Which 2023 NFC playoff teams won’t make the playoffs this season?
Since the league moved to a 14-team playoff format in 2021, seven new teams made the playoffs twice (2021 and 2022) and six new teams once (2023). Under the old 12-team playoff format installed in 1990, an average of about six new teams made the playoffs every year.
This long history of churn among NFL playoff teams means that it’s highly probable that about half teams that made the playoffs in 2023 will miss the playoffs in 2024.
Last season, three NFC playoff teams changed versus 2022. The 49ers, Cowboys, Eagles, and Buccaneers repeated as playoff participants from 2023, while the Lions, Rams, and Packers made the 2023 playoffs after missing out the previous year. They replaced the Vikings, Giants, and Seahawks, who failed to repeat their playoff appearances from 2022. Coincidentally, that means that 10 of the 16 NFC teams made the playoffs the last two seasons.
Seven teams will make the playoffs in the NFC this year, and it’s a virtual certainty that some of last year’s playoff teams will stumble. Or as Bill Parcells once said:
“You never pick up one year where you left off the previous year. Never.”
Which brings us to our question of the day: Last year, the NFC was represented in the playoffs, in order of seeding, by the 49ers, Cowboys, Lions, Buccaneers, Eagles, Rams, and Packers. Which of these teams do you think are in for a rude awakening in 2024 and will not make it back to the playoffs?
Place your vote in the attached poll. If you can’t see the poll on your device, feel free to leave your take in the comments section below.