A considerable debate around Philadelphia in Week 18 was whether Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni made the right decision in resting the starters against the Washington Commanders.
It had significant playoff implications: the Eagles lost to the Commanders 24-17, but Philly needed the Chicago Bears to lose to the Detroit Lions to have any shot at the NFC's number-two seed. The Bears did, and the Eagles clinched the number-two seed. That actually happened as the Lions won on a last-second field goal, 19-16, which means the Eagles missed out on moving up in the playoffs and now have to host the San Francisco 49ers in the Wild Card as the third seed.
Many in Philadelphia have started the week debating the topic of resting starters, but now it appears that NFL head coaches want to take their shots at Sirianni for it. That showed in Bears head coach Ben Johnson when asked about potentially resting starters in their last game of the year.
"Some teams, they rest their starters. We don’t. We play football."
An odd shot from a coach who probably could have benefitted from it
Weirdly, Johnson takes this shot since his team decided to go for the win with the starters, and it clearly didn't pay off. Chicago's defense allowed over 400 yards, and its offense didn't score a single point until the fourth quarter.
The Bears also saw one of their starters, former Eagles safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson, get injured in the game and is now in concussion protocol. That was a big blow to Chicago's defense when they needed him the most, since their starting nickel corner, Kyler Gordon, is already hurt.
Philly goes into the playoffs with only one starter on IR, with safety Andrew Mukuba, and appears to be as healthy as any team in the NFL. People can say what they want, but the Eagles have the roster in good shape to make a playoff run, and with how tight the NFC is, the Birds could very easily end up hosting more playoff games than expected.
It is worth noting that last year, four starting quarterbacks rested in the final week of the regular season. All four quarterbacks won their first playoff game, including Jalen Hurts, so resting players does work.
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It remains to be seen whether Sirianni made the right call, but he played it the safest, and that's more than what Johnson can say for his Bears team, which has lost three of their last five games. The Eagles are in better shape than Chicago, heading into what looks to be a very tough playoff field in the NFC.