Ad Disclosure
Eagles’ Decision to Rest the Starters in Season Finale Eliminates the External Factors They’re Unable to Control
Published:
Jeff McLane was the first to report that the Eagles are resting their starters in the Week 18 finale against Washington:
You know the situation by now. If the Eagles win at home and the Bears lose against Detroit, the Birds are the #2 seed. They would host the Packers in the opening round and get home field advantage against everybody besides the NFC West champ. If they lose to Washington, and/or Chicago wins, they’re the #3 seed, and host either San Francisco or LA in the opening round.
There were legitimate arguments to be made for both resting and playing the starters, but only the former comes with a guarantee. If the Eagles play Jalen Hurts and Saquon Barkley, and beat the Commanders, the Bears might win anyway, so you get a big, fat, nothing in return. You take maybe little bit of momentum into the playoffs and eliminate the “rust” narrative, but that’s about it.
On the other hand, resting the starters means they end up rested no matter what happens with Detroit. You remove the factors that you’re unable to control. You guarantee the result of avoiding injury and giving your banged-up and underperforming offensive line two full weeks to hopefully come back with something better than whatever that was in the second half against the Bills. You negate the possibility of Frankie Luvu or some other idiot Commie laying a cheap shot on one of your key players. It’s risk mitigation in a simple form.
On the flipside, are we sure the Eagles’ backups can’t beat Washington at home? The Commies have nothing to play for and are also being quarterbacked by a reserve player, so it’s not like this is some slam dunk for the visitors. Tanner McKee is no joke. He’s played well in these situations before. There’s a chance the Eagles can rest the starters and steal the #2 seed at the same time. They’re a -200 favorite as of publication.
Mind you, one of the reasons people were beating the drum for playing the starters was because they didn’t want to see the Rams or 49ers in the first round. They wanted the Packers. And sure, Green Bay is the favorable matchup. The Eagles beat that team in their house this season and beat them last year in the playoffs and also in Sao Paulo. So you feel good about getting Jordan Love at home again, without a full-strength receiving corps. They’re the #7 seed for a reason.
But, in total honesty, are we really that afraid of the Rams and Niners? The Rams have lost three of five and are 0-3 against the Eagles in the last 13 months. They’d have to cross the country for the third time in a year to get over the Philly hump. And San Francisco has been playing well recently, but Brock Purdy hasn’t seen this Vic Fangio defense in 2025. We’re not afraid of that team, are we?
I’m willing to be that most Eagles fans believe the biggest threat to the Eagles is the Eagles. Whiffing on blocks, stuffed runs, conservative play calling and decision making leading to untenable 3rd and long situations. They can beat anybody in the NFL, but they can also beat themselves, and in that sense, it doesn’t matter who stands on the other side of the line of scrimmage.
End of the day, there were good arguments to be made for either resting the starters or playing the starters, but the Birds decided to take the path that was guaranteed, instead of putting uncertainty into the equation and rolling the dice by having to rely on playoff-eliminated Detroit to pull an upset on the road.
Kevin has been writing about Philadelphia sports since 2009. He spent seven years in the CBS 3 sports department and started with the Union during the team's 2010 inaugural season. He went to the academic powerhouses of Boyertown High School and West Virginia University. email - k.kinkead@sportradar.com