I came up with a random idea that could possibly make the playoffs more interesting. Take the four division winners and three wild cards in each conference -- the exact same teams as in the current format. But with a major difference -- have the wild cards swap conferences for the playoffs! That would allow a wider range of playoff match-ups. It would prevent teams from playing each other twice in the regular season and then meeting again right away in the playoffs -- possibly in back-to-back weeks. There are always downsides to making changes, but this seems like it could be kind of interesting. As it currently stands, here would be the first round games:
NFC: Rams-Chargers, Bucs-Colts, and Cowboys-Patriots
AFC: Chiefs-Eagles, Bengals-49ers, Bills-Cardinals
The 49ers or Cardinals would have a reasonable shot of making the Super Bowl and going up against another NFC team in this format.
