We know how huge Sunday night's game between the Detroit Lions and Minnesota Vikings is. The winner wins the NFC North and earns the bye that comes with homefield advantage in the playoffs. It can be argued that no two teams need homefield advantage more, even though the Lions went 8-0 on the road during the regular season.
Sunday night's loser will be a 14-win Wild Card team, the first in NFL history. The previous record for wins by a Wild Card team was the 13-win Tennessee Titans in 1999. Sunday night's loser will be the No. 5 seed, to be exact, and hit the road against a No. 4 seed that won their division with nine or 10 wins (Los Angeles Rams, Tampa Bay Buccaneers or Atlanta Falcons) next weekend.
There's a scenario where Sunday night's loser could still host two playoff games, but it will take a run of upsets for that to happen. It's also very conceivable that Sunday night's loser will go on a deep playoff run despite having to be on the road throughout.
Amon-Ra St. Brown wants to see the playoff rules changed
Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown talked to reporters after Thursday's practice. Asked about a 14-win team that won't win its division, he took the baton to call for the NFL to change the playoff rules.
“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. Hopefully we can get a win and get home-field advantage, but whatever happens, we both have a spot in the playoffs, so we might see each other again after this game.”
Winning your division should of course be rewarded with a playoff spot, as St. Brown said. But we've seen too many situations where a division winner that was near or below .500 got a home playoff game against a team that won more games and was the better team. It's no coincidence that, in a lot of circumstances, teams that have to go on the road in the Wild Card Round would prefer to take on the weakest division winner.
It's a very unique circumstance for the Lions and Vikings this weekend, and not likely to be fully repeated anytime soon. But it's long overdue for the NFL to consider re-seeding for the playoffs based on regular season record.