Regardless of how it all plays out, there’s going to be a team in the NFC sitting at home in January that will believe it should be battling in the post-season.
While either the New Orleans Saints, Atlanta Falcons or Carolina Panthers will boast a record of .500 or worse and host a playoff game on Wild Card weekend, one of the Philadelphia Eagles, Detroit Lions or Dallas Cowboys—all of which will likely have 10 or more wins when it’s all said and done—will miss out on the playoffs entirely.
This situation is far from new—most recently, the 2013 Arizona Cardinals (10-6) and 2008 New England Patriots (11-5) both watched the post-season from their couches—but the idea of a far-inferior NFC South team having a shot at the Lombardi Trophy is sure to infuriate some owners, coaches, players and a lot of fans.
The current playoff-formatting issues have led to calls by many for a change, and it may be coming. ESPN reported Sunday that when the owners vote on playoff expansion in March, a new format that includes re-seeding the bottom four teams in each conference based on win-loss record “will become a reality.”
Should the NFL adopt such a change to avoid a controversial end to the season like the league faces now? You tell us.
Now on to this week’s power rankings:
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1 |
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Tom Brady and the Patriots put up another 40-plus-point game—their fifth of 2014—on the way to an AFC East title for the 12th time in the last 13 seasons, becoming the first team to ever do so. |
2 |
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2 |
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Arguably the league’s hottest team (winners of seven of their last eight), the Seahawks’ vintage showing last weekend—punishing ground game and stout defence—has put them in prime position to jump the Cardinals. |
3 |
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3 |
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For the first time in weeks, and just the third time this season, Aaron Rodgers was made to look human in Buffalo. The entire Packers offence was put off by the Bills, missing many a play it normally converts. |
1 |
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4 |
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The Broncos rushed for more than 110 yards for the fourth straight game Sunday, but Peyton Manning is obviously dealing with some pain. Could this team survive an offensive shootout as is? I have my doubts. |
4 |
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5 |
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Another week, another Cardinal quarterback goes down; but that’s not going to slow down Bruce Arians’s squad. Ryan Lindley is tabbed to start this week and has yet to throw a TD in eight NFL games, but Arians has a history of getting the most out of his QBs. |
5 |
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6 |
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Sunday night was a perfect reminder of just how important a healthy Tony Romo is to the Cowboys. Unlike on Thanksgiving, Romo was crisp and accurate with his throws, and it was the difference in beating a tough Philly team. |
8 |
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7 |
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Either the Colts are fortunate to be getting through a tough stretch mostly unfazed or Indy is going to get a rude wake-up call come playoff time. Andrew Luck needs to shake off the last two games. |
6 |
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8 |
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The offensive struggles returned for the Lions against Minnesota, but Detroit pulled out another close one to take advantage of the Packers’ loss. The Lions have won four games by four points or less in 2014. |
9 |
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9 |
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The Steelers didn’t escape Atlanta with the most convincing of victories, but are now in position to clinch a post-season berth with one more win and the AFC North title if they win out. |
10 |
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10 |
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Could you tell the Bengals were tired of hearing about Johnny Football? Allowing just 107 total yards, the Cincy defence made his debut completely unmemorable. Jeremy Hill did the rest. |
11 |
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11 |
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Sunday’s win over the lowly Jaguars wasn’t pretty, but the Ravens’ defence had itself a monster day. The performance of the offence against Jacksonville’s 28th-ranked D was worrisome. |
13 |
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12 |
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Sure, no team wants to spot a division rival a 21-point lead in the first quarter, but the Eagles rebounded nicely from that. It was the turnovers—a category in which Philly leads the league—that finished them. |
7 |
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13 |
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The Chiefs exacted some revenge on the Raiders, snapped a three-game skid and kept their post-season hopes alive in one fell swoop. Win out and a berth is very much a possibility. |
14 |
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14 |
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The return of Ryan Mathews was supposed to get the Chargers’ run game back on track, but they’ve only become more one-dimensional. A strong finish in two road games could make that a moot point. |
12 |
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15 |
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How’s this for incredible? The Bills have faced Peyton Manning and Aaron Rodgers—two of the NFL’s best—over the last two weeks, and have allowed ZERO TD passes and racked up four interceptions. |
17 |
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16 |
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What is it about meaningful games Joe Philbin and the Dolphins don’t like? Miami has been completely uninspiring over the last two contests, and it will likely cost Philbin his job. |
16 |
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17 |
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The Texans needed a win against the Colts to keep a legitimate post-season hope alive. Now, with Ryan Fitzpatrick and his backup, Tom Savage, out, Houston’s chances have all but vanished. |
15 |
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18 |
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Surpassing the 4,000-yard plateau for the fourth straight season, Drew Brees had one of his best games of the season Monday night. If Brees can keep that up, could the Saints be formidable come January? |
24 |
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19 |
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The Rams defence did another great job of shutting down the opposition. St. Louis’s offence, on the other hand, could get nothing going—they punted eight times in a row at one point Thursday. |
19 |
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20 |
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Who has more touchdowns in the fourth quarter for San Francisco this season: Colin Kaepernick or Blaine Gabbert? If you guessed Kaepernick, you’re wrong. The 2014 49ers, ladies and gentlemen. |
18 |
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21 |
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Derek Anderson is now 2-0 this season in place of the injured Cam Newton and played a crucial role in keeping the Panthers’ division title aspirations alive with a record of 5-8-1. That’s still weird to type. |
23 |
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22 |
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Last week, someone (yours truly) may have ventured to say Johnny Manziel would give the Browns’ offence a much-needed jolt. Who knew the complete opposite would be true? |
20 |
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23 |
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A home loss to the Steelers definitely hurt the Falcons’ hopes of a division title, but it didn’t erase them. Wins over New Orleans and Carolina over the next two weeks could get Atlanta through. |
21 |
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24 |
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The Vikings have quietly turned into a tough matchup this season, which includes boasting the NFL’s 11th-ranked defence. Mike Zimmer’s first year as head coach should be deemed a success. |
22 |
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25 |
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With another incredible three-touchdown performance in Sunday’s victory over Washington, Odell Beckham, Jr. is playing like he’s on a mission to singlehandedly save Tom Coughlin’s job. |
26 |
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26 |
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Watching the Bears has just become excruciating. Not only is the defence unimaginably bad, but the offence—Marc Trestman’s specialty—has imploded. While Trestman’s fate in the Windy City is all but sealed, what about Jay Cutler’s? |
25 |
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27 |
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For the first time in quite a while, Robert Griffin III put in a decent performance in Sunday’s loss to the Giants, and still RG3, Jay Gruden and the Redskins can’t avoid controversy. |
28 |
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28 |
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The Jets’ season—all but confirmed to be Rex Ryan’s last—has been a disaster, but at least this team is winning the games it’s supposed to this late in the season. Unfortunately, all it does is hurt draft positioning. |
31 |
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29 |
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The Buccaneers may not be the NFL’s worst, but thanks to the Jets’ win and strength-of-schedule tiebreaks, Tampa now sits in position for the No. 1 pick. So this season wasn’t a complete waste? |
27 |
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30 |
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Defensively, the Jaguars made it tough against the Ravens, allowing just one offensive TD. But Blake Bortles and the struggling offence couldn’t answer the call and Jacksonville remains winless on the road. |
29 |
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31 |
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In the two games at home since Nov. 20, the Raiders have scored 48 points, racked up 681 yards of offence and won both contests. On the road since that date, Oakland has scored 13 points, allowed 83, turned the ball over six times and lost twice. |
30 |
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32 |
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Nothing is going right for the Titans this season. Not only are they undoubtedly the worst team in the NFL, but losing eight straight—and 11 of 12—while sporting a 2-12 record still has yet to put them in position for the No. 1 pick. |
32 |
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