Is It Time for the NFL to Switch to a Conference Format?

One of the consequences of the Minnesota Vikings and Detroit Lions playing for the top seed tied for the best record in the conference is that one of the teams will end up with the second-best record in the conference but the fifth seed and a road game against a team with a worse record and that may have had the additional advantage of resting their starters week 18.

That is a tremendous disadvantage for the more accomplished team in the regular season.

Even worse, the NFC North is a much stronger division than either the NFC West or South, which means the Vikings and Lions built their better records against tougher division opponents. And yet all this yields the loser of Sunday night’s game…