NFL planning weird change to Wild Card playoff format

Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield (6) rushes back to the locker room after beating the Pittsburgh Steelers in an NFL wild-card playoff football game, Sunday, Jan. 10, 2021, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. [Jeff Lange/Beacon Journal]Browns Extras 10
Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield (6) rushes back to the locker room after beating the Pittsburgh Steelers in an NFL wild-card playoff football game, Sunday, Jan. 10, 2021, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. [Jeff Lange/Beacon Journal]Browns Extras 10 /
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The NFL is changing it’s Wild Card playoff format for the 2021-22 season by adding a Monday night game. 

As if the past year-and-a-half hasn’t already been strange enough for sports fans, the NFL is adding to that with the possibility of changing its Wild Card playoff format. The weekend would feature two Saturday games, three Sunday games and a Monday night game.

In the middle of the Thursday Night Football matchup between the Carolina Panthers and Houston Texans, the idea of Wild Card weekend becoming a lot more exciting with three-straight days of football emerged.

NFL likely to add a Monday night game to Wild Card weekend

The NFL is entertaining the possibility of adding a Monday night game to its Wild Card playoff format.

If this change does happen, the team that wins the game on Monday night will be at a disadvantage by coming off of a short week heading into the divisional round. That game should be scheduled for Sunday instead of Saturday, but it still leaves the winning team without a full week of preparation during the most crucial part of the season.

It adds an extra day of Wild Card weekend which will be thrilling, but coaches and players probably don’t feel the same way. There’s already enough controversy surrounding Thursday night games during the regular season.

Who knows, if the change does take place the football world may be given one of the most epic Wild Card finishes in the history of the game. How will the winning team perform in the divisional game with less time to prepare than the opposing team? There’s a lot of unanswered, wait-and-see questions.

It won’t be the first time that the NFL has altered the postseason format.

Monday night will get a lot more fun, though.

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