Super Bowl Domination

Chapter 330 The final sprint

In the 2017 season, the NFL regular season has officially entered its final stage, and the competition for playoff spots has reached the brink of life and death.

The rules for the NFL playoffs are very simple.

The American League and the National League remain separate.

The four division champions of their respective leagues advance to the playoffs and are seeded one to four based on their win-loss record; in addition, the two teams with the best records in the league advance to the playoffs and are seeded five and six, respectively.

That’s pretty much all.

However, the NFL regular season has only sixteen games, far fewer than the more than eighty games in basketball and ice hockey; and it is a world of difference compared to the more than one hundred and sixty games in baseball, so it is common for the regular season win-loss records to be the same.

To this end, the league has developed a series of detailed rules to determine the rankings and compare the season performance of two or more teams with the same record.

First, the win-loss relationship between each other.

Second, the win-loss relationship within the league. The American League teams will look at the American League’s internal records, and the National League teams will look at the National League’s internal records.

Third, the record against common opponents.

Fourth, the value of victory, that is, the winning rate of the opponents defeated by the team, calculate the average value. The higher the winning rate of the opponents, the higher the value.

Fifth, the value of the schedule, that is, the winning rate of the team’s final opponents throughout the season, calculate the average value. The higher the opponent’s winning rate, the higher the value.

If you still can't distinguish the ranking here, there are a series of rules to follow, including the net score ranking within the league, the net score ranking of the entire NFL, the total score of games in the same league, the total score of all games, the total number of touchdowns in all games, and so on.

All in all, if you analyze the data all the way to the end, you can eventually rank them.

The Kansas City Chiefs have been going through ups and downs this season, bouncing back and forth between heaven and hell. Before the last week of the regular season, their record was just nine wins and six losses, which may not be good enough among the outstanding teams in the AFC.

However, other competitors in the American League West were not strong enough. The team performed well in the head-to-head confrontation in the divisional civil war to establish an advantage, lock up the division championship a week in advance, and ensure a playoff spot.

The playoffs are divided into four rounds.

First round, wild card match.

According to the rules, the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds in their respective leagues can enjoy a bye in the first round of the playoffs and have the advantage of playing at home. Last season, the Kansas City Chiefs were ranked No. 2 seed in the AFC and had a bye in the first round; but this season, they do not have such treatment.

In the first round, the third seed will face the sixth seed, and the fourth seed will face the fifth seed. It will be a single-elimination system, and the winner will advance to the next round.

Second round, divisional round.

The No. 1 seed plays the lower ranked team of the two wild-card game winners.

The second seed will play the higher-ranked team from the two wild-card game winners.

The third round, the federation competition.

The two winning teams from the previous round will face off for the American League/National League championship.

Round 4, Super Bowl.

"American League Champions vs. National League Champions".

That is to say, including the playoffs, the NFL has a maximum of twenty games in a season.

Because of this, teams not only need to fight for a playoff spot, but also need to strive for a better seed ranking as much as possible, because high-ranking seeds can have home-court advantage.

For the Kansas City Chiefs, their record can ensure the division championship, but they cannot compete with other teams in the American League for a higher seed ranking. The outcome of the last game can no longer change the situation. The seed ranking has been determined, so Reid chose to play with the second team. However, outside of the Kansas City Chiefs, other competitions are still very fierce.

There are so many competitions for playoff spots and higher seed rankings. This is generally considered to be the most chaotic and closest season in the past decade, so much so that the league has to make arrangements.

To ensure fairness, all games that have nothing to do with playoff spots or rankings will start in the morning; and those games that are directly related to the playoffs will all start at 4:25 p.m. Eastern Time.

There are no night games.

This arrangement is unavoidable, and it also shows that the competition in the season is particularly fierce. This is the first time since 2009 that there is no Sunday night game. It is also the first time since 1977 that there is no night game scheduled to end the regular season. It may even affect the broadcasting agreement between the league and TV stations.

However, in order to avoid controversy over the playoff spot, Goodell still made the decision.

A series of games including "Cincinnati Bengals vs. Baltimore Ravens", "Buffalo Bills vs. Miami Dolphins", "New Orleans Saints vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers", "Carolina Panthers vs. Atlanta Falcons", "Jacksonville Jaguars vs. Tennessee Titans" and so on are all scheduled to start at the same time in the afternoon, because all of these events may affect the playoff pattern.

It even affects the ownership of the Super Bowl.

A melee!
There is no doubt that this is indeed the most chaotic, intense and closest season in the NFL in the past ten years. No one can accurately predict the next step. There is no absolutely strong or weak. As long as you can enter the playoffs, the single-game elimination system makes everything possible.

Naturally, the value of the playoff spots has skyrocketed.

Who knows, maybe the Baltimore Ravens' 2012 season will be repeated?
That year, the Baltimore Ravens barely made it into the playoffs with a regular season record of only ten wins and six losses. No one was optimistic that the team could go further. Legendary linebacker "Thor" Ray Lewis decided to retire after the season, and the team showed signs of fatigue.

however!
Quarterback Joe Flacco, who had a mediocre performance in the regular season and showed no signs of an upward curve, broke out without warning, playing incredible god-level performances in succession, defeating the Indianapolis Colts led by Luck, the Denver Broncos led by Manning and the New England Patriots led by Brady, and making it all the way to the Super Bowl.

In the end, the Baltimore Ravens defeated the San Francisco 49ers to win the championship, and Flacco won the Super Bowl MVP.

That season remains a mysterious mystery until now.

Because after that, Flacco returned to mediocrity, which wasn't bad, but just slightly above the league average.

I can't understand it, I can't understand it at all.

But this is competitive sports, everything is possible, and no one can be sure whether the 2017 season will be the second 2012 season.

Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, the last week of the regular season slowly kicked off.

Fortunately, this time the Kansas City Chiefs stayed out of the spotlight and traveled to Denver in a low-key manner.

With no one paying attention, Mahomes made his first career start. In fact, Mahomes was still a little nervous and showed some restraint against the Denver Broncos, who were in poor form this season.

35 of 22 passes, 284 yards, no touchdowns, one interception.

Such data are not satisfactory.

However, Hunter, who was also starting for the first time, showed high morale and released incredible energy, running for 156 yards, receiving for 77 yards, and scoring two touchdowns, proving that the Kansas City Chiefs' running back group is not just Levi, and the team still has another gem hidden.

Without Levi's suppression, Hunter finally won his own attention.

"27:24".

The Kansas City Chiefs beat the Denver Broncos on a free kick away from home.

The season ended with four consecutive wins, and the 2017 regular season record finally ended at... ten wins and six losses.

(End of this chapter)