99*
International Debutant
Of course it is, the basic idea is if you win your division then you are good enough to go into the playoffs. It's not the Chargers fault that the Chiefs and Raiders are two of the worst teams in the NFL, they played to win their division and did it. The Pats did not. And the Pats got to play the AFC West and NFC West, the two worst divisions in football so their should have been 8 wins right there.So if you have a division where NO team is even over .500, it is still ok to reward that division winner with a playoff spot? OTOH, a team can theoretically be in the toughest division in football (just a hypothetical, not saying AFC East was) and the second place team in that division misses out? Yeah, I’ll just go and puke on that type of a “fair” system. Obviously the Pats knew what the rules were when the season started, that doesn’t mean the rule is fair or can’t be changed.
P.S: I can’t believe I’m actually taking up for the ****ing Patriots!!
Is if fair? Probably not, but it's the best method there is since the teams are split by their division. If it was simply wins that decided playoff berths it would need the removal of the division system AND each team would have to have the exact same strength of schedule for it to determine a 'fair' playoff. Or else the Chargers could say the Pats do not deserve a playoff because they had to play the AFC West and NFC West while the Chargers had to play the AFC East and NFC South.