The NFL started utilizing record-based home-field benefit within the playoffs in 1975, however it took till 1990 for each division winner to obtain a assured postseason dwelling sport. The Lions have challenged a long-held norm by proposing a change to take away the assure of a division champion being assured a minimum of one January dwelling tilt.
No change within the NFL’s playoff construction occurred on the league conferences this week, however the Detroit proposal was not voted down. No vote befell, because the league tabled the measure, in line with NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero. Nonetheless, some groups supported it. Extra notably, Roger Goodell supplied some reward to what can be a big change — one that had already come up earlier than the Lions made an official proposal.
“I assumed it’s a very wholesome proposal and a really wholesome level that we have to consider and proceed to take a look at,” Goodell mentioned, via CBS Sports’ Jonathan Jones. “It went by many alternative types. There was some nice information to point out that we must always actually take a look at some type or model of this. However there was additionally a very robust viewpoint that successful the division was the No. 1 factor. If you come into coaching camp, that’s the purpose: win that division first. And will that reward for successful that division be you’re within the playoffs and a house sport?”
Whereas competitors committee member Mike Tomlin pushed again in opposition to stripping division champs of first-round dwelling video games, Jones notes the Cowboys have been one of many groups that supported a format during which a group’s file — no matter its divisional end — dictated the postseason websites. This might have benefited the Vikings final yr, because the Lions’ Week 18 win over their division rival pushed 14-3 Minnesota to the No. 5 seed — forward of an eventual loss to the 10-7 Rams, who rested starters after being assured of a house sport by advantage of an NFC West title.
The NFL’s first 5 post-merger playoff brackets got here with out data figuring out dwelling fields, because the websites rotated yearly. The 14-0 Dolphins famously needed to play the 1972 AFC Championship Sport at Three Rivers Stadium. When the league shifted to record-based home-field willpower in 1975, the division winner with the third-best file nonetheless needed to start on the street as a result of solely 4 groups per convention making the playoffs. From 1978-89, every convention’s third-best division champ additionally started on the street in opposition to the No. 2 seed — beneath a setup that includes one wild-card sport and three groups holding first-round byes per convention. The NFL’s transfer to six-team playoff brackets in 1990 started guaranteeing dwelling video games to division champs.
This has produced some fascinating matchups, with .500-or-worse groups utilizing the house sport to upend higher opposition. The 2008 Chargers went from 5-8 to 8-8 and upset the 12-4 Colts in additional time, whereas Marshawn Lynch‘s “Beastquake” journey powered the 7-9 Seahawks to a win over the defending Tremendous Bowl champion Saints (11-5) in 2010. A Tim Tebow-to-Demaryius Thomas game-winner propelled the 8-8 Broncos to a 2011 wild-card win over the 12-4 Steelers, whereas a 7-8-1 Panthers group defeated an 11-5 Cardinals squad — one utilizing a third-string QB — in 2014. Washington (2020) and Tampa Bay (2022) additionally hosted video games as sub-.500 groups. These cases seem to have come up on the conferences.
“There was some dialogue probably about for those who’re .500 or much less and also you gained that division, must you additionally get the house sport? I believe there was some curiosity in that additionally,” Goodell mentioned. “However I believe the fact is it was very wholesome and I believe there might be extra dialogue of it.”
As a transfer to 18 video games appears inevitable in the not-too-distant future, the prospect of golf equipment clinching divisions earlier looms. A steadiness between guaranteeing a division winner a playoff spot however not a house sport might assist drive groups — notably these with stronger home-field benefits — to maintain pushing for greater seeds. Resting starters in Week 18 has turn into pretty widespread for the reason that schedule expanded, and this figures to return up — particularly with an 18th sport all however sure to be added earlier than the 2020s wrap — when homeowners revisit this dialogue.
Whereas the NFL yanking a house sport away from division champs would devalue the accomplishment to a level, it could appear unlikely the divisions would devolve into the pretty meaningless coalitions the NBA makes use of. Goodell commonly drives adjustments, and his not dismissing Detroit’s proposal opens the door to this turning into a severe speaking level.
