NFL to explore player format changes; Division winners cannot confirm home games: report

The Minnesota Vikings are tied for the second-best record in the NFC this year, but their first playoff game will be on the road.

Because the one team ahead of them is the 15-2 Detroit Lions, who had a Week 18 win over Minnesota in the NFC North.

The Lions have the top seed and the bye, the Vikings head to Arizona to face the Los Angeles Rams. The game was originally scheduled for LA, but was moved due to wildfires.

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It’s not the first oddity in the NFL playoffs. In the past, seven winning teams have played in the wild card round.

However, this may change soon.

According to CBS SportsThe NFL will take another look at changing its arbitration format this offseason.

According to CBS’s Jonathan Jones, one proposal would be to award the four teams by percentage of home games won instead of directly awarding them to the division winners.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell listens to a question during a news conference before the Super Bowl at Alliant Stadium on Feb. 5, 2024 in Las Vegas. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

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If this system is in place this year, it means that the Lions, Vikings, Eagles and Chiefs will host games through the NFC. For the AFC, it would be the Chiefs, Bills, Ravens and Chargers.

The Chiefs and Chargers are on the road this weekend against the Buccaneers and Texans, as the latter two teams won the NFC and AFC South divisions.

Jones later added, however, that team owners haven’t shown “a lot of appetite” to change the format.

Before winning the division, Lions receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown suggested a change.

“Obviously, if you win the division you have to make the playoffs, but a 14-win team going on the road is crazy. But I guess I’m not going to make the rules,” he said. time.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell listens to a question during a news conference before the Super Bowl, Feb. 8, 2023, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

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The last time the playoff format changed was before the 2020 season, when it expanded from 12 to 14 teams. This resulted in only one team in each conference receiving a first round bye as opposed to two. It led to six wild card round games instead of four.

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