Tom Danyluk of Pro Football Weekly has an interesting nugget on what he's dubbed the Carl Peterson lottery.
Typically this was the time of year we'd be hearing from Chiefs' ex-GM Carl Peterson. Carl would be in a bad mood. His clubs would wrap up their typical 8-8 or 9-7 season — sometimes better — but they'd miss the playoffs because there were luckier teams ahead of them. So he'd slap his deskpad and gripe and moan about how the league needed to crank up its number of postseason invitations. A self-preservation rant.
Danyluk describes the Jets situation this year sitting at 7-7 before getting two "gifts" from the Colts in week 16 and Bengals in week 17. Those two victories to end the season put them at 9-7 just barely qualifying for the playoffs.
A feat Danyluk has called winning the Carl Peterson lottery.
I do seem to remember Carl actively suggesting more teams go into the playoffs each season. The Chiefs had a lot of 7-9 win teams that didn't get in so it makes sense.