KC Chiefs: Potential new playoff expansion would have hurt Chiefs in 2019
The NFL is exploring expanding both the regular season and the playoffs starting as early as the 2020 season. Had these potential changes happened in 2019, the KC Chiefs would have been forced to play on Wild Card weekend.
It makes sense that the National Football League would want to expand the season because money talks and the NFL brings in a lot of money as it is. The new expansion idea for the playoffs would consist of seven teams making it from both conferences (so 14 total) with only one team on each side receiving a bye.
So, to put it into perspective, had this gone into effect this past season, the Kansas City Chiefs – who were the two seed in the AFC playoffs – would not have had a bye week and would have been forced to play on Wild Card weekend.
Because the Chiefs were the two seed, they’d have hosted the seven seed, which would have been the Steelers. No one was exactly scared of Pittsburgh because their quarterback was nicknamed after a bird, but that’s beside the point.
NFL playoff structure is about to be changed. Under the current CBA proposal, seven teams from each conference will make the playoffs, with only bye per conference, sources tell ESPN. It would go into effect this upcoming season. More coming on https://t.co/rDZaVFhcDQ.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) February 19, 2020
While this could be filed under “Who cares?” because the Chiefs went on to win the Super Bowl, these new rules could make it difficult for the Chiefs to repeat as champions and go on a potential dynasty run. It gives them less of a chance to have Wild Card weekend off and we all saw how crucial that bye was in their run to the Super Bowl this past season.
The team who gets the bye week has a MASSIVE advantage compared to the other teams. Yes, that’s why every game counts, but if the one seeds didn’t already have a big advantage in years past, things are about to get even more lopsided should this proposal pass.
One of the biggest moments of the entire season was in week 17 when the Dolphins shocked the NFL world by defeating the Patriots, bumping them from the two seed to the three seed; That propelled the Chiefs into the two-seed and as a result, they had Wild Card weekend off. If these new rules were implemented, it’d have meant KC hosted the Duck-led Steelers as opposed to the Titans, which still would have been big, but not nearly as huge as having the entire week off.
More details: Under the current CBA proposal that NFL owners are pushing for, the playoff field would be expanded to seven teams, while the regular season would be increased to 17 games per team, and the preseason shortened to three games per team, per sources.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) February 19, 2020
Speaking of week 17, the CBA proposal would also consist of 17 games (18 weeks total). The only part of the proposal that I truly am a fan of is that there would only be three preseason games, but otherwise, I’m not a fan of these possible changes.
The playoffs are fine the way they are with two teams getting a bye and the regular season is fine with just 16 games and 17 total weeks. Also, how would the 17th opponent be determined? We need more information.
If this were in effect in 2019, it’d have made the Kansas City Chiefs’ run to the Super Bowl much more difficult, as they’d have had to play an extra game and that’s not ideal.
What do you think about these potential new changes?