Heading into Week 15, there is not much that can be predicted about the NFL play-offs, especially because no team has yet clinched a play-off berth.
But there is one thing we know for sure: The winner of the woeful NFC South will get to host a play-off game, even though that team will not have a winning record.
The play-offs are supposed to reward the best teams, but right now no one would put Atlanta (5-8), New Orleans (5-8), Carolina (4-8-1) or Tampa Bay (2-11) in that group.
The best the Atlanta Falcons or New Orleans Saints can do is finish with a mediocre 8-8 record, and it is quite possible that one of these futile teams will win the division with just six victories.
Since the NFL realigned to four divisions in 2002, only one team has made the play-offs with a losing record: the 2010 Seattle Seahawks, who won the NFC West by virtue of a tiebreaker over the St Louis Rams after both teams finished with limp 7-9 records.
The weakness of the NFC South proves the league should seriously consider realignment – or, at the very least, a revamping of the play-off system – to prevent a repeat of this looming post-season embarrassment.
Other than the World Series, where home-field advantage is ridiculously based on which league wins the All-Star Game, every other post-season series in every other major sport in America gives that edge to the team with the best record.
Why can’t the NFL get on board?
Follow us on twitter at @SprtNationalUAE
