re: Why can't part of the equation be Conference Champion

What some people are failing to see is that the team that wins the championship doesn't make you the best team, it just makes you the championship team.

The 10-6 regular season Giants beat the undefeated 16-0 regular Patriots in the Super Bowl, making them Super Bowl champions.

They weren't the best team though. The Patriots were consistently the better team, had a better record, and defeated the Giants in the regular season.

However the Giants were the champions and the Patriots were not.

Being the best team does not guarantee a championship. It gives you a hell of a good shot at it, but being champion doesn't mean you are "best"

The only way to truly determine the best team is a large sample size. However you can't have everybody play everybody else 10 times to determine who the best truly is, we have to work off a limited sample size.

And with a small sample size comes a concept known as variance.

That's why the playoff should be open to non-conference champions, however being a conference champion is obviously a huge leg up in that debate.