2018 NFL Tournament of Champions: Quarterfinals

The third week of the NFL preseason is all but upon us, which means it's time to continue with the NFL Tournament of Champions!

I began this project back in May with the 52 Super Bowl champions. 13 weeks of round robin action narrowed that field down to 24, and now we're down to the last eight. Of our teams still standing, six of them received first round byes, meaning they finished in the top two of their respective groups. That leaves three matchups full of chalk, while our fourth was upset-heavy, leaving a #3 seed hosting in this round while a #5 seed pulled off back to back road victories. That means one of those two teams will go onto the semifinals. Meanwhile, the top two teams are still standing: our defending champion 1999 St. Louis Rams and top overall seed 1996 Green Bay Packers.

Those two teams would not face off until the finale Labor Day weekend, which is still a little way's away. We have four matchups to get through from this weekend that come first. Weather conditions from the host sites (higher seeds based on group finish host) are taken into account. You can view the scores and standings from group play here, and I will post the updated bracket below the recaps in this post. All simulations are provided by WhatIfSports.com. Let's determine the final four!

2018 NFL Tournament of Champions: Elimination Stage Round 2

In May, I started this year's big project: another NFL Tournament of Champions. We grabbed the 52 Super Bowl champions and put them into a free for all. Coming into this past weekend, we were down to 16 teams.

The top two teams from each group during the 13 weeks of round robin play all got a bye last week as the teams that finished anywhere from third to sixth got to fight to advance to this stage. Four upsets and four chalk matchups later, we come to the second round.

Once again, seeding based on finish in group play is determining home field advantage. When we get to the point where same seeds may face off, record becomes the first tiebreaker, followed by point differential. But that's not until the semifinals in a couple weeks.

Weather conditions from the host cities over the weekend is taken into account. You can view scores here, and the updated bracket will be posted below as well. All simulations are provided by WhatIfSports.com. Let's get to it!

2018 NFL Tournament of Champions: Elimination Stage Round 1

After three months' worth of games, it's finally time to get the playoffs started!

13 weeks and 312 games narrowed our field of the 52 Super Bowl champions down to 24. The top six teams from each group have all advanced to this point. Seven wins guaranteed you a berth in the postseason, while we had ten teams finish at .500, though only two of those teams made the cut thanks to head to head and point differential tiebreakers. The bracket is set and can be seen below.

So after several weeks of simulating 24 games, we're cutting this down to eight games over each of the next two weeks. With 24 teams advancing this far, anyone who finished in the top two in their group got a first round bye and a week to rest up.

I opted to schedule out the postseason like the NFL does, splitting games between the Saturday and the Sunday for more simulated viewership. It was also a necessity for this round, as two iterations of the Dallas Cowboys are slated to play at home.

Weather conditions from the host cities will be taken into account for each game. You can view the final standings and scores from group play here. The postseason bracket is embedded below and will be updated as the postseason goes along. All simulations are provided by WhatIfSports.com. Let's play some playoff football!

90's Youth Life Podcast Special: The 1994 MLB Playoffs Simulation

I was a radio guy in college. So it's kind of a surprise that, other than a random podcast with a Nintendo forum something like ten years ago that who knows if it even still exists anywhere or not, I am a novice at the podcast game. Fortunately, I know people.

I've talked up the immortal Geoffrey Clark on here before. He's a classmate and friend from my North Central days, a blogger for Chicago Bulls Confidential, and he is also the host of the 90s Youth Life podcast. He's talked up a number of topics from when we grew up, including topics like the McDonald's Beanie Baby craze and the career of Ken Griffey, Jr. with another WONC alum we overlapped with.

So a couple weeks ago, I got a text from Geoff regarding my favorite tool on this blog, WhatIfSports. He'd been introduced to the tool through Confessions of a Sportscaster and was talking about how addicting it was. It was through that discussion that he brought up the lost postseason of 1994 due to the strike. One thing led to another and, well... I was a guest on a podcast.

In it we run through how the 1994 Major League Baseball postseason could have played out had the playoffs been the leaders in the standings when play stopped. After the jump I will post links to the box scores of the games, but if you want to keep the element of surprise... take a listen.

2018 NFL Tournament of Champions: Group Play Week 13

And so, it all comes down to this.

We are in the final week of Group Play in the 2018 NFL Tournament of Champions, and a lot is still up in the air. 16 of the 24 postseason berths have been locked up, with the entire Group D representation determined. Two group winners are locked in: the 1999 St. Louis Rams and 1996 Green Bay Packers. Three other first round byes, assuming the bracketing gets done the way I assume it will, have been locked in.

That leaves a lot of seeding still up for grabs. I figured we'd have some meaningless games in terms of playoff position, but there are fewer than I expected: just three games are between eliminated teams, meaning 21 games have significance for the August postseason.

Throughout the process I've kind of evolved the game time and thus weather determination process of going through these games. I started at the top of Group A and worked my way down for a few weeks early on before deciding that that took more time than it needed to, so I started sorting by cities hosting multiple games and getting through those first. Then I started trying to schedule "primetime" games in those multi-game cities with the better matchups. This week I really needed to get everything squared away early. In theory with a setup like this, you want to make sure that every team is giving their all, so I went through the games. We have 16 different cities hosting, with far fewer multi-site cities than has been the norm in this tournament. That made the scheduling easier except with San Francisco, which hosted four games this weekend. I worked through it all though so there's no overlap with games in the same city, and that all relevant games in a group are played at the same time for the sake of gamesmanship.

As has been the case for the entirety of group play to date, weather conditions from the cities where these games are being played at the times they're being played will be taken into account. Scores, schedules, and standings can be found here. All simulations are provided by WhatIfSports.com. Let's set up a playoff field.

2018 NFL Tournament of Champions: Group Play Week 12

And now... I'm finally getting caught up on the NFL Tournament of Champions.

I fell behind due to a combination of travel, family emergencies, and workload, but with these games having been played this past weekend, we should be up to date once these games are in the books.

With every group having one bye each week, that means four teams have Week 13 byes and thus their schedules conclude this week. For a handful of these teams who have a bye coming up either this week or next, their place in the single elimination tournament coming in a couple weeks is cemented. In total, seven spots have been claimed to date, leaving 17 up for grabs and a bunch of games with playoff implications on the docket.

So as has been the case, weather conditions from the host cities will be taken into account. Schedules, scores, and standings can be found here. All simulations are provided by WhatIfSports.com. Let's play.

2018 NFL Tournament of Champions: Group Play Week 11

I'm still playing catchup after another weekend away, but the NFL Tournament of Champions has continued to roll on!

Every team in the tournament has at least one loss after the '96 Packers got beat last week to reinforce my eternal hatred of the New York Football Giants. But the Packers are still the top team in the tournament to this point as the only one-loss team left. Tournament spots have yet to be claimed at this point, though six teams have been eliminated from contention with three weeks to go.

So as has been the case the first ten weeks, weather conditions from the July 14th-15th weekend will be taken into account. You can view schedules, scores, and standings here. All simulations are provided by WhatIfSports.com. Let's get to it!