Detroit Lions use starters to survive San Francisco 49ers

Should I? Or shouldn’t it?

Entering the “Monday Night Football” matchup against the San Francisco 49ers, Detroit Lions coach Dan Campbell weighed whether he should rest or play with the starters.

After careful consideration, he decided to go with his best guys in a rematch of the 2023 NFC Championship Game when the Lions escaped Levi’s Stadium with a 40-34 victory over the San Francisco 49ers while avoiding major injuries.

“Yeah, it was on my mind and I thought about it a lot. I thought about it before the game, I thought about it last night,” Campbell said. “I told the staff, but I ended up deciding the right thing to do was play with these guys because we owed it to the team.

“It was just one of those positions we were in. It’s hard to say who you’re going to sit and it’s not fair to ask players who weren’t ready to play,” he said. “So, yeah, that was tough, and I think the most important thing is that there were things we wanted to do better than last week and we did that. We cleaned up a lot of things offensively.”

Campbell said the Lions were playing to win, although the game had no playoff implications. However, their pride was on the line after blowing a 17-point halftime lead against the same team last postseason to come within one game of reaching the Super Bowl.

That loss still hurts those who suffered defeat that day.

“I really wanted to bounce back,” said Lions safety Kerby Joseph, who finished with two interceptions. “I feel like we came here last year and they beat us, so I still had that resentment from last year. Like they say in the media, this game didn’t really mean much, but this game meant a lot.” I feel like we were really close and we came up short, so I feel like coming back here to San Francisco and getting a win. I know we started slow on defense, but we were able to finish. ”

Lions quarterback Jared Goff agreed.

And upon his return home to California, he threw for 303 passing yards while completing 26 of 34 passes with 3 touchdowns and 0 interceptions.

Campbell made it clear that the starters were playing, so Goff came in with the mentality of competing, saying he “put [the thought of sitting out] to sleep pretty early in the week.” He threw for three touchdowns in the seventh game of this season, tying Matthew Stafford (2011) for the most in a season in Lions history.

“I’m sure it’s tough for him, but I think it’s the only way we know how,” Goff said of Campbell playing as a starter. “It’s just about going out there and finding a way to win and the team we were playing in San Francisco. This is what ended our season last year and there were a lot of guys on this team that were there last year that wanted to come back. to win, even though in many ways it didn’t make sense for them or for us, but they were also proud to beat us and it was a fun game.

Detroit now prepares to face the Minnesota Vikings at home on Sunday night with the NFC North Division title and the NFC’s No. 1 seed on the line.

For Campbell, it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Detroit is one of five teams since seeding began in 1975 that has never been the No. 1 seed, along with the Cardinals, Texans, Buccaneers and Jets.

“This is what you’re in it for, man. In the end, that’s it,” Campbell said. “I mean, you couldn’t write a better scenario. You couldn’t think of this. The fact that both teams are sitting at 14-2 and it’s for the division and first place. There’s just no outcome better than that. It’s like this is something out of a fairy tale and that speaks for itself.