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THE WEEKLY
WIPE
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Professional football crowns champion through elaborate system of
post-season games
February 4, 2009 | Issue 6-4
The NFL’s current “playoff” system, culminating with the Super Bowl, was formed
1977 in order to crown a definitive champion. It relies on a multi-team contest
in which teams are eliminated after losing to determine which teams play in the
Super Bowl.
Many remain critical of the system, which fails to allow a combination of polls
and computer rankings to decide the teams most deserving of spots in the Super
Bowl.
“Are you telling me that if we had a computer system Arizona would have been in
the championship game?” asked sports pundit Jay Mariotti, who has long been a
proponent of an arithmetical system for the NFL. “By using a mathematical
formula to decide the championship game teams, you capture the very essence of
competition and ensure a fair result.
The number of rounds has been tweaked over the years, but the changes have done
little to quell discontent. This year, 13-win Tennessee and the 12-win New York
Giants, who beat Arizona during the regular season, both complained after they
were left out of the title game.
“I mean, I understand we did everything we could do,” said Giants quarterback
Eli Manning, who believed that his team deserved a shot at the title despite
losing its last game. “At some point it was just out of our hands. Does it make
sense that Arizona got in [to the Super Bowl] and we didn’t? I guess that’s not
for me to decide.”
A system that allows a 9-7 Arizona team to play in the title game over teams
with three and four more wins has given critics a stronger voice in an argument
that has been raging since the playoffs were introduced more than 30 years ago.
“Allowing something as important as who plays for the championship to be left up
to competitive skill and chance is ludicrous,” said Tennessee coach Jeff Fisher.
“I’m tired of seeing my teams work so hard all year to have a flawed procedure
take away their shot at a championship. What the NFL needs is at least a partial
computer-aided system of determining who the best teams are.”
Experts say a system dependent on computer rankings and polls is unlikely
despite support from high-ranking officials. Even former Detroit Lions President
Matt Millen, who in 2005 lobbied Congress to gain more playoff access for teams
like his, doesn't expect change to come to the NFL.
"Even though there is a cry for a computer-based system, I think it's unlikely
we will see it in any reasonable period of time," he said.
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"I
can't think
of anything more resembling 9/11.
