I wonder if perhaps the NFL will change the rules to bar teams with losing records despite winning the division (i.e. minimum of .500 as the benchmark)? Or in the alternative, have the team that won the division guarantee the playoff spot but not necessarily a home game if their record isn't better than the team facing against.
No chance that'll happen. The NFL has had several seasons in which a team finished at 500 or worse, and as a result, they ended up hosting and winning a playoff game. Of course, they got destroyed in their next postseason game against even better competition. Save for the 2014 Carolina Panthers and the 2011 Denver Broncos, we nearly had a situation where those bad teams were in position to host a conference championship game (2008 San Diego Chargers & 2010 Seattle Seahawks).
The old saying is still the norm: win your division. Homefield is a big deal and an advantage, but if you’re good enough, then you can win anywhere. The Baltimore Ravens were the perfect example of that, primarily from 2008-2012.
This was not a normal year, but the league still got through all 256 games, and regardless of the outcome, after another 13 more games, it will be a success after everything. What we saw from the NFC East, while something to laugh at, was not who they are. They are still the most decorated division in terms of accomplishments (most super bowls & every member having at least one Lombardi). It was just a down year for them.
This will get discussed during the winter meetings and the owners’ meetings in the offseason, but I wouldn’t bet on change. The league office can propose such a major postseason change, but it’ll likely get shut down by the owners. I think the issue here is that there are so many divisions, the most out of the four major sports. The fact that there are way too many divisions throughout the league makes the chance of a 6-10 team winning their division. A better solution would be to merge (while keeping the NFC East intact). Or go back to having three per conference, but they might have to add some teams into the league first. No word on that yet, but it’s been quite a long time since they’ve added a new team into the league