Lions withdraw proposal for NFL playoff reseeding

The NFL‘s spring meeting is currently underway, and some major changes are expected to come to the league. One that isn’t on the way, however, is going to be playoff-reseeding.

It was the Detroit Lions who initially proposed reseeding. Now, however, it’s being reported that Detroit has withdrawn said proposal. The proposal didn’t have the support it was going to need to proceed successfully. However, it could be addressed again in the future, in particular if the NFL were to expand to an 18-game regular season schedule.

In the proposal, the Lions were seeking some pretty massive changes to the NFL’s current playoff format. In it, the seeds would be more related to a team’s regular season record, rather than winning their division. In essence, it would mean that winning the division as a team wouldn’t guarantee a team one of the top four seeds.

The proposal was always considered a long shot to pass. It would have required support from 24 out of the 32 NFL owners and was never able to get the momentum it needed. At the time, it was considered a long-term play by Detroit with a potential expansion to the regular season and the playoff format on the horizon.

“This is more of a long term play, because right now you have a 17 game schedule, they’re going to eventually probably go to 18 games,” NFL insider Jeremy Fowler previously explained. “The league wants to eliminate those meaningless games in those final weeks where teams may be locked into a two seed and rest their starters. They want more late season impact. That’s what the Lions want. That’s why they proposed this. So we’ll see if it gets enough traction. Probably won’t pass this time, but eventually I can see it passing if it doesn’t next week.”

This came after a season where the NFC North, not coincidentally the division the Detroit Lions play in, proved to be one of the best divisions in football. The Lions would win the division at 15-2, meaning they locked into hosting in their first playoff game. However, the 14-3 Minnesota Vikings and 11-6 Green Bay Packers also made the playoffs, and they’d both lose their first game on the road. In Minnesota’s case, that was to a 10-7 Los Angeles Rams team.

Historically, teams like the 2010 Seattle Seahawks, who went 7-9, won the NFC West, and hosted an 11-5 New Orleans Saints team, would be losing their home game. Of course, that was a historic home game, becoming known for the Beast Quake.

For the time being, it’s going to be status quo in the NFL playoffs. The four division winners in each conference are going to keep getting those top four seeds. However, reseeding could once again come under the microscope with either an expanded regular season or an expanded playoff format.