1970-71 season
 Northeast: Washington followed up on their championship by opening up the season with 4 straight double digit wins. Each of them led by impressive performances by QB Ron Murray. However in the first quarter against the Stingrays, a rematch of the Champions Bowl, Murray would go down hard on his throwing shoulder, forcing him to leave the game. The injury would stick around for a while and he would only see the field once over the next 5 weeks. Washington would lose 4 of those games. Luckily for them though, an 8-4-2 record was just enough to nudge out a 6 seed thanks to a controversial 4 way tie. Coming in the second in the Northeast were the underwhelming Hornets. After making the postseason for the past 5 years the Hornets would finally fail to qualify. QB Oscar Washington had an uncharacteristically bad year which some are suggesting is a product of the injury he suffered in last year's quarterfinals against Cleveland. Following the Hornets and Pirates would be the usual suspects. In 3rd were the new look Bulldogs. Atlanta had its best record since 1965, posting 6 wins. QB Skip Anderson would have a good rookie year. While he didn't start for Atlanta on week 1 and saw limited minutes, he subbed in for a struggling Bauer and led the team to a nail biter win over New York. He’d get the start and never look back, picking up a MOR award along the way. New York would finish with 5 wins, missing out on the playoffs for a second year in a row. The lack of offense continued to hold them back. Finally in last were the Gaels who finished last in their division for the first time since 1958. 

North: Coming into this season the North division crown was really anyone's game. However despite hopes from Bombers, Rangers, Ironmen and Barbarians fans, it would be Chicago coming home with their first division championship since the ‘67 merger. Chicago was aided by the retirement of Legend QB Scott Hogg. In his absence QB Lloyd Brown would take the spotlight. Chicago would win 10 games thanks to an overpowering offense while Brown would take home MVP. It was a landmark year for the 4th year QB. After being the first black QB to be taken in the first round, he also becomes the first black player to win any postseason award. Chicago wouldn't be alone in the playoffs this year though as the North would send 3 teams to the New Year. Cleveland would slip in behind Chicago, with 9 wins. Pittsburgh would also slip in as an 8 seed, controversially getting in over Houston, which upset both the Explorers and their fans. Milwaukee would just miss out however behind Philly and Minne with 8 wins. Detroit would be the basement of the division, going 1-7 in divisional games and only winning 4 in total. 

South: The South much like the North would be very competitive. Although unlike the North this was only a 3 team race rather than four. Miami, Cincinnati and Houston would all battle it out for the crown but it would be Cincinnati, who edged out Miami just barely who would get it. The Sabres had MVP runner up QB Roy Frazier and lots of other young talent who seemed to truly blossom this year. They'd finish with the best offense in the league beating out their budding rival Stingrays. Miami would have another great year and settle as the number 2 seed right behind Cincy in the playoffs. Houston, the third team in this fight, would slow down at the last stretch, finishing 3-3 after going starting 6-2. This put them in the hands of the league as they were one of the 4 teams (Washington, Minneapolis, Pittsburgh, and them) who finished with a 0.643 win percentage. Washington and Minneapolis got the first 2 spots due to better division records, but Pittsburgh and Houston were tied for division records as well. So what was the league to do? A coin toss. This arbitrary decision was made by interim Commissioner Tom Sweeny, ruling out other options such as comparing strength of schedule. He said later that the decision wasn’t probably the best idea but his original hope was it would cause the least drama between teams and fans. The coin toss would be performed the day after the last day of the regular season. Pittsburgh would win the coin toss and be sent into the playoffs as the 8th seed. Houston would be obviously livid but there wasn’t much to do. However, QB Zachary Ingram would give some fiery comments on the decision and even make some suggestions, such as overlooking the league’s tiebreaker measures again and even consider adding overtime to regular city games to limit the possibility of another 4 way tie happening. The league would actually respond to Ingram not long after and say they will look into both of those suggestions in the offseason. In last place were the Kings and Riders, who both saw improvements but couldn't put any wins together. 

West: The West is where we saw some big changes. Firstly, LA would struggle in the second half of the season, with QB Keith Lincoln showing some age and they would miss the playoffs for the first time in 7 years. Secondly, Minneapolis would return to the playoffs for the first time in 4 years, led by QB Frank Taylor. The Ox will look to finally win a game in the new year, they’re currently 0-6 in postseason games over the franchise’s 14 seasons. The only other  team to make the playoffs in the West were the Whales, who had another solid year winning their second straight division title. In the bottom of the league combining for only 5 wins were the Cougars and Lumberjacks.




Fun fact, this playoffs had 4 teams that didn't make the playoffs last year. That's the most in NFA history. We also have Cincinnati and Minneapolis playing each other, who are looking, in the Ox's case, still looking, to get their first playoff win, so someone will get their first. On top of that we have Chicago and Pittsburgh, who have a 7 year and 8 year playoff win drought too. No matter what its likely we get a big time win.

C&C appreciated! How'd your team do?

The Jacks look like they're in trouble! Kansas City, Sacramento, Phoenix, San Antonio, San Diego, LA, where will the Jacks land?

Quite the season, I like the bizarre tiebreaking story, really interesting way to have that shake out and potentially add OT to the regular season.

Now here is to hoping Minne can finally win a playoff game! Well, at least they play Cincy which I would be fine with cheering for if they pull off the win over Minne. 

Damn... Cleveland couldn’t do anything against SF.

Pittsburgh wow! What a surprise! Didn’t expect that to happen. Bet Houston’s pissed after they got snubbed in favor of the Ironmen, then watched as Pittsburgh pulled the upset.

Looks like the Blue Ox are still LOLcows since they couldn’t win a playoff game... again

Predicting San Fran sneaks by Pittsburgh and Cincy beats Washington in the semis!

Wow!  Quite the interesting first round, (other than that Sabres/Blue Ox game, lmao.  A 7-3 game is always torture to watch! 

Seems the field is pretty wide open now, (feeling the Whales though)