In the divisional playoffs, the Falcons defeated the St. Louis Rams 47 – 17 in the Georgia Dome, advancing to the NFC Championship, which they lost to the Eagles 27 – 10.

Although they failed to make the playoffs in 2009, the streak ended when the team rallied to win their final three regular season games to record back-to-back winning seasons for the first time in franchise history.

As a result, they were out of the playoffs.

Those against the Wild Card see it as diminishing the importance of the pennant race and the regular season, with the true race often being for second rather than first place, while those in favor of it view it as an opportunity for teams to have a shot at the playoffs even when they have no chance of a first-place finish in their division, thus maintaining fan interest later in the season.

In the playoffs, they easily defeated the Cowboys in the wild-card round before facing the St. Louis Rams in the divisional round.

The Cowboys are the only NFL team to record 20 straight winning seasons ( 1966 – 85 ), in which they only missed the playoffs twice ( 1974 and 1984 ), an NFL record that remains unchallenged.

Star receiver Michael Irvin was suspended by the league for the first five games of 1996 following a drug-related arrest ; he came back after the Cowboys started the season 2-3 ; they finished 10-6 and won the NFC East title, but were eliminated in the divisional round of the playoffs 26-17 by the second-year Carolina Panthers.

In 1930, the Cougars were renamed the Falcons, but their woes continued, as they usually finished near the bottom of the standings, even though they made the playoffs again in 1932.

The following season Yzerman scored 62 goals, but the team missed the playoffs ( which as of 2012 is the most recent time they did so ).

New coach Bryan Murray was unable to get them back over. 500, but they returned to the playoffs.

The Wings cruised to the playoffs, where they faced the Nashville Predators.

In the second round, they fell behind the San Jose Sharks three games to one, before being knocked out of the playoffs in five games.

Torborg's successor, 72-year-old Jack McKeon, improbably led them to the National League's wild card berth in the playoffs ; they defeated the New York Yankees four games to two in the 2003 World Series.

The two teams met twice a year ( interrupted in 1982 by a player strike ) 1970 – 2001 ; with the move of the Colts to the AFC South the two teams ' rivalry actually escalated, as they met three times in the playoffs in the South's first nine seasons of existence ; the Jets crushed the Colts 41 – 0 in the 2002 Wild Card playoff round ; the Colts then defeated the Jets 30 – 17 in the 2009 AFC Championship Game ; but the next year in the Wild Card round the Jets pulled off another playoff upset of the Colts, winning 17 – 16 ; it was Peyton Manning's final playoff game with the Colts.

In 1977 Baltimore tied for first for the third straight year ( in 1976 they tied with the now-New England Patriots ) with Miami, and this time advanced to the playoffs on even slimmer pretenses, with a conference record of 9 – 3 compared to Miami's 8 – 4, as they had split the season series.

Since then they have appeared in the playoffs in 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2011.

Following a 2006 season in which they missed the playoffs, Lamar Hunt sold the club in August 2006 to OnGoal, LLC, a six-man ownership group led by Cerner Corporation co-founders Neal Patterson and Cliff Illig, a local group committed to keeping the Wizards in Kansas City.

By the turn of 1992 they were top of the Second Division, and then suffered a dip in form before recovering to qualify for the playoffs, during which Dalglish led Blackburn into the new Premier League by beating Leicester City 1 – 0 in the Second Division Play-off final at Wembley.

Since the merger, they have made the playoffs 24 times, third most in the league.

In the playoffs they built on their cold weather reputation, defeating both the St. Louis Cardinals 30 – 14 and the Los Angeles Rams 14 – 10 in frozen Metropolitan Stadium.

By, age was taking its toll on the Vikings, but they still made the playoffs with an 8 – 7 – 1 record.

In 1985, they returned to the playoffs, and made it all the way to Super Bowl XX, which they lost to the Chicago Bears 46 – 10.

Seattle made their first finals appearance since winning it all in 2004 and Atlanta, coming into the playoffs as a four seed, impressively swept its opponents in the first two rounds to advance to the Finals in only the third year of the team's existence.

The Islanders barely squeezed past the Panthers to make the 1994 playoffs before being swept in a lopsided opening series by the first-place Rangers, who went on to win the Cup.

In 1970 – 71 the Flyers returned to the playoffs, but were swept by the Chicago Black Hawks in the first round.

Their regular-season success continued into the playoffs, as the Flyers swept a young Wayne Gretzky and his Edmonton Oilers in the first round, then went on to get revenge against Fred Shero and his Rangers by beating them in five before disposing of Minnesota in five to lock up a berth in the Stanley Cup Finals.

The Thrashers qualified for the Stanley Cup playoffs only once, during the 2006 – 07 season when they won the Southeast Division, but never won a game in the postseason as they were swept in the first round by the New York Rangers.

However, they were eliminated from the playoffs on April 18, being swept by the New York Rangers in four straight games in the Conference Quarterfinals, in what would be their first and only playoff appearance.

In the playoffs, Colorado swept their Western Conference Quarterfinals against the Vancouver Canucks.

Finishing with a 42-40 record, the Heat made the playoffs for the third time in franchise history, but were swept in three games by the Bulls.

They were seeded first in the playoffs, and swept through the first two rounds against New Jersey and Washington, advancing to the Eastern Conference Finals against defending Champion Detroit.

The Magic were in the playoffs for the first time, ranked the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference ; however, the Pacers swept the Magic 3 – 0 in the first round, thus ending the Magic's season.

The Magic swept the Charlotte Bobcats and the Atlanta Hawks in the first two rounds of the playoffs, respectively.

In 1988 – 89, Philadelphia returned to the playoffs after a one-year absence, but were swept in the first round by the New York Knicks.

However, they were again swept by the Celtics in the playoffs.

They recorded a then-franchise record 61 wins, and romped through the playoffs, where they swept the defending champion Pistons in the Conference Finals and won the Finals in 5 over the Magic Johnson-led Los Angeles Lakers on June 12, 1991.

After being swept by the Miami Heat in the 2000 playoffs, Joe Dumars ( who had retired following the 1999 season ) was hired as the team's president of basketball operations.

The Nuggets were swept by the San Antonio Spurs in the first round of the playoffs that season.

However, in the playoffs the Timberwolves made a quick exit as they were swept by the Houston Rockets in 3 straight games.

Once again, Minnesota lost in the first round of the playoffs where they were swept by the Dallas Mavericks in three straight games.

Without a healthy David Robinson, the Spurs were swept out of the first round of the playoffs by the Phoenix Suns.

In the playoffs, the Spurs remained hot as they swept the Memphis Grizzlies in 4 straight games.

The Spurs however, were swept out of the playoffs in the following round by the Phoenix Suns.

The Spurs then swept the Clippers in the second round of the playoffs.

That team made the playoffs with a losing record ( 36 – 46 ) and were swept in the first round by the eventual Western Conference Champion Jazz, 3-0.

In the second round of the playoffs, the team ended up being swept by the San Antonio Spurs.

They swept the playoffs up till the NBA Finals, and faced the Detroit Pistons again.