Lions' Playoff Rule Change Proposal Came After Push from NFL's Troy Vincent

Troy Vincent, the NFL's executive vice president of football operations, pushed for the Detroit Lions' proposal to change the NFL playoff seeding structure, whereas teams would be ranked by win-loss record regardless of whether they won the division.

Jeremy Reisman of Pride of Detroit explained the situation, and it stems from comments made by Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown.

In the days leading up to the final game of the season, the 14-2 Lions and 14-2 Minnesota Vikings were set to battle for both the NFC North title and the NFC's No. 1 seed.

The winner would get homefield advantage throughout the conference playoffs. The loser would go on the road as a No. 5 seed to play the eventual No. 4 seed Los Angeles Rams.

“It’s crazy. I think the rule should be changed,” St. Brown said. “Obviously if you win the division, you should obviously make a playoff spot, but having a 14-win team having to go on the road is kind of crazy. But I guess I don’t make the rules.”

Those comments reportedly got the ear of Vincent, who reached out to Lions team president Rod Wood.

Wood spoke about his conversation with Vincent at last week's league meetings.

“Troy Vincent from the league reached out to me and said, ‘I tend to agree with [St. Brown],’” Wood said this week at the league meetings. “‘Would you mind partnering with us on making a proposal on that?’ So we made a proposal.”

It's pretty clear that the league is interested in a potential change. CBS Sports' Jonathan Jones asked commissioner Roger Goodell about it at the league meetings, and he had this to say.

"I thought it is a very healthy proposal and a very healthy point that we need to evaluate and continue to look at. It went through many different forms. There was some great data to show that we should really look at some form or version of this. But there was also a really strong point of view that winning the division was the No. 1 thing. When you come into training camp, that's the goal: win that division first. And should that reward for winning that division be you're in the playoffs and a home game?

"There was some discussion potentially about if you're .500 or less and you won that division, should you also get the home game? I think there was some interest in that also. But I think the reality is it was very healthy and I think there will be more discussion of it. As we look at the season structure, there will probably be a lot of discussion in that context also as we do that. But I do think it's that constant work to be more competitive and find new ways to create interest in the game."

On the pro side of the argument, it prevents a situation where a high-achieving team like the Vikings that just happens to be unlucky enough to be in the wrong division gets rewarded for good play. If this proposal was in place last year, Minnesota would have been a No. 3 seed, good enough to host the NFC Wild Card round.

On the con side of the argument, it severely weakens the entire point of winning divisions. A division winner would then only be guaranteed going to the playoffs, but the chances are that team would have a top-seven win-loss record anyway to qualify.

The proposal was up for discussion at the league's annual meeting, but it was not approved. However, it has been tabled for further discussion, so it's not out of the question just yet.

In order for the proposal (or any rule or bylaw change) to pass, 24 of 32 league owners must be on board. Owners are set to meet again on May 20-21 in Eagan, Minnesota, so in theory, they could pass the proposal then.

We'll see what they decide in a month-and-a-half.