A few weekends ago was the NFL wildcard playoff round. There were a few exciting games that were a joy to watch for any NFL fan, and I believe we'll be talking about the Pittsburgh-Cincinnati game for a long time.

However, an interesting stat emerged in this season's wildcard round. Every single wildcard team won. Not a single team that won their division won. Cincinnati even lost to a team in their division. You could say this is just coincidence and shows how any team can win a football game, and I agree. It's awesome seeing teams play "against the odds" to advance throughout the playoffs. But two of these wildcard teams had better records than their division-champ opponent. The NFC wildcard teams, the Seattle Seahawks and the Green Bay Packers, had a better record than the Washington Redskins, who won the NFC East. The AFC wildcard teams, the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Kansas City Chiefs, had a better record than the Houston Texans, who won the AFC South.

"When you're the only player on your team to score a playoff touchdown, and you're a defensive lineman."

In my opinion, this is absurd. How do two teams who finish one game above 500 earn a home game in the playoffs? The simple answer is, they really didn't. The Texans played in a laughable AFC South where Andrew Luck was injured most of the season, the Jaguars had another "rebuilding," year and the Tennessee Titans were there, too, I guess. The New York Jets went 10-6 this year but missed the playoffs due to the way the wildcard system works. You can easily argue that if they won their final game, they would've made the playoffs. If they had won the last game, they would've won one less game than the first seed Denver Broncos. The Texans didn't earn their playoff spot, the Jets earned that spot. But geography chose who got the spot. And should I mention the Texans put up no fight, losing 30-0 to the Chiefs? This is proof that the current playoff system is hurting the competition of the NFL playoffs. If the Jets played, they at least would've scored.

The same can be said about the NFC. The Redskins played in the pitiful NFC East. The Cowboys fought injuries, the Eagles fought Chip Kelly (and finally won!), and the Giants fought Josh Norman.

"Yes, Odell Beckham Jr. is the Giants."

The Redskins did show a lot of promise and held off the Packers for most of the first half, but ended up destroyed by the Packers in the second half. In the NFC, there wasn't a team necessarily more deserving of that spot, but it still wasn't fair that the Packers' superior record didn't earn them the home field advantage, once again because of geography.

So, what's the solution?

I suggest you look to the NBA. The NBA split the conferences into halves, the East and the West. Both conferences send their eight best teams to the playoffs and seed solely on record. The NBA does have divisions, but they don't matter at all when it comes to the playoffs. Why? Because it doesn't matter if two best teams happen to be in the Northeast. They still deserve the top two spots in that conference. I think the NFL should adopt a similar style, and take eight from each conference. It allows middling teams to have a playoff chance.

The Atlanta Falcons went 8-8 this year, effectively missing the playoffs, but in my scenario, they'd get a chance to prove their worth against the Arizona Cardinals. Recently, the pre-legion-of-boom Seahawks went 7-9 and won their division. They used their home field advantage to defeat the 11-5 Saints. I personally enjoyed the game and it was fun to see an underdog win, but frankly, the Saints won four more games and earned the home field advantage. And why don't the 8-8 Falcons get the same, or even still worse, chance than those Seahawks? All because of location. If this year's Falcons or Jets keep their record in the NFC West that year, they earn the home playoff game.

"Can't I deflate the balls just a little bit?"

So what about earning the playoff byes? In the current system, the top two teams in each conference skip the wildcard round. While that's nice for them, it hurts the regular season a little bit. Going into week 17, the New England Patriots had already secured a bye. So, they didn't play very aggressively and lost to the Dolphins because the game didn't matter enough to risk injuries. But if they didn't automatically earn a bye, I guarantee that the Patriots play to win so they can secure the easiest route to the Super Bowl. In the NFL, every game should matter, and taking away byes helps that out.

If a team goes into the game more focused on injuries than the game, it can ruin the game itself. Also, I believe the byes aren't always fair. At the end of the 2015 season, the Patriots and the Broncos were weakened because of injuries. I'm not sure either team will win against the "inferior" wildcard teams they'll play in the divisional round. So have all the teams play in the first round, and every once in a while, weak teams like the Patriots might lose to a team that wouldn't have normally made the playoffs. Everyone loves a Cinderella story, and my suggested system offers a much better avenue for Cinderella teams to earn their spot in history.

"Scouting report: weak feet but time management skills are incredible."

There is another sport with an even worse playoff system: baseball. In the 2015 season, the top three records were all held by teams in the NL Central. If the Cubs or Pirates played in any other division, they would've won the division. Instead, the three best teams in all of baseball battled themselves, and by the time it came for the NLCS, only one remained. The Pirates did better than every other team except the Cardinals, but only got one playoff game due to their loss to the Cubs. The Cubs were "lucky" to even be in the playoffs, as not long ago, there were only four teams in the playoffs every season. I imagine the MLB will eventually adopt the NFL style, but as I have just proven, it doesn't work.

My point? Keep divisions. They make the regular season more interesting and create interesting geographical rivals. But when it comes to championship opportunities, don't let geography control the fates of teams. I hope that one day, the NFL and MLB learn from the NBA and fix their playoff system to create a more competitive regular season and a more exciting playoff. And I'm sure I don't need to mention all the additional money made from more playoff commercials and sportswear.