NEW YORK—It was meant to be a harmless practical joke, but it ended up as a prank gone horribly wrong. As the 7-9 Seattle Seahawks celebrated a playoff berth, the first by a sub-.500 team in NFL history, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell looked on in horror, hung his head in disbelief and despondently commented to no one in particular,“It wasn’t supposed to go this far.”

Goodell thought convincing a crappy team that they could make the playoffs would “totally make everyone laugh,” but after Seattle actually clinched a spot in the postseason, no one was amused. “I didn’t think they’d actually make the playoffs,” cried Goodell. “I thought they’d put a winning team like Tampa Bay or New York in.” But due to a technicality requiring a NFC West team to qualify for the playoffs, Goodell’s harmless joke became a cruel reality. “I’m so sorry,” confessed Goodell. “I didn’t mean to hurt anyone. I never thought so many people would take such an asinine notion seriously.”