First off we need to figure out who would get home field advantage and byes.
#1 seed would get home field advantage and the first round bye
#2 seed would not get a bye anymore but be guaranteed home games until the conference championship
#3 Division winner
#4 Division winner
#5 Wild Card
#6 Wild Card
#7 Wild Card
With #1 sitting , we would get #7 at #2, #6 at #3 and #5 at #4 in the wild card round. The divisional round would take the winning seed 3,4,5,6 or 7 at #1 and the lowest remaining seed against 3,4,5,6,7 assuming the #2 wins the wild card game.
The rest of the playoffs would continue as normal with the only real changes being the #2 seed losing its bye and adding a third game to wild card weekend for each conference.
Here's how the playoffs would have looked for the 2013 season if we had a 7 team playoff:
AFC
#1 Denver Broncos (13-3)
#2 New England Patriots (12-4, lose first round bye)
#3 Cincinnati Bengals (11-5)
#4 Indianapolis Colts (11-5)
#5 Kansas City Chiefs (11-5)
#6 San Diego Chargers (9-7)
#7 Pittsburgh Steelers (8-8)
NFC
#1 Seattle Seahawks (13-3)
#2 Carolina Panthers (12-4, lose first round bye)
#3 Philadelphia Eagles (10-6)
#4 Green Bay Packers (8-7-1)
#5 San Francisco 49ers (12-4)
#6 New Orleans Saints (11-5)
#7 Arizona Cardinals (10-6)
So now that we see the seeding for the playoffs let's look at the match-ups between the 2 and 7.
AFC Wild Card Round
#7 Pittsburgh Steelers @ #2 New England Patriots- New England crushed the Steelers in their match-up this year, winning at home 31-55 and this game would probably be no different.
NFC Wild Card Round
#7 Arizona Cardinals @ #2 Carolina Panthers- The Cardinals defeated the Panthers 22-6 in Arizona, which then kicked the Panthers on their run. I have to believe the Cardinals would have won this game again if it happened.
If we went and looked at the 2012 season, the AFC match-up would be the same as the 2013 game; the 8-8 Steelers would travel to the 12-4 Patriots. However, in the NFC, the 11-5-1 49ers would host the 10-6 Bears.
Going back 10 years shows us that you would get the following teams by record to make the playoffs: five 8-8 teams, nine 9-7 teams, six 10-6 teams and one 11-5 team (2008 Patriots). It's hard to say how the 9-7 and 8-8 teams would fare, taking on the #2 seeds without a bye.
I, for one, believe the current playoff system is fine and the teams that are left out had their chances to win games. I also understand that the NFL and Roger Goodell want to make more revenue by having either two more regular season games or by having two more playoff games. Do you think a 7th playoff team should be added?