Chapter 313 311: Alliance Rules
Week four of the regular season drew to a close. After all the games were over, only two undefeated teams remained: the Green Bay Packers and the Detroit Lions. Both teams are in the National League North, absolute divisional rivals, and are now advancing neck and neck, making theirs the most fiercely competitive division in the Alliance.
As for the Buffalo Bills and the San Francisco 49ers, both teams lost their games this week after securing three consecutive wins.
The Buffalo Bills lost to the Cincinnati Bengals. After losing to the 49ers last week, the Fierce Tiger Team looked like a new team this week, claiming a 23–20 victory at home. Meanwhile, the San Francisco 49ers lost on the road to the Philadelphia Eagles, ending their undefeated streak. This is the NFL, where anything can happen; a team's fortunes can flip from victory to defeat in just one week.
This has much to do with the NFL's scheduling system.
In Europe's five major soccer leagues, teams earn points for wins, losses, and draws, which are accumulated to determine their ranking, making their strength and position clear at a glance. But the NFL uses a completely different system. Its divisions, scheduling, and playoffs are all unique.
First, the NFL has two leagues: the National League and the American League. Each league is relatively independent. After each determines its own champion, the annual Super Bowl is contested between the National League champion and the American League champion.
Second, each league has four divisions—North, South, East, and West—with four teams in each, for a total of thirty-two teams.
American League North: the Baltimore Ravens, Cincinnati Bengals, Cleveland Browns, and Pittsburgh Steelers. Within this division, the Pittsburgh Steelers are undoubtedly the most prominent team, far ahead in terms of history, strength, and fanbase. In the annual divisional clashes, the rivalry between the Steelers and the Ravens—the so-called "Steel-Raven War"—is always explosive and even considered one of the best matchups in the Alliance.
American League South: the Indianapolis Colts, Jacksonville Jaguars, Tennessee Titans, and Houston Texans. Within the division, the Tennessee Titans had a period of glory in their early history, but their overall strength remains relatively weak. After Peyton Manning took the helm of the Little Horse Team, they distinguished themselves and became the undisputed rulers of the division. However, with Manning injured and absent this year, the Little Horse Team has fallen on hard times, and it seems almost anyone can beat them.
American League East: the Buffalo Bills, Miami Dolphins, New England Patriots, and New York Jets. All four teams boast glorious histories, but the Patriots' era of brilliance has been over the last decade, making them the undisputed rulers of the division. In truth, however, within their divisional matchups, both the Bills and the Dolphins have repeatedly managed to make the Patriots stumble. Even the long-struggling Jets cannot be taken lightly.
American League West: the Denver Broncos, Kansas City Chiefs, Oakland Raiders, and San Diego Lightning. Both the Raiders and the Chiefs have dominated this division in the past, but since the new millennium, the division leader has been the Lightning, impressively winning five division titles in the past six years. As for the Broncos, their peak was undoubtedly in 1997 and 1998 when, led by Hall of Fame quarterback John Elway, they won two consecutive Super Bowls.
Since the new millennium, the overall power in the American League has gradually shifted, with the New England Patriots, Pittsburgh Steelers, and Indianapolis Colts becoming the absolute dominant forces. For eight consecutive years, the American League champion was always one of these teams. To be more precise, the title never escaped the grasp of three elite quarterbacks: Tom Brady, Ben Roethlisberger, and Peyton Manning.
National League North: the Green Bay Packers, Chicago Bears, Detroit Lions, and Minnesota Vikings. These four teams are undoubtedly the most historic and volatile group of divisional rivals in the Alliance. Any two teams picked from this group are sworn, mortal enemies, and their matchups have produced countless exciting, classic games. In recent years, the Packers, led by Aaron Rodgers, have re-established their dominance over the division.
National League South: the Atlanta Falcons, New Orleans Saints, Carolina Panthers, and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Since the 21st century began, the Falcon Team and the Saints Team have been the undisputed rulers of the division. However, with Cam Newton joining the Panthers this year, they have gradually become an unpredictable spoiler.
National League East: the Dallas Cowboys, New York Giants, Philadelphia Eagles, and Washington Redskins. This is arguably the division with the most history and passion, second only to the National League North. The four teams in this division also lead the Alliance in average fanbase size. All four teams have long histories and illustrious records, and the competition between them is a fierce, do-or-die struggle.
National League West: the Arizona Cardinals, Seattle Seahawks, St. Louis Rams, and San Francisco 49ers. Within the division, the 49ers and the Rams are absolute archrivals, while the Cardinals and the Sea Eagle joined after the divisional realignment in the new millennium, giving them a relatively shallow shared history. Over the past decade, the strength of these four teams has fluctuated, with no single, dominant divisional powerhouse emerging.
Compared to the American League, the National League has always been a chaotic free-for-all. In the span of a decade, ten different teams were crowned the National League champion and advanced to the Super Bowl. The overall strength is balanced, the competition is more intense, and it feels as though anyone has a chance; one small mistake can lead to an unexpected disaster. In the National League, it's a common occurrence for a team to finish last in their division one year and win the division title the next.
It's a common joke: "The American League's top three are forged in iron, while the National League champion is like flowing water."
Next, playoff berths.
The allocation of NFL playoff berths is also rather unique. The National League and American League each have six playoff berths. Of those, the four division champions from within each respective league automatically secure a playoff spot. Regardless of a team's overall record, as long as it finishes first in its division, it makes the playoffs.
The four division champions occupy four of their respective league's berths. The remaining two berths are known as wild cards. Among the remaining twelve teams in each league (excluding the four division champions), the two with the best records are awarded the wild card spots.
Because a team can make the playoffs simply by winning its division, regardless of how poor its record is, special circumstances can arise where a team with a better record fails to secure a wild card spot and misses the playoffs entirely.
Last year, the Seattle Seahawks made the playoffs with a seven-win, nine-loss record, a direct beneficiary of this rule. This was because the Sea Eagle Team won the National League West—the other three teams in the division had even worse records.
For the wild card race, the NFL has also established a series of incredibly complex tie-breaking rules to determine the final seeding when teams have identical records.
In the playoff format, the four division champions are seeded number one, two, three, and four, based on their records. The two wild card teams are also ranked by their records and seeded number five and six.
The number one and two seeds not only get home-field advantage but also a bye in the first week. The first week of the playoffs is also known as the Wild Card Round, where the number three seed plays the number six, and the number four seed plays the number five. The winners advance to the next round. After that, based on the regular season rankings, the lower-seeded winner challenges the number one seed, while the higher-seeded winner faces the number two seed. The winners of those games advance to the Super Bowl.
As is evident, the NFL's system is completely different from that of European soccer leagues. Consequently, the regular season scheduling is also different. The process of determining a division champion is paramount because a team's opponents change every year, meaning the competitive landscape is always shifting.
The NFL regular season consists of seventeen weeks. Each team plays sixteen games and has one bye week. Each year's schedule is determined by a fixed, rotating formula, but the final list of opponents still changes annually based on team performance.
First, divisional games. Every team plays the other three teams in its division twice: once at home and once on the road. This makes for a total of six games.
Second, divisional rotation games. Each team plays against all four teams from another division within its own league, on a three-year rotation. To put it simply, the San Francisco 49ers, who are in the National League West, are scheduled against the National League East this year. Next year, they will play the National League North, the year after that the National League South, and then the cycle repeats. Each team plays every team from that rotating division once—two games at home and two on the road—for a total of four games.
In other words, the earliest a matchup between Lu Ke and Cam Newton could happen would be 2013—unless both the 49ers and the Panthers make it into this year's playoffs, in which case it would depend on the seeding and schedule.
Third, inter-league games. Every team also plays against all four teams from a division in the other league, on a four-year rotation. This year, the San Francisco 49ers are facing the American League North. Next year, it will be the American League East, and the rotation will continue. This also consists of two home games and two road games, for a total of four games.
Fourth, common-rank games. Every team plays against two teams from its own league that finished in the same place in their respective divisions the previous year. These opponents are from the two divisions within the league that the team is not already scheduled to play. There is one home game and one road game, for a total of two games.
For a simple example: this year, the San Francisco 49ers' rotating divisional matchup within their league is against the National League East. That means their other two opponents must be selected from the National League North and the National League South. The San Francisco 49ers finished third in their division last year. The third-place finisher in the National League North last year was the Detroit Lions, and the third-place finisher in the National League South was the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Therefore, this year the 49ers will play one game each against the Lions and the Buccaneers—one at home and one on the road.
Six games, four games, four games, two games—a total of sixteen games makes a season. Aside from the fixed divisional matchups, the opponents determined by the other three methods are entirely different.
Therefore, every team's schedule is different each year. One year, a team might face a tough division full of strong opponents, resulting in an incredibly difficult schedule. The next year, they might draw a relatively weaker division, making their schedule much easier.
It is precisely because of this scheduling system that weaker teams have a chance to rise to the top, while strong teams can be brought low by a gauntlet of tough matchups. Combined with factors like the salary cap, injuries, and free agency, it is incredibly difficult for a truly dominant dynasty to emerge in the NFL, let alone one that reigns for a long time.
Even within a single season, it is not at all uncommon for a team to start with a multi-game winning streak only to follow it with a long losing streak.