Lions propose eliminating division championship to avoid playoff seeding mishap

The Lions are pushing for more fairness in ranking seeds in the playoffs by doing it on the basis of each team's overall record.

Lions propose eliminating division championship to avoid playoff seeding mishap

Dan Campbell (Image via AP)

The Detroit Lions are exercising their right to make proposals at the NFL owners’ meeting at the beginning of the new football year. The team has made a rather drastic suggestion after their Super Bowl aspirations ended bitterly to a Commanders squad led by rookie Jayden Daniels.

The Lions have made three suggestions – the first being to negate automatic first downs that are handed when defensive players are penalized for holding and illegal contact. The second is a proposed change to the bylaw that would prevent players placed on injured reserve prior or on the roster cut day from being counted against the 90-player roster limit.

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The third change is the most important one. The team has proposed to seed the playoff teams based on their record and irrespective of the berths by winning the division or getting a wild card. This means that the winners of the four divisions will no longer be guaranteed the first four seeds and the final seeding will be on the basis of each team’s regular season record.

Since the level of competition in each division is different, a second-seeded team in one division could finish the regular season with a better record than the first seed of another division. Despite having a better record, they get no benefit because they are a wild card team. If the Lions succeed then the system will rank teams from the best record to the worst without any reservations for the division winners.

The Lions’ appeal would have greatly benefitted two teams this season, the Minnesota Vikings and the Green Bay Packers from the NFC. With 14-3 and 11-6 records respectively, their overall record was better than the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Los Angeles Rams, the number three and four-seed respectively.

The Detroit Lions want the NFL playoff seeding to be purely based on overall record

This rule would be similar to the current NBA playoffs system. It does not affect the number 1 seed in any way. This is because the team with the best record secures a bye-week and home-field advantage. Detroit is vouching for this system as it would make the seeding system even for all. It will also motivate teams from comparatively weaker divisions to win more games so that they get a better overall seed.

Dan Campbell (2)
Dan Campbell (Image via AP)

In the current system, the winner of each division gets seeds 1 through 4 and the wild card teams get seeds 5 through 7. This year, the 14-3 Vikings were ranked lower than the 10-7 Buccaneers and Rams. In order for this proposal to pass and this rule to come into force next season, at least 24 owners must agree to it. The proposal may not sit well with owners of teams from divisions that are less competitive than the others because it will cost them a top-four seeding opportunity.

Apart from the Lions’ proposals, other teams have put forth their respective proposals as well. The Green Bay Packers have made an official appeal to ban the infamous tush push in the league. The offensive move is used by the Philadelphia Eagles when they are inches away from the end zone. It has become frustrating for teams to defend against because Philly has a dominant offensive line that can hold back the best defensive players.