Lions coach Dan Campbell offered an informative explanation on why they played starters in a relatively meaningless game against the 49ers.
After the Minnesota Vikings defeated the Green Bay Packers late Sunday afternoon, the Detroit Lions’ game against the San Francisco 49ers on Monday became somewhat meaningless when it comes to NFC playoff standings. With the Vikings already at 14 wins, Detroit would need to beat Minnesota in Week 18 to win the division and the top NFC seed regardless of what happened in San Francisco.
For many Lions fans—46 percent according to our poll—that development meant Detroit should rest their starters to get them ready for the big Week 18 finale and avoid injuries. And while earlier in the week coach Dan Campbell said defiantly that they were going to play everyone this week regardless of what happens, the Lions head coach admitted after the game that he was grappling with second thoughts.
“I’m probably like you guys that were all here and woke up at 2 or whatever this was this morning, and yeah, it was on my mind,” Campbell said. “I thought a lot about it. I thought about it leading up to the game, I thought about it last night. I told the staff, but I ended up settling on the right thing to do was to play these guys, because we owed it to the team.”
Why did he owe it to the team. Well, according to Campbell, he didn’t want to put his reserves in a tough spot. All week, the Lions prepared for this game thinking the one seed could be on the line. That meant giving all of the primary reps to the starters.
“There was nothing easy about this (decision),” Campbell said. “There’s a number of things you’ve got to decide (on). We don’t get to prepare those other guys, because you don’t know what’s going to happen. You don’t know what’s going to happen for first, second down, third down, red zone leading into the week.
“For example, (Hendon) Hooker’s not getting those reps. Those are (Jared) Goff’s reps, because we don’t know. That’s just one example. So, it’s not fair. I just don’t believe it’s fair to put in a guy that’s not prepared to play, especially a young player.
And then there’s the fact that Detroit can’t sit everybody. Detroit is only allotted seven inactive spots, and David Montgomery was already taking up one. Beyond that, is it fair to put the reserves out there when the team is not supporting them with the best players they’ve got?
“You can only sit six guys. So, who are those six? Who are the six?” Campbell continued. “And then the others guys that don’t, was it fair to them that we’re not using everything we’ve got? We flew out here, we prepared this way, we came out to win, and that’s ultimately what it came to. And, yeah, you cross your fingers that nobody gets hurt. It’s tough, and we were fortunate. We got out, and now it’s onto the next one.”
That last point is the one that will matter the most to people. Detroit escaped without any significant injuries, and ultimately that’s what matters most. Still, I think Campbell’s insight is worth considering if Detroit ever finds themselves in a similar situation in the future.
