I'm not sure if an idea like this has been floated around yet, but has anyone ever considered using a knockout system for the consolation rounds? For example:
1. At the end of Week 13, there are 200 non-playoff teams. The 50 lowest scoring teams get eliminated from the consolation playoffs.
2. After Week 14, you take the teams' average point total through 13 weeks and add Week 14's scores and the bottom 50 of the remaining 150 would be eliminated from the consolation playoffs.
3. After Week 15, you take the teams' average point total through 14 weeks and add Week 15's scores and the bottom 50 of the remaining 100 would be eliminated from the consolation playoffs.
4. After Week 16, you take the teams' average point total through 15 weeks and add Week 16's scores and determine your consolation winners.
Even if you were devastated by early injuries or just a flawed draft, you can still survive the knockout process and win. To me, this keeps teams interested all the way through Week 13, as teams at the bottom of the pack still have a chance to sneak out of the first cut. It also rewards better teams by employing average scoring during Weeks 14-16.
With the mass of consolation teams, this offers more of a "playoff" feel with 1/4 of the field eliminated each week.
Thoughts?