The NFL is stirring the pot again! At last week’s NFL meeting, the Detroit Lions dropped a pretty wild proposal. They want to amend the playoff format, allowing wild-card teams to be seeded higher than division winners if the wild-card team has a higher record. Now, you’d think something like that would get shut down fast, right? Nope, not this time. The 32 NFL owners didn’t vote yes for the request, but they didn’t say no either. Forget about the teams’ stakeholders; even commissioner Roger Goodell wants a deeper look at the playoff format.

Bringing the same topic into the limelight, Mike Florio and Chris Simms talked on NBC. They dived into the topic of Detroit receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown, who appeared frustrated with the playoff work. His point was that before Week 18, his team and the Vikings were both 14-2. The winner gets the top seed, while the loser slips all the way down to fifth, even with a better record than other division champs. That surely hit a nerve!

But as per Simms, “Sometimes, yes, there might be years like this where a division winner has a better record than somebody that’s just a wild card, we get that. But that doesn’t mean they’re always better. That’s where we got to stop. That doesn’t mean they’re better.” In addition, Mike Florio didn’t miss a chance to explain the future complications of the games and the playoffs. He expressed, “You got 17 games now, it’s only going to get worse when you have 18 games. It’s like baseball, the more games you play, the more the wheat and the chaff for the cream. And the chaff separate exactly. So that’s why in a 14-game season, it’s jumbled up 16.” That’s accurate.

He continued, “It’s a little more jumbled up at 17; it’s getting a little looser at 18. It’s going to be even worse if they get to 21 these days. And it’s going to be really separated. They’re going to have to come up with other ways to keep things interesting.” That means Roger Goodell wants to mess with playoff seeding to make things more interesting. But Florio isn’t buying it. He sees it as a quick, emotional reaction. Trying to fix something that isn’t really broken.

And the kicker is, via NFL analyst, “This is a knee-jerk reaction to fix a problem that it’s not going to fix. If you’re going to do it, we got to go. I’ve said this before. You have to revamp the whole scheduling process because if the division championship doesn’t guarantee a home game, why are you playing the other three teams in your division twice every year? You should be playing as many teams as possible in the conference. If we’re going to go with how your record ended up to determine playoff seeding in the conference. It’s not fair, if you don’t play as many teams in the conference as possible.” In short, the change might create more chaos than a solution.

But all these are just arguments. As Florio hinted, when Roger Goodell wants something, it usually happens. This case is no different.

Is Roger Goodell the face behind the potential change of playoff format?

One thing is clear. The Week 18 showdown between the Lions and Vikings hit differently. Both teams were sitting at 14-2—just one win away from securing the No. 1 seed. But here’s the twist: the loser, despite having an elite record, had to pack up and play on the road.

Amon-Ra St. Brown didn’t stay quiet about it. He spoke his mind, calling it wild that a 14-win team doesn’t get to host. While he showed respect for the game, he also called the situation unfair. His words caught the attention of Roger Goodell—and now, a change in the league might actually be on the horizon.

Mike Florio pointed the finger at Roger Goodell, saying the commissioner is driving the push for change. No more automatic home games just for winning a division; it should come down to your record. That’s what really matters. And guess what? Goodell reportedly got fired up during the NFL meetings when some team owners pushed back. According to sources, he didn’t take that resistance well. So the question is—why is he pushing so hard? As per Florio and other analysts, he arguably wants drama in Week 18. He wants teams fighting till the end – No resting starters – No mailing it in.

But the conclusion is—he can’t do it alone. The owners still have to sign off. And for now, that decision’s sitting on ice.