Lions withdraw proposal to change playoff seeding before vote

There will be no change to the NFL’s playoff seeding procedures this year.

Judy Battista of NFL Media reports that the Lions have withdrawn their proposal to tweak playoff seeding before a vote could be taken at the league meetings in Minnesota on Wednesday. Word on Tuesday was that the proposal was unlikely to garner the 24 votes from team owners required for approval.

The proposal called for seeding each conference’s seven playoff teams based on their record. That would mean that division champions would no longer be granted the top four seeds and the guaranteed home game that comes with finishing atop the division.

The NFL was in favor of the change and pushed the Lions to make the proposal, but any behind the scenes arm-twisting to make sure that the change happens wasn’t enough to get the desired result this time around.