Trestman hasn’t thought about resting starters, but he might

Posted by Michael David Smith on December 19, 2013, 6:24 PM EST
Reuters

If the Lions lose on Sunday afternoon and the Packers win on Sunday afternoon, the Bears’ Sunday night game against the Eagles would have absolutely nothing to do with whether or not Chicago goes to the playoffs. Instead, the Bears’ path to the playoffs would be all about Week 17: Beat the Packers, and they’re in. Lose to the Packers, and they’re out.

So would that lead Bears coach Marc Trestman to rest some of his top players on Sunday night in Philadelphia to have them fresh for Week 17 against Green Bay? Trestman said he hasn’t thought about that yet. But he might give it some thought at around 7 o’clock on Sunday night.

“Could that change? Certainly. But right now, we’re focused on winning a game and there’s nothing else to discuss at this time. And at 7 p.m. Eastern Time Sunday night, if the situation needs to be re-evaluated again, it’s open for discussion,” Trestman said, via CBS Chicago.

Trestman added, however, that all he’s thinking about right now is getting the Bears ready to face the Eagles. Trestman also noted that even if the game against the Eagles doesn’t mean anything for the NFC North title, it could still be important to the Bears’ playoff seeding. If the playoffs started today the Bears would be the No. 4 seed and the Eagles would be the No. 3 seed, but if the Bears win out they’ll move ahead of the Eagles and would be the No. 3 seed.

“We’re 8-6 and we need to continue to progress and win, I think that’s No. 1,” Trestman said. “No. 2 is, winning does take us a to a different place in terms of potential seeding, which is critically important, so just leaving it at that is enough to reason out how we would want to play the game.”

So while it’s at least worth considering whether the Bears could rest their starters against the Eagles, Trestman is right not to give it much thought. Just as Eagles coach Chip Kelly says he won’t rest his starters if a Cowboys win on Sunday afternoon makes the Eagles-Cowboys Week 17 game the de facto NFC East championship game, Trestman shouldn’t rest his starters either. Both the Bears and the Eagles should treat Sunday night like a big game.

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42 responses to “Trestman hasn’t thought about resting starters, but he might”

  3. If the Bears rest and lose in wk 16, then a tie against the Packers would result in losing the division. Unlikely, but something you HAVE to consider

  4. I don’t believe it makes much sense for the Bears to be resting people. Criminy, they’re in a dog fight to win one of the worst divisions in football.

  5. Playing your starters in an irrelevant game sounds great until Matt Forte suffers a high ankle sprain and the Bears lose to the Packers in week 17. If the game truly doesn’t matter I’d give it about as much importance as a week 2 preseason game. Rest your injured players and play your healthy players enough to keep them in sync.

  6. Yeah rest them players and lose the momentum you have been building, makes sense to me. And I thought the vikings have been reading players all season? They need to rest their poet he sucks.

  8. As bad as the Lions have been playing lately the Giants have played 10 times worse. I don’t see the Lions losing that game.

  11. If you showed that picture to random people and polled them about his profession, NFL head coach would come in last.

  12. Great thinking, we all know how resting starters works out for teams.. What equity have the bears built to enjoy this luxury…

  13. I don’t know why coaches do this. It seems that teams that do this go into the playoffs cold and not ready. Play them up to the end of the season to keep their rhythm and timing with each other.

  14. @schmitty – when’s the last time the Lions won a colossally important December game? 1950?

    Giants’ manhood was challenged last week. Don’t be surprised if Lions get trounced. Yeah…I said it.

  15. Trestman has the perfect face to be the evil genius behind my most hated team.

    He sure has made something great out of that offense though, please ignore the 4 o’clock game results and rest at least Alshon Jeffrey he’s too much of a beast.

  17. I’m a Packers fan and I love this hire. Creative and unorthodox, turned that long awful offense into a really productive unit. Give him time to rebuild the aging defense and the Bears will be legit.

  20. “Why rest only to depend on other results? When the Packers lose, they’d be kicking themselves.”

    Since you’re a Steeler’s fan, I’ll dumb it down.

    Packers and Lions lose, Bears play starters.
    Packers win, Eagles game doesn’t mean a thing.

  23. We Are Steeler Nation says:
    Dec 19, 2013 7:10 PM
    Why rest only to depend on other results? When the Packers lose, they’d be kicking themselves.
    ____________________

    You’re not resting to depend on other results. The Bears play Sunday night. That’s after the Lions and Packers.

    The Bears would be resting because of the other results that already happened. Not resting and hoping the Packers and Lions lose.

  25. Week 16 SB nightmares for those who have worked like crazy to get their teams to this deciding moment.

    This is why fantasy football will break your heart.

  26. Giants manhood was challenged last week? Hahahaha.. The G-hens QUIT weeks ago. Just collecting pay checks now. But I don’t have to say it, it’s obvious.

  27. I’d treat this like a week 3 or 4 preseason game, my starters – especially Briggs if he plays – will get a nice amount of time but the bench will be the main guys on the field. Our playoffs could possibly start week 17 of the regular season.

  28. The Giants had nothing to gain by playing their starters facing the 15-0 Patriots a few years back. They fought to win the game, but lost. Then look what happened.
    Injuries are part of the game, but I do agree with several others here that resting your starters for a ‘meaningless’ game sets a team up for failure.

  29. Did some forget to factor a tie game? A Lion loss and Packer win and a Packer tie vs the Bears would give the Packers the division. Given the current OT rules tie games are more likely to occur than in the past.

  32. “Resting” starters has been proven to be a losing strategy over the last many seasons. Playing all out, all the time, is the winning edge. The NFL game is won between the ears of players and coaches alike.

    NEVER back off or dial it down.

  34. Lions losing to Giants and packers losing to Pittsburgh likely won’t happen…so don’t know why this is a discussion. And the NFC north team that does get in will lose in round 1 anyway.

  37. The Bears are just jealous because the Lions get to rest their starters the following week when they play the NFC North basement dwellers, the Minnesota Vikings.

  38. I wouldn’t look for any team from the NFC North to be making a big splash in the playoffs.

    Whoever makes it, the fans of that team will be embarassed in the wildcard round anyway.

  39. There’s only one scenario where the Bears might rest the starters – Packers win and Lions lose.

    If Packers and Lions lose, Bears can win the division right there, so the starters play.

    Packers and Lions win, enough said.

    This hinges on the Lions losing at home to the Giants, and while the Lions have lost to Tampa Bay and Baltimore at home, that’s not the Giants, who are awful. Lions will win that game making all of this moot.

  40. The same thing was being asked about the Eagles in this game.

    Imagine of both teams rested their starters. What a stinker of a night game that would be.

  41. Absolutely ZERO chance he rests his starters regardless of what happens in the early games. The difference between the 3 seed and 4 seed is the difference between getting the Seahawks in the second game, or potentially being able to avoid them entirely if they get upset in their first game. AND that also would give them home field in the NFC Championship Game in that scenario too. Both Philly and Chicago are going to be treating this game as a must win.

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