There is no debating the toughness of the NFC West over any division, especially the NFC North.Aw, but at least it's warming up in Green Bay. They say it's getting up to maybe 11° by Sunday.
The 49ers would earn the third seed in a properly reshuffled playoff system, hosting the sixth-seeded Packers instead of going to Green Bay. The current rules are actually punishing San Francisco for playing in the toughest division in football in favor of a team that won the league's weakest.
Via Throwing Things, where the first commenter says:
If you don't like it, then win your division. If you don't like missing the NCAA tournament, then win your conference. These playoffs and tournaments are supposed to find the best team, and if you can't win the regular season then don't complain about your seeding.
And I'm a 49er fan.
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55 comments:
Boo hoo.
See: Giants road to the Superbowl.
Seen from a town that's won 8 championships this century, these types of observations are relevant only to those inexperienced at winning.
See: Giants road to the Superbowl.
Yep. Going on the road and winning multiple playoff games seems to be the pattern lately. The Ravens had to win in Denver and New England last year and the Packers had to win in Philly, Atlanta and Chicago in 2010-11.
As a Raiders fan, I remember hating them having to go play in frozen Buffalo in the playoffs in the 90s and then watch the Bills lose when they lost their frozen advantage.
I'm happy to see the 49ers lose in any fashion.
I Want a Loser Bowl. The Two Worst Teams Play the Week Before the Super Bowl to Win the First Draft Pick.
I Want a Loser Bowl.
Please, show some respect. It's called the Pro Bowl.
The NFL has a great playoff seeding system that rewards winning during the regular season, and gives teams sure to enter the playoffs incentive to continue to win.
It's a clear objective system that doesn't require tinkering.
This system is what was responsible for so many of last Sunday's games to be relevant.
To quote Al Davis, "Just win, baby".
Re: "Loser Bowl"
That would have been a really bad situation this year. The Washington Redskins have the 2nd worst record and would have played in such a game, but it wouldn't have mattered. Because they had traded their pick away a couple of years ago to secure the pick that got them Robert Griffin III.
I remember a fan-submitted parody of the Soprano's theme on the Tony Kornheiser show that substituted the chorus, "Woke up this morning, had no picks in round one."
Once or twice in the 90's the schedule worked out so that the two worst teams met in the last week of the season. I recall some ESPN commentators call it the "Stupor Bowl"
When the wind chill hits minus 20 F, the quarterbacks will not be able to hold the ball because of frost bitten fingers.
Wisconsin folks need to look into a domed stadium. But the would probably pump colder air into the dome to prove how much tough they are than Minneapolis.
The affected teams will forget about it soon due to early onset dementia.
If the 49ers can't beat Green Bay, they don't deserve to advance.
The affected teams will forget about it soon due to early onset dementia.
They'll forget about it AFTER they collect the settlement money!
I Thought the Team With the Most Diversity Got the First Seed.
Neither New Orleans nor San Francisco were penalized in the playoffs. They knew the rules going in. The only way any team would have been penalized is if the rules had been changed at the end of the season, in the interests of "fairness" or something.
Does anyone remember the Seahawks getting into the playoffs a couple of years ago, even with a losing record. There were complaints about fairness then, too, I suppose. After they beat the Saints in the first round, the bleating stopped.
Boo-hoo.
Super Bowl is in NY this year. In January.
I'm rooting for Green Bay vs. New England. Let the domers and sun seekers watch on tv.
I'm not convinced SF playing in 10 degree weather in GB is a big advantage for GB.
It would be better if there were some sort of re-seeding based on record and strength of schedule, with division winners still getting in. But (as a 49ers fan) I'm not complaining - they lost games they shouldn't have this season, which put them in this position.
"It would be better if there were some sort of re-seeding based on record and strength of schedule,"
Strength of schedule? Do we have to do the "we're smart enough to make life fair" shtick even in pro football? No thank you.
I hate the Packers, I hate Green bay, I hate Wisconsin (although they do have some fine looking women and great bars) and I hate anyone who doesn't hate the Packers, Green bay, Wisconsin, etc. Go Bears!!!!
The more teams entering the playoffs, the less meaning the regular season has.
New Orleans and San Francisco got an undeserved lucky break by being included in the playoffs at all. What they earned is a seat in front of the TV watching the winners play.
If you can't win the first round you aren't going to win the Super Bowl. Just win the damn game and you'll be fine.
Get over it. The only alternative is the same sort of mess the NCAA has. Bad idea.
Garage is right, defense travels. The tundra is the perfect tune up to a freezing Big Apple Uberbowl victory.
Except the 9er's deer in the headlights quarterback. We all wish Aaron Rogers would come back home to his hometeam in NorCal.
Losing Mathews hurts because he rattles Kaperdink. Who stops the run, turnovers and field-goals will be the difference.
Who is whining, and thus potentially a "baby"? Bleacher Report is not affiliated with the 49ers, and the article does not quote anyone associated with the 49ers who is purportedly complaining about traveling to Green Bay.
Glad you enjoyed the thrill of victory last weekend. Prepare yourself for the agony of defeat.
Garage is right, defense travels. The tundra is the perfect tune up to a freezing Big Apple Uberbowl victory.
Except the 9er's deer in the headlights quarterback. We all wish Aaron Rogers would come back home to his hometeam in NorCal.
Losing Mathews hurts because he rattles Kaperdink. Who stops the run, turnovers and field-goals will be the difference.
So, tim maguire, the Packers won the 2010 Super Bowl due to an undeserved lucky break? The Bears won the division that year.
All that matters is who wins the Superbowl. Who'd seriously think that they didn't win the Superbowl because they got a bad playoff seed?
Howard said:
"Garage is right..."
That is a post I never expected to see in the Althouse comments.
That is a post I never expected to see in the Althouse comments
Football is the only subject that has provided that exception.
MattL: The Raiders are 8-24 over the last two seasons, and haven't had a winning season, much less a playoff appearance, in over a decade. 49ers fans get a chuckle out of that.
shake-and-bake:
I assume 49ers fans enjoy many questionable practices.
What can I say...I was a kid in LA when they won it all in '84. It was pretty cool. I could possibly enjoy a 49er victory over the Patriots or the Cowboys (spit).
But I'm not such a fair weather fan that I let a decade of losing bother me. What I don't get are Raiders fans embarrassed by the guy with the "Your Fired" sign. He had way better penmanship than a sign mine would be likely to have.
MattL: I was rooting for the Raiders to win the 1984 Super Bowl. And yes, it was pretty cool.
Strongest division changes year to year. It is what it is, and the current system is as fair as it comes. Chock this up as special pleading (otherwise known as whining).
The irony that the AFC West is the "strongest" division in the conference this year is not lost on me.
Howard: Kaepernick (or, as you so cleverly call him, "Kaperdink" and the "deer in the headlights"quarterback) has started two games against the Packers. Matthews played in both of those games. Kaep's combined totals: passed for 675 yards and 5 touchdowns, rushed for 203 yards and 2 touchdowns. The 49ers outscored the Packers 79-41. Packers fans should shudder to think what the outcomes would have been if Kaep had not been "rattled" by Matthews.
CWJ: who from the 49ers is whining? Cite your source.
Given the different schedules it's sometimes tough to compare team's records. But The 49ers beat the Packers in week 2 in SF. And SF is favored in GB this week. Home field advantage is pretty big in the NFL, but the best teams will win the big games on the road. SF has the best defense in the league (Seattle is a close second). Rodgers can't get it done against SF. He's not Brady or Manning.
And the Super Bowl isn't in NY. It's in New Jersey. New York City doesn't have a pro football team.
S&B,
Where did I accuse the 49s of whining?
Geez, sensitive enough?
The Packers have no defense. They will be creamed. I'm just happy there's one more week of football.
Kaperdink again!
So far no good for the Packers against Kaperdink.
Tough assignment coming up. Should be interesting.
CWJ: how did I misread: "chock this up as special pleading (otherwise known as whining)" in a comments thread about the 49ers traveling to Green Bay? If I did, I apologize.
S&B,
No this is about an Althouse post of a bleacherreport.com article arguing for change in the the NFL's playoff system. If you read the post's title you'll see the words New Orleans as well as San Fransisco. The special pleading/whining is the linked article. It's not all about you!
I'll take that apology now.
CWJ: I think not. The linked article (written by a guy who, according to his bio, appears to be from Philadelphia) made an argument that the current NFL playoff seeding system is inequitable (I disagree). It used this year's results as evidence supporting his argument, but it neither whined nor pleaded for special treatment on behalf of any team. Althouse made it, wrongly, about the 49ers supposedly complaining about traveling to Green Bay and you followed suit. This is false and unsupported by the article.
You're right, it's not about me. It's about false facts and bogus arguments.
I'm glad the game's at Lambeau. No fans deserve it more than they.
S&B said,
"Althouse made it, wrongly, about the 49ers supposedly complaining about traveling to Green Bay and you followed suit."
I mentioned no team. I mentioned no city. Even if what you wrote about Althouse was true, how did I follow suit?
You are either desperate to preserve your ill-considered first comment to me, or you're a contrarian troll looking to get a rise out of people.
Either way, I'm done.
My alma mater, South Carolina, is the 9th ranked team in the country, beat two ranked teams, beat two teams ranked 3rd when they played them (one on the road and one at home) and are in a less than grand bowl against a meh Wisconsin team who beat a whole bunch of nobody while two teams they beat this year (Central Florida and Clemson) are in BCS bowls, with Clemson facing a quite overrated Ohio State squad they will likely beat.
It sucks...but, hey, life sucks. My team shouldn't have lost at Tennessee or Georgia.
it's one thing to demand that a team win its division, but if that's the argument, then how about getting to pick your division first? The 49ers would have gladly traded with the Packers for their division and the Packers would not have even sniffed the playoffs had they had to play 2 games vs. Seattle, Arizona and the Rams, plus @ New Orleans, and vs. Car. The 49ers were one bullshit egregious penalty call from being the #1 seed.
It doesn't matter though, and the 49ers certainly aren't complaining about getting to face a clearly inferior opponent in the first round. The 49ers are battle tested and would beat the crap out of the Packers with or without Rodgers. That team could barely beat the retarded Bears to make the playoffs.
"it's one thing to demand that a team win its division, but if that's the argument, then how about getting to pick your division first?"
Yeah, every year teams would choose divisions. Great plan.
The path to the playoffs is to win your division. The wild cards have always been extra. There is a really easy way for SF to fix this issue -- go to Green Bay and win. Had they won their division, other teams would be coming to them.
Coming from our various POVs there is no end to the tales of injustices we could describe. Its a game so its not like Al Franken finding votes in the trunk of a car. Right Garage?
There should be another option:
"I know that there are teams. And a tournament. Or tournaments."
I remember when the NFC Central Division dominated the playoffs. Green Bay, Detroit, Minnesota, Chicago. I think there were a few seasons where all 3 of 4 made the playoffs - division winner and two wildcards.
San Fran is whining, as usual.
Now, Freeman, you know we are not allowed to critique the poll questions.
"who from the 49ers is whining? Cite your source"
No less than QB Colin Kaepernick: "I have to play in Green Bay? Waaaah! So unfair! My pussy hurts!"
See?
"No less than QB Colin Kaepernick: "I have to play in Green Bay? Waaaah! So unfair! My pussy hurts!"
Kapernick is one big tough dude. Let's talk after the game. He has a great story which began in Wisconsin.
I'm not convinced SF playing in 10 degree weather in GB is a big advantage for GB.
Agreed. SF might get a few fewer points but that's it. I read in the paper today that there are still 15K or so tickets left, so maybe fans agree.
It's not like SF didn't win their division because of crappy officiating. They just didn't win as many games as the leaders.
Too bad. So sad.
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