Vic Fangio’s plan for NFL realignment makes a lot of sense
Dec 12, 2019, 6:31 AM
Earlier in the week, Vic Fangio said the NFL needs to get rid of the divisions. The Broncos head coach believes that each team should play every other team in their conference and have one non-conference game.
Fangio is headed in the right direction, but fans want to see more AFC vs. NFC matchups instead of just conference matchups each week.
For years, we have seen teams in the NFL miss the playoffs in favor of teams that don’t deserve to be in the postseason. It makes no sense why the NFL hasn’t done anything to fix the problem.
In 2008, we watched the Chargers make the playoffs with an 8-8 record, while the Patriots missed the postseason at 11-5. We’ve also witnessed the 7-9 Seahawks get awarded a playoff spot in 2011 as well, as the 2014 Panthers with a 7-8-1 record. Both of those teams kept teams with 10-6 records out of the playoffs because they won their horrific divisions in those years.
In 2011, we had a similar situation here in Denver, when Tim Tebow and the 8-8 Broncos won their division and hosted the playoff game against the Steelers. The issue here is that Pittsburgh should have hosted the wild card game because they owned a 12-4 record. It’s not fair that the Steelers had to travel to Denver just because the Broncos won their division.
So how can the NFL fix the playoff format so that the best and most deserving teams get into the playoffs? Here’s my solution:
• Keep the conferences
• Get rid of the divisions. Let’s be honest, do fans really want to see the same three teams twice a year? Fans should want to see their team play more different teams than their usual division teams. We also won’t have to see a dominant team like the Patriots have almost six guaranteed wins each season with their lousy division.
• The top six records are awarded a playoff spot in each conference. This means that we might not see a team from the NFC East this season, but too bad. If you’re not one of the top six teams in your conference, you don’t get to compete for a Super Bowl.
Coach Fangio said that his idea has never put forth in front of anybody important, but I’m here to say that the comments have been heard now and there could be serious consideration within the next year or two. The silliness has gone on long enough. It’s time for the NFL to put the best teams in the postseason every year.
