The NFL postseason is great. But it could be so much better. Here’s my proposal for a format that rewards the best regular-season teams, gives more fans something to cheer for deep into January, and hands out more hardware along the way.
The Regular Season
Teams play 16 games — with 2 bye weeks mixed in so players stay healthier — against randomly assigned opponents. Every team is guaranteed to face every other team in the NFL twice every four years (home and away). There are no divisions or conferences. Final seeding is based on regular season record, then points differential if needed.
The Postseason Format
Seeds 1–8: Group Stage
The top 8 teams are split into two groups and each team is guaranteed three playoff group games. The top team from each group — determined by group standings, then points differential — advances to the Super Bowl to compete for the Lombardi Trophy. The Super Bowl loser takes home the 2nd Place Madden Trophy. The second-place team from each group meets in a 3rd Place Game for the Halas Trophy.
Seeds 9–24: The NFL Cup
Teams finishing 9th through 24th enter a 16-team single-elimination bracket, with home games for higher seeds. The winner takes home the NFL Cup.
The NFL Cup Final and the 3rd Place Game both air on Celebration Sunday in Week 4 of the postseason, alongside Pro Bowl festivities. The Super Bowl stands alone in Week 5. Players from all postseason teams (seeds 1–24) are incentivized with large cash bonuses from the league for each postseason win.
The Legacy Trophy
The Legacy Trophy is awarded to the team with the best 10-year running points total, where teams earn points based on their final regular season standing each year — 32 points for 1st place, 1 point for last. Similar to the Stanley Cup, there is only one Legacy Trophy in existence. It is etched with each year’s winner and passed along to the current holder.
The Draft Lottery
To reduce tanking, this format incentivizes teams to finish in the top 24 to compete for the NFL Cup, and to finish as high as possible to improve their Legacy Trophy standing. The bottom 8 teams enter a lottery with equal odds for the first 8 picks — so finishing dead last does nothing extra for you.
But Why?
The current format lets nearly half the league into the playoffs (14 of 32 teams). This proposal limits Super Bowl contenders to the best 8 teams from the regular season, which actually means something. At the same time, teams ranked 9–24 have the NFL Cup to play for — no more “well, we made the playoffs but got bounced in round one” disappointment.
The group stage gives the top 8 teams a cushion against bad luck. A fluke ending, a bad call, an injury — teams get three games to earn their path to the Super Bowl rather than going home after one bad night.
And the fans? Instead of 13 games over 4 weeks, you get 29 games over 5 weeks. More TV contracts. More home games. More hardware being handed out. One fanbase currently leaves the season happy. This format gives 24 fanbases a meaningful postseason run.
Want to see how this format plays out with real NFL teams?
