Typically, the National Football League is not the place where you would see the celebration of below average play, yet you would be hard pressed to find a team more amped about a 7-9 finish than the Seattle Seahawks.

That is because the Seahawks have made the NFL Playoffs with a losing record. You read that correctly : A team thatlost more games than it won, is one of the final 12 teams in contention for the Lombardi Trophy.

The Seahawks made the playoffs over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and New York Giants, both of whom finished the season with winning records at 10-6.

While the NFL is far and away the best run professional sports league, the fact that a losing team is eligible to make the playoffs is an abomination.

Something needs to be done to prevent this from happening again, and commissioner Roger Goodell knows that.

“This is not a new issue,”  Goodell said last month. “We have considered many alternatives for our playoff format, including the possibility of seeding all playoff teams on the basis of their records once they qualify for the playoffs.

“I’m certain this will get additional consideration by our competition committee and our membership in the offseason. As with any system, there are pluses and minuses.”

So how did this happen?

The Seahawks made the playoffs because they won their division–which typically is an accomplishment you can hang your hat on. However this year, winning the NFC West is kind of like being the smartest kid in the remedial class.

All the Seahawks had to do was finish with a better record than the upstart St. Louis Rams (who in my eyes were one of this seasons great stories), the San Fransisco 49ers, whose head coach Mike Singletary is bat shit crazy, and the Arizona Cardinals who started a dude named Max Hall over Derek Anderson, who incidentally wins the award for most off the wall post game interview.

The system that is currently in place has been the norm for years, and never has there been a time where a losing team has made the playoffs, however now that this has happened, the time for change is now.

My proposed solution

The solution to this problem is simple : the teams with the best 6 records in each conference should make the playoffs. End of story. Many purists say it would cheapen the game and take meaning away from important divisional rivalries, but I disagree. For a few reasons…

Looking solely at win loss records make games that are currently meaningless much more important. Let’s say a powerhouse like the Atlatna Falcons team led by stud quarterback Matt Ryan faces off against a team that is on a junior varsity level in comparison…for the sake of example we will use the Jimmy Clausen led Carolina Panthers. Let’s say that Clausen somehow leads the Panthers to victory. Under the current system, a Panthers win means nothing really. They are no threat to win the division, and the Falcons still are favored to be the top dog in the NFC South. In a structure where overall record is everything, a Panthers win is way more important in the grand scheme of things. Sure, the Panthers still wouldn’t make the playoffs, but the likelihood that the Falcons will diminishes a bit.

It puts a better product on the field for the fans. Week 16 an 17 games, some star players see the sidelines to rest up for the playoffs while the backups pick up some reps in the game. This usually happens once a playoff spot or divisional title is clinched. If we based things on record alone–including seeding–every game means more.

Of course the main argument is divisional games will mean less. Well, not so fast. Use divisional records as tie breakers. Let’s say three 9-7 teams are vying for one last playoff spot…the team with the best divisional record gets in.

While this plan I have may have its holes, and may need some tweaking, I feel that the best way to approach who gets into the playoffs is to keep it simple, black and white about wins and losses. After all, at the end of the day, that is all that really matters in professional sports.  Wins and losses.