What If the NFL Used the World Cup Format?:
All this recent talk about fútbol has us thinking of another sport—you know, the one where players actually hit each other, whining is frowned upon and instant-replay exists.
It's called football.
But since we don't want to completely ignore the World Cup title game, we found a way to discuss both sports at once. We looked at the NFL's 32 teams and broke them into eight groups based on strength and location, randomizing the group assignments to make sure none of them had too many teams from the same area—just like in the World Cup. WhatIfSports then simulated every possible game 51 times and made teams advance as they would in the Cup format. In this newly invented league, the AFC semifinalist Jets get knocked out in the group stage and the Vikings win the Super Bowl. Alas, Brett Favre still doesn't know whether he's retiring.
Sigh. Talk about fantasy football.
SISYPHUS ADDS:
Obviously the Wall Street Journal simulation does not take into account the certainty of the refs screwing over the Vikings.
