Dallas Cowboys owner/general manager/president/player personnel (snicker) guru Jerry Jones Friday, on 105.3 The Fan ESPN radio in Dallas/Fort Worth, revived one of my least favorite ideas regarding the NFL: Expanding the playoffs.

Jones argues that giving teams that were .500 an opportunity to reach the postseason and, possibly, the Super Bowl creates excitement.

“From the standpoint of looking at how exciting it is for a city or a community to be involved in the playoffs and the fact that you can have a team that might have literally operated at .500 or in that area … you can have that team win the Super Bowl,” Jones said. “That makes a big case for adding a couple of more cities or communities that have NFL teams to make the playoffs.”

This argument may be a bit self-serving from Jones. I was in attendance at the last playoff game the Dallas Cowboys actually participated in, a 34-3 whipping at the Metrodome at the hands of Minnesota in 2009. Under Jones’ lead as, cough, cough, general manager of the Cowboys, an expanded playoff may be the only way his team qualifies in the near future (though a two team expansion would not have helped him in any of the last four seasons).

But as Jones was finishing his speech on the radio, Vince Lombardi, who actually stood for excellence, just rolled over in his grave. Back in his day, the championship was decided by pitting the best team in the Western Conference against the best team in the Eastern Conference. Don’t win your conference? Don’t play for the championship.

That is pushing for greatness. That is requiring a team to accomplish something before they get to play for the big prize.

Photo credit pkeleher via Wikipedia

Photo credit pkeleher via Wikipedia

Jones, and any other owner, commissioner or media mouthpiece trying to push for greater inclusion in the postseason, is contributing to the watering down of the greatest time of year of the greatest sport in existence.

Jones, in my opinion, is grossly, grossly wrong.

We’re going in the wrong direction as a country when it comes to rewarding simple participation in many of our daily activities. College football, for example, has in recent years had to allow sub-.500 teams into its postseason to fill the requirements for the three-dozen “Who Gives A Crap” Bowl games that fill ESPN’s airwaves leading up to the holidays. There is some really bad football getting played by really average-at-best teams before any of the real bowl games start.

And if the NFL follows through on expanding the playoff, it will be joining the “Let’s Reward Mediocrity” club.

Rewarding .500 teams with an opportunity to go to the postseason is rewarding mediocrity. I hate, hate, hate the idea. As is often said about our criminal justice system that it is better to let a guilty man go free than to convict one innocent civilian, I believe it is better to leave a good team out of the playoffs than it is to allow in one mediocre participant.

The argument may have a bit more merit being pushed this season by Arizona, a truly solid team that ended the season on a high note and finished out of the playoffs largely due to being in the same division as Seattle and San Francisco.

But for every Arizona, there is an 8-8 or 9-7 team that performed in mediocre fashion throughout the regular season that has no legitimate claim to being cheated of a postseason berth that would make the playoffs under an expansion scenario.

The playoffs should be for great teams to chase the Lombardi Trophy. It’s my belief that to even receive the right to be in the discussion for being considered great, a team should win at least 10 games. In the last 10 years, only six double-digit win teams have been denied a playoff spot while the “next team in” would have been a single-digit game winner in 14 of 20 cases.

Year Wild Card team Wild Card Team Would have been next
2012      
AFC Indianapolis (11-5) Cincinnati (10-6) Pittsburgh (8-8)
NFC Seattle (11-5) Minnesota (10-6) Chicago (10-6)
2011      
AFC Pittsburgh (12-4) Cincinnati (9-7) Tennessee (9-7)
NFC Atlanta (10-6) Detroit (10-6) Four teams tied (8-8)
2010      
AFC Baltimore (12-4) New York Jets (11-5) San Diego (9-7)
NFC New Orleans (11-5) Green Bay (10-6) Two teams tied (10-6)
2009      
AFC Baltimore (9-7) New York Jets (9-7) Two teams tied (9-7)
NFC Philadelphia (11-5) Green Bay (11-5) Atlanta (9-7)
2008      
AFC Indianapolis (12-4) Baltimore (11-5) New England (11-5)
NFC Atlanta (11-5) Philadelphia (9-6-1) Three teams tied (9-7)
2007      
AFC Jacksonville (11-5) Tennessee (10-6) Cleveland (10-6)
NFC New York Giants (10-6) Washington (9-7) Three teams tied (8-8)
2006      
AFC New York Jets (10-6) Kansas City (9-7) Denver (9-7)
NFC Dallas (9-7) New York Giants (8-8) Three teams tied (8-8)
2005      
AFC Jacksonville (12-4) Cincinnati (11-5) Kansas City (10-6)
NFC Tampa Bay (11-5) Washington (10-6) Two teams tied (9-7)
2004      
AFC Denver (10-6) New York Jets (10-6) Three teams tied (9-7)
NFC St. Louis (8-8) Minnesota (8-8) New Orleans (8-8)
2003      
AFC Tennessee (12-4) Denver (10-6) Miami (10-6)
NFC Dallas (10-6) Seattle (10-6) Minnesota (9-7)

Now, I’m not naïve. This is probably going to happen. Jones and his mediocre Cowboys aren’t the only team arguing for playoff expansion. Commissioner Roger Goodell made clear in October that he is in favor.

But let’s call it what it really is: a blatant money grab – another way for billionaire owners to become bigger billionaire owners, regardless of how watered down the product becomes in the process.

Do you know what would really create some excitement in those communities? If their football teams actually played well during the regular season and won more than half their games.

Jones may be right about creating excitement for single, individual first-round playoff games. But in the big scheme of things, what he’s really doing by expanding the playoffs is rewarding mediocre teams for participating at a mediocre level during the regular season.

I, for one, do not want to see more .500 teams in the playoffs. I do not want to see .500 teams getting hot in January and claiming the Lombardi Trophy in February. I may be in the minority, but if it were up to me, the league would do the following to actually improve the postseason:

  • Require nine wins – make a team win more than half its games. If a team doesn’t win more than half its games, it’s not allowed in the playoffs. Some division doesn’t get a team in the playoffs that year? Too bad. The 7-9 Seahawks from 2010? The win over New Orleans never would have happened. Don’t care. That was a bad team that didn’t belong in the playoffs. Replace division winners with sub-.500 records with the next best team available (such as the 10-6 Arizona Cardinals this season). If there are no more teams with at least nine wins, the conference goes from six participants to five for the season.
  • Let wild card teams host – if a wild card team has a substantially better record than a division winner playing on wild card weekend, let the wild card team host. Let’s make the distinction two wins. This year’s 12-4 San Francisco team is going on the road to Green Bay, which won the NFC North at 8-7-1. In my world, Arizona should replace Green Bay in the playoffs anyway, but if we are forced to endure an 8.5 win team in the playoffs, at least force them to go on the road and win in a hostile environment.

Others will counter with an argument about Cinderella stories. What about the Giants in 2011 that went 9-7 but beat the Patriots in the Super Bowl? While I’d prefer to see teams required to actually win double-digit games to get to the playoffs, they achieved the minimum nine victories I would require for participation, so they can keep their Lombardi Trophy.

But did you know that they are the only single-digit winning team to ever win the Super Bowl? So why water down the postseason more? Why continue to recognize mediocrity with anything more than season-ending coverage by local media of those players packing their belongings and heading out onto the road?

I have no problem with Cinderella stories. You can still have them under a scenario that requires some level of greatness in order to make it into the postseason. Just make sure Cinderella won 10 games before putting on her glass slipper.

If this playoff expansion passes, I would suggest removing Lombardi’s name from the Super Bowl trophy and renaming the championship game. It would be, at that point, better named after one of its chief proponents. We can call it the Jerry Jones Trophy and rename it the Mediocrity Bowl.