With next to nothing for the Detroit Lions to play for in Week 18, head coach Dan Campbell rather keep his team sharp than rest his starters against the Minnesota Vikings.
Campbell has developed a unique reputation during his 14 years as a coach in the NFL. It’s gained him a lot of attention and is part of why he was previously thrust into an interim head coach role in Miami after just six seasons as an intern and tight ends coach. Now in year three as a full-time head man in Detroit, he has continued to add to his distinctive approach to coaching.
In Week 17 he showcased that by choosing to go for a win in the final seconds of regulation by attempting a two-point conversion instead of playing for overtime against the Dallas Cowboys. That decision backfired and their win streak was snapped on Sunday — although the result of the game was quite controversial.
Detroit Lions to play starters in Week 18
Due to the loss, the Detroit Lions won’t have anything to play for because they will enter the NFC playoffs as either the second or third seed. The situation would lead many to expect that Campbell would want to rest his starters and keep them healthy ahead of his first postseason game as a head coach. However, that wouldn’t be a very Dan Campbell decision.
“Yeah, that’s the plan right now, play our guys,” Campbell said when asked about playing his starters in Week 18. “Our players will be ready to roll. I know they will.”
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There is a lot of debate on the risk and reward of resting players in the final game of the season. There is a case to be made that doing so — especially with a bye week — can be very detrimental to a team’s rhythm in their playoff matchup. However, as this season has shown with the countless injuries to quarterbacks, there is always a high risk of injury in any NFL game.
If the Lions make it through Week 18 without any issues the decision could prove to be a smart one, but if a player like Jared Goff incurs an injury before the franchise’s first playoff game in eight years, he will regret the decision for the rest of his career.
