There were only 5 teams with better records in the NFC when the Giants won after going 9-7. NFC was really bad that year, both Wild Cards were 10-6, but there were no other 10-6 teams in the NFC that could have claimed the system was broken that year.
The NFL was weird as fuck that year. 10 out of 16 NFC teams were at or below .500 and 10 out of 16 AFC teams were at or below .500. 20 out of 32 teams in the league couldn't break .500 that year lol
It just bugs me when one division can fuck up an entire conference. As much as I dislike the Patriots when they're 11-5 and missing the playoffs, but an 8-8 team gets in it's stupid. Or when the 7-9 Seahawks get in, but two 10-6 teams miss out, it's stupid as fuck. A team that couldn't even hit .500 gets in, but two teams with respectable records get told to fuck off.
It makes the regular season look pointless and this year it could be even worse, 3 teams have the possibility of being better than the NFC East winner and missing the playoffs. I'm glad the NBA changed it to the best records making it.
Maybe I misread your initial post, I thought you meant for 8 NFL teams to make playoffs regardless of division etc. There were 8 teams with better records in NFL than the Giants (I said 11 because I thought they went 8-8, I was wrong). Also based on NFL tie breakers, there were three 9-7 teams that year and I'm not sure the Giants won those tie breakers to be the 9th best regular season team.
My point is that they never would have won that Superbowl with a format change, if only 8 best regular season records make playoffs. The worst team in the NFL is only 3-5 players away from a ring, that's just the level of talent we are dealing with (owners and mgmt get in the way for than often of that talent).
I respect your argument though, has to be disheartening when you go 11-5 and are at home in January
I like the fact that a team in a historically tough division like the NFC East has a shot and I am a fan of 0 teams in the NFC East. TBH I don't care what the format is, I just want to choose the winning horses when I lay my bet down.