Changing NFL playoff formant probably wouldn't make for improvements

The NFC Worst? Yeah, we've already heard that one.

The NFC West: Don't step in it. That sounds about right.

There's no denying this division is the eyesore of the league, no member better than 6-8 entering Week 16. The fact that this division's champion will host a playoff game is about as appetizing as last year's fruitcake.

The NFC West champ will have at most eight wins, and could wind up hosting an opponent with 11, maybe even 12 victories, based on nothing more substantial than geography.

So there are people who want to fix this. People like Rich McKay, co-chairman of the competition committee, who advocates seeding playoffs teams based on record, not divisional finish.

Maybe he can work in some computer polls, too. Factor in strength of schedule. Perhaps take a vote from media members while he's at it. After all, those things work so well for the BCS.

And that's the problem with attempts to remedy some sort of injustice. The cure can end up being worse than the original problem.

Everyone can agree that winning the NFC West this year isn't something to brag about. And the division winner probably doesn't deserve to host a team like New Orleans, which already has 10 wins but very well could end up being the No. 5 seed.

But what about a 10-win division champ hosting an 11-win wild card? Is that really so egregious that it requires reformatting? Would you want a 10-win team from a slobberknocker of a division playing on the road against a wild-card team from a division with two patsies?

For better or worse, the NFL decided that divisions mean something. That's why schedules are weighted, teams playing every team in their division twice. If the NFL doesn't want to emphasize division champions in the playoff seeding, it shouldn't emphasize division play in the schedule. Each team could play every other team in the conference once and turn the whole season into a 16-team scrum for six playoff spots.

But there's another solution. Let things sort themselves out, because it's not like a division champion gets a seven-point head start or an extra player on the field. It gets to play the game at home, and that's no guarantee of victory. Since the current playoff format was implemented in 2002, wild-card teams are 13-19 on the road in the first round. Two of the past five Super Bowl winners were wild-card teams who won their way through three road games in the conference playoffs.

Two years ago, the San Diego Chargers made the playoffs at 8-8, hosting a first-round playoff game against the 12-4 Colts. San Diego won that wild-card game, and somehow the NFL world didn't collapse in upon itself. In fact, it was kind of exciting.

So make your jokes about the NFC West. It's a deservingly awful target. Just don't fool yourself that there's a simple fix for playoff formats.

Ultimately, this was bound to happen in a league that legislates parity with its draft order and a salary cap. The result is more and more teams bunched up within spitting distance of 8-8. Add in the fact that the NFL added two additional divisions when it realigned in 2002, and there was bound to be a year in which you had a division composed of four stinkers.

That's the NFC West this year, but the league might as well plug its nose and play through it. The playoff format isn't perfect, but no playoff format ever is, and changing the seeding process wouldn't remedy many more injustices than it would create.

Danny O'Neil: 206-464-2364 or doneil@seattletimes.com