Why NFL Playoff Seeding Policies Must Change

The NFL playoffs are one of the greatest times of the year.

New Years Day comes and goes, head coaches being fired, new ones being hired.

The betting table gets underway; heck, even Las Vegas surely loves playoff football.

Rivalries are renewed in the playoffs, whether it's the Colts against the Patriots, the Steelers against the Ravens, and so forth.

In the 2009 NFL playoffs, we were in for a joy ride.

After a season with no Tom Brady, no Patriots in the playoffs, new teams stepped up to the plate. The Titans and Giants earned No. 1 seeds. The Vikings and Ravens return to the playoffs.

We even were lucky to witness two rookie quarterbacks in the playoffs.

During the post-season, we saw quite a few upsets occur in the playoffs.

The Arizona Cardinals who fell off the radar down the stretch, defeated Matt Ryan and the Atlanta Falcons. The San Diego Chargers took down Peyton Manning and the mighty Colts on the game winning touchdown by Darren Sproles.

There was a common theme to these wins, however.

Both of the teams were in lousy divisions to begin with...Even with their losing streak, Arizona Cardinals locked up the division weeks before the season ended, while the San Diego Chargers just finished at .500 to get into the playoffs!

Before I go further, I am not knocking the Chargers or Cardinals for making a run into the playoffs. They can't help that they are in a weak division.

So, then why should they get rewarded for playing in a weaker division then other teams are playing in?

I am not saying that they shouldn't make the playoffs because of it.

But if you are barely reaching a .500 record on the season, when you have teams who are two, even three games ahead of them, why shouldn't those teams get home field advantage?

The Chargers did not go further in the next round as they lost to the eventual champion Steelers. However, the Cardinals got not one, but two games at home, which gave them an advantage on their way to the Super Bowl.

One the one hand, the teams that lost shouldn't be excused. You need to win on the road if you want to go far in the National Football League.

There is no reason, however, that teams who did not achieve as much success as another team did, get a playoff game at home.

The system would be still fine if the seeding went based on record.

So what if a wild-card team with 10-12 wins got a home game over an 8-9 win team.

They played in a tougher division throughout the season, they earned it.

If the teams in those lower divisions did win as many games as these wild card teams did, then yes they should get the opportunity.

The NFL would benefit from the change, making it fair for all teams involved, and to send a message that if you want an advantage heading into the playoffs, you will have to earn that respect during the regular season by making it count.

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Matt Miselis is a writer for BleacherReport.com. He is also a writer for Sportschatplace.com, and footbasket.blogspot.com