Packers: The impact of a potential seven-team postseason
The NFL could be expanding the playoffs for the 2020 season.
It’s looking very likely the playoffs are set for a shakeup starting next season.
According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the playoffs could now feature seven teams from each conference instead of six. One team would receive a bye instead of two, with the other six teams competing in the wild-card round.
Schefter reported that a new collective bargaining agreement could be finalized this week, and that will include the change in the playoff format starting in 2020.
So, how would this have impacted the Packers this past season?
Green Bay earned the No. 2 seed in the NFC which was good for a first-round bye. In the new format, this wouldn’t be the case. Only the No. 1 seed, the San Francisco 49ers, would earn a week off.
The Packers would instead enter the wild-card round as the NFC’s highest seed, which would then mean they’d host the lowest remaining seed. That would’ve belonged to the Los Angeles Rams, who missed the playoffs in 2019 with a 9-7 record. In the new format, they’d get in.
Moving forward, this of course increases the Packers’ chances of reaching the playoffs. There’s one more spot available for the same number of teams. Almost 50 percent of the teams in each conference will make the playoffs.
But in some ways, you could argue it will make the road to the Super Bowl more challenging unless you earn the top seed. Now only one team will have the advantage of resting for a week and then hosting games in the final two rounds.
What this also potentially means is that with three wild-cards instead of two, a team could finish in last place of their division but still make the playoffs if their record was good for the seventh seed. Unlikely, I know, but it surely would be possible under the new format.
It’s going to draw mixed opinions, for sure, but the new format isn’t a major shakeup of the playoffs. It’ll still be similar to how it was under six games.
But the question now is was there a need to make this change?
What are your thoughts?