To Play or Not to Play? That’s LaFleur Dilemma

The Green Bay Packers earned a first-round bye on Sunday. Now, should they use their key players in a meaningless game at the Detroit Lions?

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers, having clinched the No. 1 seed in the NFC playoffs with Sunday night’s victory over the Minnesota Vikings, will close the regular season at Detroit next week.

It’s as meaningless as any preseason game – games in which risk-adverse coach Matt LaFleur has kept his top players cocooned in bubble wrap, hermetically sealed and under armed-guard protection.

LaFleur will weigh the risk-reward of playing his top performers vs. the Lions but is inclined to roll with his star players, he said after a 37-10 blowout. In his mind, the risk of having key starters not play for two weeks is greater than the risk of injury.

“That’s something that I didn’t really put a whole lot of thought into until after the game, just in regards to what we’re going to do next week,” LaFleur said. “But that does seem, for me speaking right now, a long time off. So, we’ll kind of play it by ear. We’ll talk. We’ll have conversations tomorrow with our staff (and) our players and we’ll make the best decision for us. But, if you asked me right now, I’d say my gut is that these guys are going to play at least a little bit next week.”

Those conversations no doubt will include quarterback Aaron Rodgers and receiver Davante Adams. The team’s top players and key leaders will support LaFleur’s early thinking.

For Rodgers, resting his broken toe is no longer at the forefront of his mind. In fact, the toe has healed to such an extent that he hopes to practice on Thursday and Friday this week. In the six game weeks since returning from COVID, he’s only practiced on a few Fridays.

“I don’t think I need to play, just like I don’t think I need to practice all the time,” Rodgers said. “But I do enjoy practicing, and this is a first game that my toe got through the game without any issues. No pregame pain-killer shot. I’m feeling good. I’m happy about it. There was definitely a time a few weeks ago when I started to project out and think, ‘If we can get the ‘1’ seed, it could be two-plus weeks of rest.’ I’m going to play next week and I expect Davante to play and our guys to play. So, we’re looking forward to finishing off the season on a high note and then getting the bye.”

Adams expects to play, too. Sharing LaFleur’s thinking, he said two weeks off would be too many weeks off.

“To each his own but I wouldn’t want to do that,” he said. “I want to play next week – at least some. We’ll see the plan we come up with, but I’m definitely going to prepare to go out there and play. I want to get out there and run around a little bit for sure.”

Adams was honest about part of his reasoning. In 2014, Jordy Nelson set the franchise record with 1,519 receiving yards. With 136 yards added to his tally on Sunday, Adams is up to 1,498 yards. That leaves him 22 yards shy of adding that record to his franchise-record 117 receptions.

“Oh, yeah, that’s why I want to play,” Adams said. “Nah, that’s not why, but I’d like to think playing a half or whatever it is, whatever we decide, I’ll be able to take care of that. You never know when you’ll be able to have that type of honor later. Who knows what will happen in the future so you’ve got to take advantage of different opportunities when you’re so close.”

Rodgers has thrown for 3,977 yards and 35 touchdowns this season. He needs 23 yards to become the sixth player with 10 seasons of 4,000 passing yards. On Sunday, he had his sixth consecutive game of two-plus touchdowns with no interceptions, tied with Don Meredith for the second-most games in NFL history.

Rashan Gary needs a half-sack to get his first 10-sack season. Preston Smith has nine sacks; he’d earn a $750,000 incentive if he records his 10th sack. LaFleur, having already won a record 39 games in his first three seasons, would get to 40 with one more win.

Ultimately for LaFleur, the only thing that matters is winning. He guided the Packers to a third consecutive 13-win season – a first in league history – but nothing matters without corresponding success in the playoffs.

Being the No. 1 seed is obviously great but it comes with a dilemma. If LaFleur rests his top players and the Packers lose in the divisional round, it will be because his players were rusty. If LaFleur plays his top players and someone gets hurt, it will be because he took an unnecessary risk.

“Anytime you have players of that caliber, you certainly want to lean on those guys,” LaFleur said. “They’ve got a great pulse of the locker room. They’re our leaders in that locker room so we’ll definitely have that conversation with them. And I get it, every time you put your guys out there, there’s an inherent risk with that. Shoot, I was part of the Houston Texans back in 2009. We played New England and they had nothing really to play for. They had already secured everything and (Tom) Brady was out there, (Wes) Welker was out there, all their guys were out there for the majority of the game. But that doesn’t come without its own risks, so you’ve of got to weigh everything and then just make the best decision possible for your football team.”