by John HickeyFiled under: 49ers, Arizona Cardinals, Rams, Seahawks, NFC West
Over time, there have been some historically mediocre teams who have won championships or made it close.Just last year, the NHL saw the Philadelphia Flyers finish third in the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference with a 41-35 record and a total of 88 points that was matched or exceeded by 20 of the league's 30 teams. The Flyers wound up in the Stanley Cup finals, ultimately losing to the Chicago Blackhawks.
It was just in 2006 when the St. Louis Cardinals made the Major League playoffs by winning the National League Central with 83 wins, then went on to win the World Series, setting a record for the fewest wins ever for a World Series champion.
At least the Cardinals and the Flyers had winning records.
What are we to make of the NFC West, which is holding a weekly "who wants to lose'' competition? Entering the next-to-last weekend of the season, St. Louis and Seattle are tied for the division lead with 6-8 records, and the San Francisco 49ers, a game back at 5-9, will be the division's flag bearer in the playoffs if they can come up big in two very winnable games, at St. Louis Sunday and at home against Arizona Jan. 2.
The NFL has been a going concern for some nine decades now, in one form or another, and never in all that time has a losing team made the playoffs. If the Rams or the Seahawks don't win out to finish at 8-8 and claim the West title, there will be more than a little history made in the West. If that's not bizarre enough, under the playoff format, where heavy emphasis is given to winning the division, the New Orleans Saints could finish second in the NFC South at 12-4 and have to play on the road against the 49ers (or Rams or Seahawks).
Frankly, it's a mess, and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell admitted as much during a conference call this week when he said the league would think about "seeding all playoff teams on the basis of their records once they qualify for the playoffs."
No comments:
Post a Comment