ALLEN PARK – Should a 14-win team have to go on the road to face a team with nine or 10 wins in the first round of the playoffs?
That’s the scenario facing either the Detroit Lions or Minnesota Vikings this year, depending on the outcome of their Sunday night season finale at Ford Field.
And Lions receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown doesn’t think that should be the case.
“It’s crazy,” St. Brown said. “I mean, I think the rule should be changed. Obviously if you win the division, you should obviously make a playoff spot. But having a 14-win team and going on the road is kind of crazy.”
The Lions and Vikings enter Sunday’s finale tied atop the NFC North at 14-2. The winner takes the division and the bye that goes along with being the No. 1 seed in the NFC, while the loser will slip into the top wild-card spot in the conference.
But since the top four seeds are reserved for division champions, the Lions-Vikings loser can’t be seeded any higher than No. 5, even though they’ll have the conference’s second-best record. That means a road playoff opener and likely more road playoff games in future rounds.
And that first-round game will be at a team significantly below them in the standings: the Lions-Vikings loser will head on the road to face either the Buccaneers, Rams or Falcons and take on a team that could have as few as nine wins in the regular season.
The loser of the game will also make history of sorts as a 14-win wild card team. The previous record for wins by a wild card team is 13, held by the 1999 Tennessee Titans.
And if St. Brown were to make the rules, it wouldn’t happen again.
“I don’t make the rules,” St. Brown said. “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 after this game.”
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