A Sporting View: NFL: playoffs done right

Let’s sit back and celebrate the league that does it right: the National Football League.

Playoff football in the NFL is at, or right near, the pinnacle of American sports. Expertly marketed and sold by the league, the made-for-television sport garners the highest ratings as compared with other professional leagues’ playoff games.

Now that the league has an even number of teams in each division, the NFL playoff structure isn’t a hard situation to grasp for the average fan. Each of the four division winners is seeded 1-4 based on their records. The two wildcard teams are seeded 5th and 6th (with the better of the two having seed No. 5) regardless of their records compared with the four division winners.

For the past few years, fans of the league have marveled at the parity among teams. “On any given Sunday,” any team can beat another team in the NFL. Come playoff time, however, you will see that only the best coaches in the league make it to the Super Bowl tournament with any regularity. Look at the regular list of coaches yourself — start with the great Vince Lombardi, Hank Stram and Don Shula and work your way through Tom Landry, Chuck Noll, Bill Walsh, Joe Gibbs, Marty Shottenheimer all the way to Bill Parcells, Bill Belicheck, Dick Vermeil and Brian Billick. They’re the winners … they’re the ones who make it year after year, team after team.

Of course, at its core, football is a brutal game, won simply by the team that can move the ball at will up and down the gridiron and score. Playoff football, however, is a little more complex. Not only are the record books marked with the names of great teams and players, a story emerges from behind the numbers.

It was the West Coast offense that led San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Jerry Rice to amass the most touchdowns (22) in playoff history.

Thurman Thomas emerged out of the backfield, fired from Marv Levy’s “K-gun” offense that propelled the Buffalo Bills to four straight Super Bowls.

Chuck Noll’s Pittsburgh Steelers and their vaunted “Steel Curtain” got the ball back into Franco Harris’ hands enough times to win four Super Bowls and score 17 playoff touchdowns.

Bart Starr, the field general for Vince Lombardi’s Green Bay Packers navigated the frozen tundra of Lambeau Field and still possesses the highest quarterback rating (104.8) of all-time — besting even Joe Montana in that regard (though Joe played 23 playoff games to Starr’s 10).

This year the talent remains strong in the NFL, so buckle up, sports fans.