The Providence Journal / tom murphy

I’m not watching the Super Bowl. You shouldn’t either, not if you’re a Patriots fan, or, for that matter, a football fan.

Support the sport by not watching it. Lower the ratings. Send a signal. That’s the best way you can help. And the NFL needs help.

Consider the Arizona Cardinals. A team that lost nearly as many games as it won, 9-7, is going to the Super Bowl.

It’s a shame the San Diego Chargers aren’t going, too. The Chargers ended the 16-game season 8-8. Yet the Chargers and the Cardinals finished at the so-called top of their respective lowly divisions, and qualified for the playoffs. Meanwhile, better teams with better records, including the Patriots, didn’t qualify.

A Super Bowl of the Chargers against the Cardinals would have been a Mediocre Bowl. And it would have provided humiliating incentive for the NFL to correct its problems, especially if the game went to overtime.

Unfortunately in the playoffs, the Chargers lost. (Surprise!) So the Cardinals will face the Pittsburgh Steelers, with a record of 12-4.

Go ahead, root for Pittsburgh. After all, you want the better team to win, unless, of course, you want a better NFL. If Pittsburgh wins, the problem that made Arizona its opponent may never change. But an outrageous outcome, a Cardinals win, could act as a catalyst.

Go Cardinals!

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell would have to award the Vince Lombardi Trophy and say with a straight face, “After seven staggering losses, including an embarrassing 47-7 defeat against the 11-5 not-playoff-worthy Patriots, the Cardinals earned the right to be considered best in the NFL.”

The NFL’s problem is two-fold: its playoff system and its overtime rule.

First, consider the playoffs. The NFL is divided into two conferences, each with four divisions. At the end of the regular season, 12 of the league’s 32 teams qualify for the playoffs: the eight division winners and two “wild card” teams from each conference.

The problem, which was apparent this year, is when a conference has a bad division. This gives the “best” bad team of that division an undeserved pass to the playoffs. And this year, each conference had a very bad division. One conference sent a 9-7 team to the playoffs; the other an 8-8 team.

Revising the playoff system could get complicated. But at the very least it should include one simple rule: teams without winning records can’t be considered contenders. In their place, add additional wild card teams, ones with actual winning records.

The playoff structure is one problem; overtime is another, and it’s another reason the Patriots didn’t make the playoffs. They weren’t given a fair chance, namely the ball.

In late November, the Patriots lost in overtime to the Jets, 34-31. The Jets won the coin toss, received the overtime kickoff and won the game.

That’s the way the NFL works. The first team to score wins. It doesn’t matter that the second team may never get the ball.

That’s not fair. What is fair is overtime football in the National Collegiate Athletic Association. Each team receives the ball at the opponent’s 25-yard line. The game goes on until one team outscores the other after an equal number of possessions. And a possession can mean 0, 3, 6, 7 or 8 points. It’s exciting and just.

The NFL is unjust, and just plain ridiculous. Here’s a multi-billion-dollar enterprise settling ties quickly and capriciously, against the wishes of players, coaches and fans.

Don’t flip coins. Play football. And let the best teams play for the championship.

brourke@projo.com