The trade deadline passed a few weeks ago, but perhaps just this once the N.F.L. can make a teensy-weensy exception. A modest proposal: The A.F.C., saturated by mediocrity (or worse), sends its two wild-card berths to the N.F.C., loaded with contenders, for future considerations.

A chasm has existed between the A.F.C.’s top teams and the next tier for some time. For proof, examine New England’s annual postseason stroll to the conference championship game.

That gap feels as pronounced as ever, with the Patriots (7-2), flawed yet barreling toward an eighth consecutive first-round bye, facing a threat from perhaps only two teams: Kansas City (6-3), which has lost three of its last four, and Pittsburgh (7-2), which needed a field goal as time expired to beat woeful Indianapolis on Sunday. The field was further diminished when Houston’s exciting rookie quarterback, Deshaun Watson, sustained a season-ending knee injury.

On a weekend in which another division leader, Tennessee, also needed a late comeback to defeat an allegedly inferior opponent in Cincinnati, and Jacksonville, currently in the first wild-card slot, was gifted a victory by the Los Angeles Chargers, the worst performance by a team that entered Week 10 holding a playoff spot was submitted by the group with the longest drought in the league.