GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers, having clinched the No. 1 seed in the NFC playoffs with Sunday night’s victory over the Minnesota Vikings, will close the regular season at Detroit next week.
It’s as meaningless as any preseason game – games in which risk-adverse coach Matt LaFleur has kept his top players cocooned in bubble wrap, hermetically sealed and under armed-guard protection.
LaFleur will weigh the risk-reward of playing his top performers vs. the Lions but is inclined to roll with his star players, he said after a 37-10 blowout. In his mind, the risk of having key starters not play for two weeks is greater than the risk of injury.