LaFleur Faces Same Dilemma as McCarthy in 2011
GREEN BAY, Wis. – In 2011, the Green Bay Packers were one of the most dominant in NFL history. The defending Super Bowl champions were 14-1 entering the final week of the regular season.
With the Detroit Lions coming into Lambeau Field, coach Mike McCarthy listed soon-to-be MVP quarterback Aaron Rodgers, receivers Randall Cobb and Greg Jennings, running back James Starks, outside linebacker Clay Matthews and right tackle Bryan Bulaga as his inactives.
“I’m not going to stand here and tell you we're going to give away an opportunity to win a game,” McCarthy said that week. “We’re going to play to win the game next week. I’m not real excited about a division opponent coming in here and thinking we’re not going to do everything we can to get to 15-1. But health is an issue for us, and I think that's stating the obvious.”
Matt Flynn had one of the great games in franchise history with 480 yards and six touchdowns to lead a 45-41 victory.
With an unofficial Week 17 bye and a first-round playoff bye, the Packers laid an egg in the divisional round. Hakeem Nicks had a 66-yard touchdown catch in the first quarter and ended the first half with a 37-yard touchdown on a Hail Mary. When the Giants turned Ryan Grant’s fumble into Eli Manning’s third touchdown pass of the game, it was lights out. The Giants won 37-20.
Would the Packers have won the game had McCarthy played his stars in Week 17? That’s an impossible question to answer.
Fast forward a decade. The Packers are 13-3 headed into the regular-season finale at Detroit. Having clinched the No. 1 seed on Sunday night against Minnesota, Green Bay is in the same position as 10 years ago.
Should Matt LaFleur rest Rodgers, Davante Adams and other top players in a meaningless game to ensure they’re fresh and healthy for the playoffs? Or should LaFleur play with an eye on keeping the momentum built from a five-game winning streak?
“I’m sure if you asked 100 different people, they could give you 100 different answers on what we should do,” LaFleur said.
LaFleur’s answer is the one that matters. And his decision is to play.
“Right now, the mind-set going into this is we’re going to play our guys and we’re going to approach it like every other game,” he continued. “And I just think the reason behind that is I’m not comfortable having essentially a three-week layoff for our guys.”
It’s obviously a huge benefit to be the No. 1 seed, starting with the free pass into the divisional round. But it’s a damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don’t dilemma for LaFleur if things go wrong in two weeks.
“I know that you can look at it a million different ways and there’s never a right answer unless it works out,” LaFleur said. “If somebody goes in there and gets injured then, ‘Well, why’d you play your guys?’ But if you go out there in that first playoff game and you lay an egg, ‘Well, why’d you rest your guys?’ So, there’s not a right answer. Bottom line is whatever we do we’ve got to go out and perform and we know that and that’s just the way we’re going to go about it.”
