The Vikings victory on Sunday has set up a winner-take-all matchup next week against the Lions.
The San Francisco 49ers and Detroit Lions will square off in an NFC Championship rematch on Monday Night Football this evening. However, the Minnesota Vikings’ 27-25 victory over the Packers on Sunday took some of the stakes out of the matchup. With the Vikings sitting at 14-2 and the Lions currently at 13-2, the winner of their head-to-head matchup in Week 18 of the regular season will win the NFC North since the Lions would hold the tiebreaker. The loser will be the highest-seeded Wild Card team. With the 49ers already eliminated, Monday Night’s matchup will not impact playoff seeding.
With a short week turnaround for Week 18, Lions head coach Dan Campbell might have more incentive than usual to rest some of his starters against the Niners. It’s a particularly unique situation since playoff teams are usually not given the opportunity to rest starters without impacting their playoff seeding until the end of the season. In this circumstance, though, Campbell could effectively manufacture a partial BYE week for some players before a playoff-level matchup to wrap up the end of the regular season.
Then again, given that San Francisco ended the Lions’ season in the NFC title game last year, Detroit probably has more emotional stakes in this game. In a similar vein to the Niners’ blowout victory over the Eagles last season, it’s easy to envision Campbell wanting his team to get the motivation and satisfaction of defeating the team that eliminated them on the cusp of their own playoff run.
Since the Lions did not know until Sunday whether their matchup against the 49ers would impact seeding or not, Campbell has not been directly asked by reporters about his plan. Moreover, his team also conceivably prepped all week as if the game would matter, perhaps making it more unlikely that a string of starters will sit.
Then again, it could also be an intriguing opportunity to give young quarterback Hendon Hooker his first NFL start and/or a chance to get recently-signed backup quarterback Teddy Bridgewater some time on the field to reacclimate to NFL football.