The 49ers (6-9) have little to play for with two games remaining in the 2024 NFL season after being officially eliminated from the playoffs, but that won’t change the Detroit Lions’ game plan for their playoff matchup. week 17.
Conversely, for the Lions (13-2), the “Monday Night Football” tilt might not matter to Detroit’s playoff seeding. The scenarios are endless, but there is only one mindset for Lions coach Dan Campbell entering Monday’s contest: to win – with his entire squad.
“I’m going to make it easy for everyone, that way all the critics can jump in and start attacking, but that way you don’t have to debate it anymore,” Campbell said (h/t Detroit Free Press). “We bring everything we have to this game and we play, I don’t care what it looks like, where it goes and who is this, who is that.
“We’re going to play and win this game, on the West Coast. So there you go.”
The banged-up 49ers will be without more players for the Week 17 game after Jaylon Moore (quad), Aaron Banks (knee) and Trent Williams (ankle) were shut down for the remainder of the season.
Detroit can clinch the NFC’s No. 1 seed if it beats San Francisco in Week 17 And The Minnesota Vikings lose to the Green Bay Packers on Sunday. Since the Lions don’t play until Monday night, they will know 24 hours in advance whether or not they can clinch the No. 1 seed.
If Minnesota wins on Sunday, all deciding scenarios will be suspended until Week 18.
Still, Campbell enters Monday’s game against the 49ers with playoff implications being the least of his worries. He’s just focused on winning.
“We know what we’re getting into and we know we have to win,” Campbell said. “We have to win, and we’ll move on to the next one.”
If anything, Monday is a chance for revenge for Campbell and his Lions, who fell to the 49ers in last year’s NFC championship game.
“Everything we got goes to San Francisco. Everything we got, man,” Campbell said. “…We know what it was like last year, we went there and we couldn’t win, so it’ll be good. We’re looking forward to that.”
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