I have brought out the analogy of pro sports, where a champion of a weak division (e.g., 7-9 Seahawks from 2010) can get in the playoffs over a stronger team from a stronger division. But what also comes to mind is the NCAA basketball tournament. Weak mid-major conference champions get in every year over stronger teams from stronger conferences.
Since in football there are more conferences than playoff spots available, the committee needs to require than only conference champions can be considered. An independent would have to be considered better than 7 conference champions to qualify, and for those who believe only the "power five" (I put that in quotes because either you are at the FBS level or you are not) should count, that independent needs to be better than 2 of the 5 champions. That's a pretty high bar.
There needs to be some objective criteria introduced to make this process more in line with what's already accepted in other sports and other levels of play.