NFL should prevent teams with losing records from holding playoff spots

The NFL prides itself in attempting to be flawless; however, the 2014 NFL season has been anything but that. As evident by the various domestic abuse situations amongst all the NFL dilemmas, the biggest conflict of them all still remains: The NFL playoff system.

The NFL is split into two conferences with six teams representing each conference in the playoffs. The top four teams in each conference are handed to the division leaders, while the two remaining spots are up for grabs between any other team in the conference.

As the standings are currently situated, there is a losing team representing the NFC as a result of their division lead. The NFC South is historically bad this season with all four teams in the division obtaining a losing record. The last time this occurred in the NFC was during the 2010 regular season when the Seattle Seahawks, a team that held a 7-9 record, represented the NFC West. That year, two teams holding 10-6 records were left out of the playoffs.

This season, not only is it possible for an 11 win team to be watching the playoffs from their homes, but it is not out of the question that a team holding on to a meager six wins will make the playoffs. This is where the problem lies. A team with five less wins than another could make the playoffs over what is clearly a better all-around football team suited for the playoffs.

There are many people out there who speak in favor of always having a team within each division in the playoff picture. But, with records as pitiful as those of the NFC South, it should not only be frowned upon and looked at negatively, but it should also be banned and disallowed from occurring every again.

The playoffs are all about finding the best team in the league each season and ultimately crowning one of the teams Super Bowl Champions. Having a team with a losing record consequentially nullifies what the Playoffs are designed to do. In determining the supreme team, the most equipped teams as determined by their win totals should be part of the Playoff Picture.

All within one win of each other, the New Orleans Saints, the Atlanta Falcons along with the Carolina Panthers are all vying for that ever so coveted division title landing them a spot in the playoffs. The worst team in the division is the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, a team that was still theoretically in the playoff race until last week, even though they are projected to have one of the top three picks in the upcoming NFL Draft due to its shameful record.

A solution to yet another NFL downfall would be disallowing any team with a losing record from holding a playoff spot. Until that occurs, the NFL and Commissioner Roger Goodell will face this lingering debacle, which will serve as another blemish during a notoriously corrupted stint for Goodell.