CBA’s new playoff format would have helped 2 NFC West teams since 2013

The Rams and the Cardinals would have greatly benefited from the new NFL playoff format provided under the collective bargaining agreement.

NFL players have agreed to a new collective bargaining agreement that will govern through the 2020 season.

The new CBA is a controversial one, with several players – including prominent Seahawks like Russell Wilson and Tyler Lockett – voicing their opposition towards it. The final vote tally of 1,019 for and 959 against exemplifies the strong divide among the players.

Among some of the major changes was the expansion of the playoff field from 12 total teams to 14, which means each conference would get an additional wild-card team.

This expanded playoff format will begin in the upcoming 2020 NFL season, meaning the top seven teams from the NFC will be competing for a Super Bowl LV championship.

An expanded postseason will certainly lend itself to plenty of “what if” scenarios, not just for the future, but looking back on previous seasons as well.

Last year, the Rams struggled throughout their 2019 campaign following their humiliating defeat in Super Bowl LIII. The Rams fell from 13-3 to a meager 9-7, and just on the outside of the playoff picture looking in. However, under this new format, the Rams would have sneaked into the postseason as the No. 7 seed and would have played the 13-3 Green Bay Packers.

Had the Rams been able to beat the Packers in this scenario, they would have traveled back to San Francisco for a third game against the 49ers, while the Seahawks would have hosted a home game against the Vikings.

The other instance where this format would have benefited the NFC West with an extra playoff team was in the 2013 season. Here, the Cardinals would’ve ended up as the No. 7 team. The Cardinals stumbled out of the gate to a 4-4 start but finished strong at 6-2 to end the year at 10-6.

Where this is particularly interesting is if the Cardinals could have pulled off a similar upset over the No. 2 team in 2013, then they would have traveled to Seattle, where they beat the Seahawks in Week 16 that season.

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