Angleholics

Ok for those of you who don't know what gerrymandering is, its basically redistricting. Right now the NFL is split up into 2 conferences: AFC and NFC. Each conference has 16 and 4 divisions. Each division has 4 teams. This has been the format of the NFL ever since the Houston Texans have came into existence. Before that it was something really weird, like some divisions had 6 teams. There are many reasons why this system doesn't work.

1) Geographically
The Baltimore Ravens are in the AFC North, but Maryland is in the South. The Indianapolis Colts are in the AFC South but Indiana is in the North. The Kansas City Chiefs are in the AFC West, but they are in the Central-East of America. The Dallas Cowboys are in the NFC East, but Texas is in the West. Finally, the St. Louis Rams are in the NFC West, but they are in the Central-East.

2) Strength of schedule
Some divisions have consistently good teams while others have bad ones. The only team in the AFC East that is good is the Patriots, and the only bad team in the AFC South is the Texans.  Also, the only good team in the AFC West is the Chargers. In the NFC, the NFC East has 4 good teams, and the NFC West only has the Seahawks. Having to play 6 divisional games gives teams with a harder division a harder schedule, and teams with an easier division with an easier schedule.

3) Chances of getting into the playoffs
This destroys the balance in the NFL. Some divisions have multiple good teams that should get a top 4 seed, (i.e. Jacksonville) but don't because there is an even better team in there division, and other divisions shouldn't even send 1 team to the playoffs.

4) Comparison of Conferences
In the AFC you can not get in the playoffs, with ten wins(i.e. the Browns), but in the NFC even an 8-8 team can make the playoffs.

The NFL should definitely re group its divisions before the year 2010 because soon there will be many teams complaining that a worse team got in the playoffs, and their team with a better record didn't get in.