It got exacerbated by that stupid “everybody gets a turn” rule. I think all of the games that have ended in ties since then both teams got a FG, under the old rules they all would have ended on the first possession.
Parity isn’t really the source of the 9-7 playoff teams, it’s clustering. The league keeps getting at least one division that all sucks, and somebody has to win that division. While I do think winning the division should be the path to the playoffs I wouldn’t mind seeing a 10-6 proviso on that, if you can’t win your division at 10-6 or better you didn’t really win, we’re going to go get a wild card team from one of the divisions that doesn’t suck. There really isn’t as much parity in the NFL as the league wants people to think.
I’d get rid of the divisions, and have each team play the other 15 teams in their Conference. Take the top 6 teams with the top two getting a first-round bye.
I've seen this movie play a few times. It's how my Giants won two Super Bowls with some pretty average teams in recent years.