The Detroit Lions have proposed a significant change to NFL playoff seeding that would largely use regular-season records as the guiding principle, rather than division championships, according to a list of potential rule changes the league released Wednesday.
Under the proposal, the division winner with the conference’s best record would still receive the No. 1 overall seed. But after that, teams would be stacked by records, regardless of whether they won their divisions or received wild-card berths.
That approach could have a significant effect on the Lions and the highly competitive NFC North, which fielded three playoff teams last season — the Lions (15-2), Minnesota Vikings (14-3) and Green Bay Packers (11-6). The Lions received the NFC’s No. 1 seed, but the Vikings were seeded No. 5, and the Packers were No. 7. Based purely on records, the Vikings would have been the No. 3 seed, and the Packers would have been No. 5.
