Inside The Vikings

Lions propose playoff seeding change that would've helped Vikings last year

Detroit's proposal would alter the current format, where the four division winners are guaranteed to host a playoff game.

Will Ragatz

Jan 5, 2025; Detroit, Michigan, USA; Detroit Lions Head Coach Dan Campbell (L) shakes hands with Minnesota Vikings Head Coach Sean McDermott after the game at Ford Field.
Jan 5, 2025; Detroit, Michigan, USA; Detroit Lions Head Coach Dan Campbell (L) shakes hands with Minnesota Vikings Head Coach Sean McDermott after the game at Ford Field. / David Reginek-Imagn Images
In this story:

With the NFL's annual league meeting coming up in a couple weeks, teams have submitted rule change proposals that the 32 owners will vote on at the meeting. One of those, coming from the Detroit Lions, would've helped the Vikings quite a bit if it had been in place last season.

The Lions' proposal is "to amend the current postseason seeding format to allow wild card teams to be seeded higher than division champions if the wild card team has a better regular season record."

The current format is that the eight division winners in the NFL receive the 1-4 seeds in each conference's postseason, guaranteeing them at least one home playoff game. That has regularly led to division winners hosting wild card teams with better records in the opening round. Last year, the 14-3 Vikings dropped to the No. 5 seed and had to go on the road to face the 10-7 Rams in the wild card round. In the past, sub-.500 teams like the 2010 Seahawks, 2014 Panthers, and 2020 Washington Football Team have hosted playoff games because they won an awful division.

Under the Lions' proposal, the playoffs would simply be seeded 1-7 by record. Had that been in place last year, the Vikings would've been the No. 3 seed (based on losing a strength of victory tiebreaker with the Eagles) and would've hosted a wild card playoff game at U.S. Bank Stadium against the Buccaneers.

Ultimately, this one seems unlikely to pass. Winning the division has mattered for a long time in the NFL, and seeding the playoffs based on record alone would be a significant change to that tradition. It's part of the reason why teams play each of their division rivals twice a year. But who knows? There's certainly an argument that a team with more regular season victories shouldn't have to go on the road in the playoffs to face a team with fewer wins.

It wouldn't be the first or last time a rule gets changed that would've helped the Vikings in the past. At some point, the missed facemask call that screwed Minnesota against the Rams last October will inevitably become a play that replay assist can help out on.

Other rule change proposals

The Lions also proposed a change to remove the automatic first down that comes with defensive holding and illegal contact penalties. That's an amusing one, given that Detroit led the league in defensive holding calls last year.

The Packers are proposing to ban the Tush Push play made famous by the Eagles. Philadelphia, meanwhile, has proposed to change the postseason overtime rules to make them the same as the regular season, where both teams get an opportunity to possess the ball no matter what.

The league meeting in Palm Beach, FL is set for March 30-April 2.

Recommended articles

Stay up to date on all things Vikings by bookmarking Minnesota Vikings On SI, subscribing to our YouTube channel, and signing up to receive our free Vikings newsletter.

Published |Modified
Will Ragatz
WILL RAGATZ

Will Ragatz is a senior writer for Vikings On SI. He is a credentialed Minnesota Vikings beat reporter, covering the team extensively at practices, games and throughout the NFL draft and free agency period. Ragatz attended Northwestern University, where he studied at the prestigious Medill School of Journalism. During his time as a student, he covered Northwestern Wildcats football and basketball for SB Nation’s Inside NU, eventually serving as co-editor-in-chief in his junior year. In the fall of 2018, Will interned in Sports Illustrated’s newsroom in New York City, where he wrote articles on Major League Baseball, college football, and college basketball for SI.com.

Home/News