Time to say bye to playoff byes?

1/11/09
giants
By Ryan Chatelain

Time to say bye to playoff byes?

Photo credit: Game Face

By Ryan Chatelain

Photo by Getty
Is a first-round bye in the NFL playoffs a blessing or a curse? This is the fourth straight season in which it seemed to be a detriment, rather than a benefit.

As I write this (at halftime of the Steelers-Chargers game), home teams that “enjoyed” some downtime last week are 0-3 this weekend.

What once was considered easy street to a conference championship game is suddenly being called into question. In each of the previous seasons, teams that earned a first-round bye were 2-2 in the divisional playoff round. Each of the previous three Super Bowl champs (the Giants, Colts and Steelers) had to play on wild-card weekend, making you wonder if having to play on the first week of the playoffs helps a team maintain its momentum.

Of course, we might be able to chalk up this trend up to coincidence. From 2001-2004, after all, bye-week teams went 13-3 in divisional playoff games and won four straight Super Bowls.

But perhaps the time is ripe now for the NFL to rekindle its discussion about expanding its playoffs.

I had never been a proponent of increasing the postseason field. I think sending 12 of 32 teams to the playoffs feels just right. (Sixteen teams in the NBA playoffs is too many, in my opinion.)

But after New England got shut out of the postseason this year with an 11-5 record, it’s obvious something’s wrong with the NFL’s playoff system. I’m not sure what the answer is, but if you wanted to expand the playoffs to 16 teams, taking away first-round byes entirely, now seems like a great time to fire up the discussion.

After Sunday, the Giants probably wouldn’t put up much of a fight against it.
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