Success in the NFL is not just about talent or effort. Planning and preparation matter just as much. Teams plan every week in detail. Almost every hour is scheduled. Rest days are limited. Nothing is random.
That is why bye weeks are so important. Extra rest gives teams time to heal and prepare. It is also why playing on a short week is such a problem. Fewer days between games can hurt performance.
Teams usually play better after a bye week. They get more rest. They get more practice time. They get healthier. That edge becomes even more important late in the season. In the playoffs, every player is dealing with some kind of injury. Every extra day of rest matters.
Ideally, playoff games should be fair. Teams should have the same number of rest days. The NFL tried to fix this in recent years. It removed the Week 18 Monday night game. That way, everyone played on Sunday and no Wild Card team was stuck on a short week.
But a new problem has appeared. Hall of Fame coach and NBC analyst Tony Dungy pointed it out. With the extra Wild Card team and an added Monday night playoff game, the league has created the same issue again. It just happens one round later.
Dungy said the scheduling is not fair. He believes the league is prioritizing TV ratings over competitive balance. He explained that some teams will enter the Divisional Round with less rest than their opponents.
He gave examples. The Rams and Bears played on Saturday and will meet on Sunday. They both get an extra day of rest. Meanwhile, the 49ers played on Sunday and now face Seattle on Saturday. That means one less recovery day.
The same issue exists in the AFC. The Monday night Wild Card game forces the winner to play on a short week. That team then has to travel to face a rested opponent. Dungy questioned why that situation exists at all.
Some teams have handled these situations well before. The Steelers and Texans have both won games despite rest disadvantages this season. Still, that does not make the setup fair.
Playing on the road as a lower seed is already hard. Doing it with less rest makes it even harder. Many coaches would be frustrated by that.
It is unclear if the NFL will fix this issue. But teams affected by the schedule will notice it. And they will feel like they were put at a disadvantage before the game even started.
