular-season performances.
Under the Lions’ proposal, seeding would be determined strictly by overall record, ranking teams 1 through 7 within each conference.
If this system had been in place last season, the Vikings would have been the No. 3 seed (losing a strength-of-victory tiebreaker to the Eagles) and would have hosted a wild card matchup against the Buccaneers at U.S. Bank Stadium.
The current postseason format was introduced in 2020, when the league expanded to include a third wild-card team per conference.
Since then, only the No. 1 seed in each conference receives a first-round bye, a departure from the previous system that rewarded the top two seeds.
What are your thoughts on Detroit’s proposal? … Do you side with the Lions or with “division purists” such as Tomlin???
