The San Francisco 49ers have the 1 seed of the NFC locked up and they will get a bye week in the wild card weekend of the playoffs. This week 18 game does not mean anything for their playoff seeding and win or lose, nothing changes for them. That is not stopping head coach Kyle Shanahan from playing a bunch of their starters in this game.
Shanahan spoke with the media today about why he is not going to be sitting all of his starters. The Baltimore Ravens are in a similar position in the AFC but they seem to not be playing any of their starters in the final week. Shanahan gave his explanation that it is not good for players to take two weeks off. They got the bye week but they did not earn two bye weeks.
San Francisco 49ers Coach Explains The Decision
There are two ways of going about these types of situations and both arguments have validity. Even though the 49ers have already locked up the one seed and you do not want to risk any injury before the post season, you also do not want the players to be rusty in their first playoff game. Shanahan expressed his opinion on the matter today saying:
“I don’t think it’s good for anybody to take two weeks off,” Shanahan said. “You should see how Trent was when he came back after a month off or three weeks. It’s not good, but we’ll see how the game goes and everything. His mindset this week’s got to be that he is getting ready to play.”
The only healthy starter that will not be playing for the 49ers is quarterback Brock Purdy. However, the quarterback will go through the week as if it he will be playing to make sure that everyone remains as focused as possible leading into the playoffs. Shanahan explained this decision today saying:
“Brock, we’re treating this as a normal week,” Shanahan said. “So this is a normal Wednesday at this time of year, which means we go half-speed on everything. We don’t do anything full-speed this time of year on a Wednesday.”
The key in making these decisions is balance the risk of injury for the 49ers top players versus the chance of rust in the playoffs. Obviously the head coach does not want any 49ers players injured come post season time, but at the same time you do not want your players not to play for three weeks straight leading to their first playoff game.
While many of starters will suit up its hard to believe that they will play the entire first half let alone the full game, as the team is not playing for anything. The 49ers top players will probably only see the field in the first quarter as you have to strike the balance of not risking injury too much.
I think it is the right decision to have these players play, as you are always risking an injury when it comes to the NFL. The team has to do what is best for the playoffs and that means having everyone ready and focused.