For the second time in three seasons, the NFL has flexed the Lions into the final regular-season game. Sunday night’s showdown between the Vikings and Lions will establish an NFL record for the most combined wins in a regular-season game. However, Detroit still has a meaningless-but-mandatory appointment in San Francisco on Monday night with the 49ers.
Should the Lions (13-2) rest their starters tonight before next week’s massive matchup? Yahoo NFL insider Frank Schwab says they absolutely should.
“Is he really going to play his guys in an absolutely meaningless game when you have the Vikings in six days, which is basically Super Bowl 58½?” Schwab said Sunday night on the Inside Coverage podcast. “Whoever gets that one seed is two home games away from the Super Bowl. This is massive for this Lions franchise that’s never been to a Super Bowl. If I’m a Lions fan, I’m just praying that somebody gets in Dan Campbell‘s ear and says, ‘Dan, I know you have this reputation to uphold, to always have the foot on the gas, and that’s how we play and that we never die with that, but give your guys a rest.’”
At least mathematically, Detroit’s only motivation to win on Monday night in San Francisco is to prevent the unlikely scenario in which next week’s Vikings-Lions matchup ends in a tie. Should the Lions lose to the 49ers on Monday, they’d surrender the opportunity to still claim the No. 1 seed if their Ford Field showdown on Sunday ends in a tie game. With a win on Monday, Detroit would still get homefield advantage and a first-round bye should they tie the Vikings.
Last season in a similar situation, Campbell played his starters. And earlier this week, before the dust settled on the majority of Week 17 games – including a 27-25 Vikings win over Green Bay that rendered the Lions’ Monday night game mostly meaningless – Campbell was as clear as a bloody kneecap.
“I’ll make this easy for everybody,” Campbell said Thursday. “That way, all the critics can jump out and start attacking, but that way you don’t have to debate them anymore. We’re bringing everything we got to this game and we are playing. I don’t care what it looks like and where it’s at or who’s this, who’s that. We’re going out to play and win this game.”
According to Elias Sports Bureau, Sunday’s Vikings-Lions season finale will break the single-game NFL record for most combined wins in a regular-season game. Depending on whether Detroit (13-2) wins Monday and including Minnesota’s 14-2 mark, Sunday’s game will feature at least 27 wins, possibly 28. The prior record was 25, twice. On Dec. 29, 2007, a month before the teams’ Super Bowl rematch, New England improved to 16-0 with a 38-35 road win over the Giants, who fell to 10-6. Two years earlier, Dec. 24, 2005, Seattle improved to 13-2 by knocking off Indianapolis, who fell to 13-2, in a 28-13 home win.
Still, Schwab sees no reason why the Lions should risk injury on Monday night in San Francisco.
“They win by 50, they lose by 210. Doesn’t matter, you’re playing for the one seed next week,” Schwab said. “You’re going to be on short rest playing the Minnesota Vikings, who are an excellent football team.
“Don’t get Amon-Ra St. Brown hurt in this game. Don’t give Jahmyr Gibbs 30 touches in a game that really means nothing and then he’s kind of worn down for this regular-season finale.”
For more information on the Lions and 49ers, visit the Detroit and San Francisco team pages at ProFootballPost.com.
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