The Bizarre Ending to the NFL’s 2020 Season

There’s an NFL rule that claims the winner of each individual division will get to make the playoffs. It does not subject if that group occurs to be far more of a loser than a winner and is just slightly improved than the other negative groups in the similar division. 

Which brings us to the bleak race to win the NFC East. One particular of a few teams—the Washington Football Group, Dallas Cowboys or New York Giants—will be remembered as potentially the worst division winner in NFL background. The other people will stay with the ignominy of failing to win an traditionally moribund division. 

It’s a fitting lowlight to end a regular time that has been strange in so lots of strategies since of the pandemic. There have been game titles on all 7 days of the week. The Denver Broncos performed a activity without having a quarterback. The New England Patriots ended up poor. The Buffalo Bills had been basically good. 

The absurdity rolls into the season’s last weekend, which functions abnormal scenarios as teams vie to make a newly expanded playoffs that now involve a seventh workforce in each individual conference. A staff with a 6-10 history could earn the NFC East. A crew with an 11-5 report could skip the playoffs fully in the AFC. A crew with an 8-8 history could win a wild-card place in the NFC. 

There is a person other crucial component in this playoff photograph: the virus that has disrupted the full state and NFL year. The Cleveland Browns, a single of the AFC contenders, are actively battling an outbreak that pressured the closure of their facility and has sidelined players and workers. New positives take a look at success rolled in Wednesday and Thursday, casting doubt on the position of their significant sport.