This year, one of the big stories in football is how the San Diego Chargers might be the best team in history to not make the playoffs. I don't agree with that, but I do think they are better than a bunch of NFC teams who will make it. So, I came up with a way to correct for the lopsided-ness of the two NFL conferences without effecting the division rivalries.*

To start, let's keep it so the winners of the 8 divisions all make it to the playoffs. This punishes those in a strong division, but that's what the wild-card is for. Currently, the two non-division winners from each conference with the best record go onto the playoffs. I'd like to change it so that the four best records from either division will merit a trip to the playoffs. Therefore, you could have four AFC and zero NFC wild-card teams. If the season ended today, there would be two AFC teams and two NFC teams, but that could be very different by next week. I believe it could even go four AFC teams and zero from the NFC.

I imagine you're wondering, "Matt, how will the seeds match up?" Well, this is where my plans will lose some people. If there are three AFC wild-cards, then there are just seven seeds in the AFC and 5 in the NFC. No team is guaranteed a bye in this scenario, but I can live with that. The biggest downfall is that the weaker division playoff teams will be rewarded with an unexpected bye, which makes me a little uneasy. The only way to correct this is by forgetting the conferences once in the playoffs and just putting all 12 teams into the same bracket.

Upon writing it out, I realize my plan isn't perfect, but it would certainly make things exciting. Any suggestions of your own?

* A suggestion by some is to just let the 12 best teams from either conference into the playoffs, but that would render divisions meaningless, which I and others are wary about.