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There will be a lot on the line this Sunday when the Detroit Lions (14-2) face the Minnesota Vikings (14-2) in the final game of the 2024 regular-season.
Not only will the winner clinch the NFC North title, but the winning team will also clinch the No. 1 overall seed in the NFC and the first-round bye that comes along with it. On the other hand, the losing team will get the fifth-seed in the NFC, which means they’ll be forced to hit the road for the wild-card round.
The losing team will finish the season with the SECOND-BEST record in the NFC at 14-3, but that means nothing in the NFL, because they’ll still be hitting the road. Lions star receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown doesn’t think it’s a very fair format, and he’d like to see the league make a change so that a 14-win team doesn’t have to play on the road in the wild-card round.
“It’s crazy. I think the rule should be changed,” St. Brown told the media on Thursday. “Obviously, if you win the division, you should obviously make a playoff spot, but having a 14-win team having to go on the road is kind of crazy, but I guess I don’t make the rules.”
The Vikings-Lions loser will become the first 14-win wild-card team in NFL history. Over the past 25 years, there has only even been one 13-win wild-card team, which came all the way back in 1999 when the 13-3 Titans finished in second place behind the 14-2 Jaguars in the AFC Central. However, that came when there were only six playoff teams per conference and during that era, the top wild-card team got to host a wild-card game, so the Titans got to play at home in the wild-card round. (That was the year they used the “Music City Miracle” to beat the Bills in the wild-card round before making a run all the way to the Super Bowl.)
To fix the problem that St. Brown has, the NFL could copy the NBA’s playoff format. The NBA simply seeds teams by their win-loss record, regardless of division. If the NFL went this route, the loser of the Lions-Vikings game would get two-seed (if the Lions lost) or the three-seed (if the Vikings lost and the Eagles won on Sunday) in the NFC.
In that case, the loser of the game would still get a home playoff game instead of hitting the road. St. Brown doesn’t really want to play on the road, so obviously, he’d prefer to see his team win on Sunday night.
“Hopefully we can get a win and get home-field advantage, but whatever happens, we both have a spot in the playoffs, so we might see each other again after this game,” St. Brown said.
Whether the Lions win or lose on Sunday night, St. Brown feels confident about their chances of making a Super Bowl run.
“We have a lot of injuries, obviously, but just to be able to get some rest would be nice,” St. Brown said, via Pro Football Talk. “But either way I think we’ll be fine. whether it’s going on the road or having a bye week and playing at home, we’re built for either-or.”
The game on Sunday night will mark the first time in NFL history that two teams with at least 13 wins will be facing each other in a regular-season game. It also marks just the third time in 31 years that the No. 1 seed will be on the line in the final week of the season in a game where both teams still have a chance to clinch it.
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