Now that the 75th NFL season is about to reach its anticlimactic finish with the 29th Super Bowl, it is time owners consider a new approach to the playoffs for the next 75 years.
Eliminate the conferences. Put the AFC to permanent rest, something the NFC has been hinting for 10 straight Super Bowls. While they’re at it, bury the NFC as well.
They have served their purpose, the purpose of which never was exactly clear or useful except as a concession to bygone sentiment.
In place of conferences, the league should keep the integrity and tradition of its divisions (inviting some welcome but not necessary realignment) and seed its playoffs. This proposal would require only a minor adjustment, preserve important rivalries and, best of all, assure the league of at least the possibility of the top two teams meeting each year in the Super Bowl.
Very little tradition would be lost, and much more tradition and intrigue would be gained. Television would be happier, which means owners should consider it.
Not the least of the advantages would have been Dallas and San Francisco in opposite brackets this year, providing a probable Super Bowl buildup worth reading for the next week.
The top four division winners would still earn byes, and they would be seeded (1) San Francisco, 13-3; (2) Dallas, 12-4; (3) Pittsburgh, 12-4 (lost tiebreaker to Dallas); and (4) San Diego, 11-5. Fifth and sixth would be division winners Minnesota and Miami (Minnesota beat Miami in the regular season). Using similar tiebreakers the next six teams would be Cleveland, New England, Green Bay, Detroit, Kansas City and the Bears.
First round: Bears at Minnesota, Kansas City at Miami, Detroit at Cleveland and Green Bay at New England.
Assuming home teams won, second round: New England at San Francisco, Cleveland at Dallas, Miami at Pittsburgh and Minnesota at San Diego.
That would set up semifinals of San Diego at San Francisco and Pittsburgh at Dallas.
Why settle for less than the best? The NFL is settling for Nebraska against Alabama when it could have had Nebraska against Penn State. Don’t mention basketball to NFL folks, but the NCAA tournament fares pretty well with its seeding system. It doesn’t care if North Carolina goes to the West Regional. Since the NFL has expansion team Carolina in its NFC West Division, there is already a pattern here to copy.
More Top Picks Humidifiers
Traditionalists will argue for preserving the old AFL-NFL rivalry, but there are overriding considerations:
– Since there is interconference play, there is no longer the suspense that Super Bowl III brought when the leagues were truly separate. The 49ers and Chargers played the Super Bowl already on Dec. 11. The 49ers won 38-15.
– This is not baseball, where the leagues still don’t play each other during the regular season. Besides, a baseball series provides automatic insurance against a one-game mismatch. In a one-game football championship, it is much more important to encourage a matchup between the two best teams.
– There were 50 years of football before the merger and plenty of tradition forgotten since. Under the present format, the Bears and Giants never will play in a Super Bowl. The Bears and Packers never did because they both represented the old Western Conference, and never could now. So eliminating the NFC and AFC would not only renew great possibilities for the Super Bowl (Oilers-Chargers, Bears-Giants), it would create even greater possibilities (Bears-Packers, Browns-Steelers).
– The merger created an artificial rivalry anyway when it moved the Browns, Steelers and Colts from the NFL. Anyone who cites AFC “pride” should remember the Steelers are the AFC’s biggest Super Bowl winner.
A look at the playoffs of the ’90s reveals interesting scenarios under a seeding system.
Last year, Buffalo would have been No. 1, Houston No. 2, Dallas No. 3 and Kansas City No. 4. Think a Dallas-Houston semifinal matchup could have sold?
In 1992, the 49ers and Cowboys were 1-2. Their 30-20 NFC title game would have made for a better Super Bowl than the 52-17 Dallas-Buffalo game.
In 1991, Washington and Buffalo were 1-2, the way it ended. Detroit was third and Denver fourth. So Denver-Washington and Detroit-Buffalo games could have provided the semifinals.
In 1990, the 49ers and Bills were 1-2, with the Giants third and the Raiders fourth.
George Young, Giants general manager and co-chairman of the competition committee, said he vaguely recalls somebody proposing an end to the conferences, but no discussion ever grew.
“I think the thing turned out fine the way it is this year,” Young said. “But if someone proposes a change, we’ll talk about it.”
What better time than now, when the league is expanding by two teams, considering realignment, suffering from 10 straight NFC Super Bowl wins by an average score of 38-15 (same as the Dec. 11 49er-Charger game) and facing a 20 1/2-point yawner?
All we are asking is give war a chance.