[Smittie]

I knew I was living in cloud-cuckoo land when Jimmy Johnson and the other ‘experts’ picked the Redskins to beat the Packers. The NFC East couldn’t whip a college team this year and DC could have finished at the bottom of that division as easily as not. They had no business being in the playoffs.

The Redskins & the Texans had no business being in the playoffs, which is why I think playoff spots should be based on the best records and not just divisional records. They should at least have a minimum win number of say 10 wins to qualify for the playoffs. It's getting almost as bad as college bowl games where you have 6-6 teams playing in bowl games.

[Darth Reardon]

Actually, there were three 5-7 teams this year. Nebraska (and one other — Minnesota?) won their bowl games and still ended up with losing records.

[JimRed]

They should at least have a minimum win number of say 10 wins to qualify for the playoffs.

That would have precluded the NY Giants (9-7) post-season run that concluded with a better-than-perfect defeat of the Patriots (19-0) in the Super Bowl. Include the division champs.