After what looked as though they were doubling down, the Lions have officially withdrawn their playoff reseeding proposal.
The Lions proposed reseeding in the NFL Playoffs to seed teams based on record, instead of the top four seeds going to division winners. This comes from the Lions nearly falling to the five-seed if they had lost Week 18 vs Minnesota, instead, Minnesota won 14 games and was the five-seed.
Minnesota had every right to be upset about their seeding, as two teams above them in the playoffs had four fewer wins than they accumulated. Most fans do not favor reseeding, as it rarely becomes a problem and has plenty of downsides.
Why record-based playoff seeding will never happen
As reported by Ian Rapoport, the Lions likely withdrew their proposal due to a lack of support, but may revisit it when the 18-game season is introduced.
While I can see that being used as a bargaining chip by the NFL to convince these teams to play an 18th game, I still don't see a world where this ever happens. The reason is simple: The NFL values divisional games too much.
Divisional games are so important in the NFL because the division winners get a guaranteed home playoff game. This makes the team's six divisional games each year much more important and helps build rivalries in the sport.
This is a place where the NBA struggles. In the NBA, it is essentially the playoff seeding that the Lions were seeking, and divisions only matter when it comes to your schedule. This makes for most fans not even knowing the NBA divisions, and a lack of meaning for those divisional games.
However, I do understand where the Lions were coming from. Divisions like the NFC South continue to produce subpar division winners and receive higher seeds than wildcard teams with better records. This can crumble the season of a team with a great record, having to go on the road.
Unfortunately, as unfair as this may be, it only affects one or two teams each year and isn't enough for the NFL to pull the trigger and do away with division winners. It would have to take a team like the Chiefs finishing 14-3 and losing in the playoffs as a road wildcard team to enact this change.
I personally don't hate the Lions shooting their shot with this one as they are in the best division in football, but it is not something I can see happening anytime in the near future in the NFL.
