A 14-team NFL playoff format is a horrible idea

The NFL just had a thrilling opening to the 2013 playoffs during wild-card weekend. But in this case, there can be too much of a good thing.

According to radio and NBC studio host Dan Patrick, he's been told that the league is ready to expand the playoff field to 14 teams from the current 12, adding a third wild card in each conference. Although the NFL Network reports it's something that can't be decided on until the next owners' meeting in March, the NFL has made it clear that it's always looking at possbilities to tinker with its playoff format.

Ben Roethlisberger (AP Photo)

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Adding more teams, however, is a bad idea that should be taken off the table. The NFL is always looking to be bigger in its quest for global domination. That doesn't mean it will make the playoffs better with expansion.

Consider that 12 of 32 teams (37.5 percent) already make the playoffs now. It's 10 of 30 teams in Major League Baseball (33.3 percent). In both the 30-team NBA and 30-team NHL, it's 16 of 30 (53.3 percent). Going to 14 would push the NFL to 43.8 percent of its teams still alive after a total of 256 games. A dozen is just right for the NFL to have the short regular season mean a lot, and the playoffs mean everything. Unless there is league expansion, there shouldn't be playoff expansion.

This year, a 14-team field would have opened the door for both the Arizona Cardinals (10-6) and Pittsburgh Steelers (8-8) to make the playoffs. Although the Cardinals saw the NFC North-winning Packers get in with a worse record (8-7-1), one could point to the Cards going 0-3 against the wild-card 49ers and Saints and 0-1 against the NFC East-winning Eagles (also 10-6) to explain why Arizona wasn't playoff-worthy. The Steelers would have meant one of the .500 teams in a weaker AFC would have qualified. In either scenario, the Cardinals and Steelers had plenty of chances to get in, and didn't deserve one more.

As much as the NFL wants to cash in more on the playoff fun (and the money is talking here), it must remember how exciting the final few weeks of the season were as teams scrambled just to make the playoffs. The league already had its version of bonus playoffs in Week 17 with a rivalry-heavy schedule that set up de facto division title games for Green Bay and Philadelphia.

There has been nothing fluky about the teams who have won a Super Bowl since the NFL has featured 12 playoff teams for a near quarter century. Let's hope the NFL doesn't mess with its great success in giving us the best, most competitive product.

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