At one point in the game, with the Chicago Bears looking like they were going to lose (which they did) against the Detroit Lions, Philadelphia Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni had an interesting choice.
Sirianni decided to rest the starters against the Washington Commanders, even though if they won and the Bears lost, it would mean the Eagles would get the number two seed in the NFC playoffs. Philly's head coach decided to keep the starters off the field for the entire game, which resulted in a 24-17 loss to the Commanders and essentially gave the Bears the second seed.
While there was some second-guessing from the Eagles fan base, Sirianni stuck to his guns on the decision to not only rest the starters but also not bring them into the game.
"With the guys that haven’t been going all game and then to throw them in there in the third or fourth quarter, I don’t think that’s fair to them," Sirianni said via The Athletic's Zach Berman. "Like I said, you make a decision early in the week, and that’s what you go with.
"But again, you make decisions, and that’s your job as a head coach. You have to make tough decisions, and half the people are going to agree with it; half the people aren’t. Half of you guys are going to agree with it, half of you aren’t, and that’s okay, but you have to do what you think is best for the football team. If you make that decision and you’re convicted on it and then change course in the middle, I think that puts the guys in a tough spot."
Was Sirianni right in his decision to not bring reinforcement for the second half?
Sirianni is on point about flip-flopping the decision and how that can look to the team. If he had done that with the players cold on the sidelines, the results might have been the same, which would have been worse.
One idea he should have considered is starting with the starters in the first half and seeing how the game is going before resting them in the second. That would have had the best of both worlds, resting the starters while trying to go for the win.
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This is going to be a controversial decision discussed all week in Philly, with both sides of the argument going to be made. The only way Sirianni can vindicate his decision is by beating the San Francisco 49ers in the Wild Card and proving he was right about resting the starters.