Leave The NFC West (and the Rule Book) Alone!!!

I have been hearing a lot of debate over the last couple of weeks on whether the NFL should change the rules regarding how teams qualify for the playoffs. This debate arose when the possibility that a team could win the NFC West with a losing record was starting to look like a reality. Going into the final weekend we now know that the winner of the NFC West will either have a .500 (8 - 8) record if the St. Louis Rams win or a sub .500 (7 - 9) record if the Seattle Seahawks win their head to head matchup. Not only is it possible that a sub .500 team could make the playoffs and have a home playoff game but other NFC teams with better records will be shut out of the post season completely. These facts have some people outraged to the point that they want the NFL to change their playoff qualifying rules in the future. I've heard some say that under no circumstance should a team be allowed to make the post season with a losing record. I've heard others say that it's ok for a team to reach the playoffs with a losing record but they should have to concede their home game to a team with a better record.

I think the NFL should leave the rules the way that they are! Every team starts out 0 -0 and know what they need to do in order to reach the playoffs. Every team should strive to win their division and if it takes 12 wins or 7 that team should be rewarded for doing so. It is not like a sub .500 team makes the playoffs every year. It is even rare to see a 9 - 7 team make it.  Most folks use the 10 win mark as guide for playoff certainty and even that benchmark isn't guaranteed. The 2008 New England Patriots finished the season 11 - 5 and tied for 1st place in the AFC East with the Miami Dolphins. But because they were on the short side of tiebreakers, they missed the playoffs (8 - 8 San Diego Chargers won the AFC West to make the playoffs). Tough break but hey, if they had won one more game they would have made it in. These situations are very rare. Most of the time, the top teams record wise within a conference make the post season. I think the rules are solid and they shouldn't make changes to it because of a handful of exceptions. If they make changes like the one's that I have heard, they should just abandon divisions all together and just have two conferences (AFC & NFC). As long as divisions exist though, you have to appropriately reward division winners as they do now, regardless of their record.