There is great parity across the NFL, teams can go from 4-12 to 12-4 in one year. This means every team has a change each year. Yes the playoffs have higher viewership but people watch the regular season to see who is going to make the playoffs.

Compare it to baseball, where there are many teams that have no realistic chance at winning due to the payroll difference. Viewership is waning.

The only way to change soccer is to eliminate the playoff, but I doubt Americans will accept that.