Playoff chances for the Steelers could increase this season

Owners will vote next week on an expanded playoff format for 2020.

Judy Battista of NFL.com reported Friday that NFL owners will vote next week, via conference call, on approval of the 2020 season’s expanded playoff format.

The addition of two more teams to the playoff field was one of the many notable changes in the Collective Bargaining Agreement.

Had this change gone into effect last season, the Steelers would have made the playoffs. The last time they went to the playoffs was in 2017 when they lost to the Jacksonville Jaguars 45-42.

Owners need approval from 24 of the 32 teams for the expanded playoff format to go into effect for the 2020 season.

If approved, seven teams from both the AFC and NFC would qualify for the postseason. The playoffs were last expanded to six teams from each conference in 1990. Only one team from each conference would receive a first-round bye and be granted to the No. 1 seed in the conference.

Six teams from each conference would play on Wild Card weekend. The three division winners other than the top seed would host home playoff games on the first weekend, with all three wild cards from each conference as the visiting team. The top seed would play the lowest remaining seed in the next round while the winners of the other two first-round games would play each other.

Here’s how it would look:

Wild Card Round

  • No. 1 seed: Bye
  • No. 2 vs. No. 7
  • No. 3 vs. No. 6
  • No. 4 vs. No. 5

Divisional Round

  • No. 1 seed vs. lowest remaining seed
  • Winners of the other two games that aren’t lowest remaining seed

Championship Game

  • Winners of divisional playoff games

If approved, the league will then need to determine how to the TV broadcast schedule would work. It’s likely to be set up as a tripleheader on Saturday and Sunday of that weekend. The alternative would be a Monday night wild card game, but the winner would face a short week heading into the divisional round. Nobody wants that.

Owners were due to attend the league’s annual meeting next week before it was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Rule changes and other football matters are currently set to be discussed at a May 19 meeting with head coaches and general managers.

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