The NFL playoffs are set up unfairly, another point I’ve made for many years. This is an unfairness that is easy to remedy, but the league refuses to do so.
Some winning teams on Wild Card playoff weekend get 6 days of rest, and others get 8. It would be very easy to give all teams 7 days of rest, which of course is the most fair way to schedule, but the NFL continues to refuse to do this.
Some might argue that the Divisional Playoff games have to be scheduled in advance, but that’s ridiculous. The NFL doesn’t know who is hosting games in the Wild Card round until the week before, and no one knows who will be hosting games in the Conference Championship round until the week before. There should be no problem with giving all 4 Wild Card playoff winners 7 days of rest, and determining the dates after the Wild Card round. In fact, it should actually be easiest to schedule the Divisional Playoff round with 7 days of rest for all Wild Card winners, since this is the only round where the host teams are known for two weeks. The only change would be if they play Saturday or Sunday, and they would know the week before.