Schefter: **New NFL Playoff Structure - 1 BYE, 7 Teams per Conference**

[Why Not?]

Originally Posted by BossChief

This may sound like a dumb question, but how would that bracket work?

6 teams play the first week and 3 win and 2 byes...

Maybe all 4 division winners get a bye and then the next 4 best records get in and fight amongst themselves for the right to play the division winners?

I kinda like that...

You’d still end up eventually with an odd number of teams. There would be 2 winners from the WC round but 4 division winners. There would need to be 12 playoff teams per conference to be able to award all division winners a bye.

[Frosty]

Originally Posted by Why Not?

You’d still end up eventually with an odd number of teams. There would be 2 winners from the WC round but 4 division winners. There would need to be 12 playoff teams per conference to be able to award all division winners a bye.

If you were going to do that, make the 17th game a bye for the division winners and have the next 8 teams in each conference play each other to position them to play the division leaders the next week. You would still get that 17th week and have three weeks of playoffs before the Superbowl.

[The Franchise]

Originally Posted by BossChief

This may sound like a dumb question, but how would that bracket work?

6 teams play the first week and 3 win and 2 byes...

Maybe all 4 division winners get a bye and then the next 4 best records get in and fight amongst themselves for the right to play the division winners?

I kinda like that...

Who the **** knows. Both ideas are dumb.

[SAGA45]

First round would be:

7@2
6@3
5@4

Lets say 7 upsets 2 and both 3 and 4 take care of business then the 2nd round looks like:

7@1
4@3

If 7 pulls a '19 Titans and 3 beats 4 then 3 has homefield in the Conference Championship.

Not bad actually. Sometimes teams get hot late after a piss poor start but fall just shy of the playoffs due to tiebreakers. With this setup, that 7th seed could potentially be the most dangerous team in the playoffs.

[pugsnotdrugs19]

Originally Posted by SAGA45

First round would be:

7@2
6@3
5@4

Lets say 7 upsets 2 and both 3 and 4 take care of business then the 2nd round looks like:

7@1
4@3

If 7 pulls a '19 Titans and 3 beats 4 then 3 has homefield in the Conference Championship.

Not bad actually. Sometimes teams get hot late after a piss poor start but fall just shy of the playoffs due to tiebreakers. With this setup, that 7th seed could potentially be the most dangerous team in the playoffs.

That might happen once every decade or so but let’s be honest, more often than not that 7 seed is gonna get throttled.

Chiefs hosting the Steelers this year? Would have been a bloodbath.

[The Franchise]

Originally Posted by pugsnotdrugs19

That might happen once every decade or so but let’s be honest, more often than not that 7 seed is gonna get throttled.

Chiefs hosting the Steelers this year? Would have been a bloodbath.

Yep. Zero percent chance that a dude named Duck leads that team to a playoff win.

[Chiefspants]

Originally Posted by The Franchise

Yep. Zero percent chance that a dude named Duck leads that team to a playoff win.

Yeah - just how do the playoffs stack up with 7 teams this year?

BYE
1. Ravens

Wild Card

2. Chiefs 35
7. Steelers 7

3. Patriots 13
6. Titans 14

4. Texans 22
5. Bills 19

Which would lead to the same result. Yes, the risk is that the Chiefs would have sustained a major injury against the Steelers and that would change the overall outcome, but idk. I think a lot of the worry we have is through the lens of the 90's playoff losses and our losses with Alex Smith, where our QB would be called to win the game against a mediocre team - but Patrick is just going to deliver - often delivering before a game winning drive is necessary.

If the trade is that we keep Jones, Watkins, and get to load up at IOL and LB? Gosh, I don't know - it's almost worth it. Keeping that defense respectable puts us in dynasty potential. I'd still prefer we stick to the status quo, though.

[SAGA45]

Originally Posted by Chiefspants

Yeah - just how do the playoffs stack up with 7 teams this year?

BYE
1. Ravens

Wild Card

2. Chiefs 35
7. Steelers 7

3. Patriots 13
6. Titans 14

4. Texans 22
5. Bills 19

Which would lead to the same result. Yes, the risk is that the Chiefs would have sustained a major injury against the Steelers and that would change the overall outcome, but idk..

Exactly. Adds some intrigue. I think more often than not, the 7th seed will be a team with a late surge and/or getting some key player(s) back from injury. So one cant assume they will get throttled although THIS year that might have been the case.