ESPN - Saints are WC team

If the Saints manage to win the Super Bowl, I doubt they will be grouped with Wildcard teams that have managed to win it. They are a divisional winner, not a Wildcard team, even though they have to play in the Wildcard round.

LOL

This is my annual post about the ridiculousness of playoff round 1 still being referred to as "Wild Card Weekend," and the phrase is even sillier now than it was the past several years.

When the phrase first started, it was because there were 5 playoff teams in each conference, and each of the three (not four) division winners in each conference had bye weeks. The two wild card teams in each conference played on the first weekend, so Wild Card weekend actually meant, Wild Card weekend.

In 1990, a sixth playoff team was added to each conference, so one of the division winners had to now play on the first weekend with the wild card teams, but even still, it was them along with three other wild card teams in each conference playing, so the term was still somewhat acceptable.

In 2002, when it became four divisions, with two of the division winners playing the first weekend, the term Wild Card weekend started to become silly. And now, with pretty much everyone playing the first weekend, and only one team having a bye, it is now completely bonkers that this phrase is still being used to describe round 1.