11 wins and no playoffs

[FWHORN]

I love statistical improbabilities and this year there is a very real chance that next week four AFC teams get to 11 wins and only three playoff spots are available. As it is there will be AFC team with ten wins not make the playoffs, but only one (edit: two) other time(s) in NFL history has an 11 win team not made the playoffs and the statistical probability of winning 11 games and not making the playoffs is well below 1/2 of one percent. Meanwhile the NFC East winner will have losing record and could have as few as six wins. Strange year for the pros.

 

[LonghornCatholic]

Yep. 2020 season for sure.

 

[rick mueller]

I love statistical improbabilities and this year there is a very real chance that next week four AFC teams get to 11 wins and only three playoff spots are available. As it is there will be AFC team with ten wins not make the playoffs, but only one other time in NFL history has an 11 win team not made the playoffs and the statistical probability of winning 11 games and not making the playoffs is well below 1/2 of one percent. Meanwhile the NFC East winner will have losing record and could have as few as six wins. Strange year for the pros.

I have been waiting for the day a division winner would be sub .500. I knew it would eventually happen and guess what, it's 2020. Why not?
I have always felt that when it did happen, the division winner should NOT get the spot. It should go instead to the non-playoff team with the best record. Otherwise, there is no credibility, but then again this is the NFL we are talking about.

 

[FWHORN]

I have been waiting for the day a division winner would be sub .500. I knew it would eventually happen

A team with losing record has won its division four times in NFL history, this years NFC East winner will now be the fifth.

Incidentally, I had it wrong since the NFL went to 16 game schedule there have been 2 teams, Denver in '85 and New England in 2008 that won 11 games and didn't make playoffs. 20 teams have won 10 games and not made playoffs.

Fact or Fiction? An 11-5 team has missed the playoffs | Pro Football Hall of Fame Official Site

 

[Vol Horn 4 Life]

This reminds me of the Eastern Conference in the NBA a few years ago. The winner had a losing record while plenty of teams with winning records didn't make the playoffs at all.