SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- To play or not to play?
Heading into the highly anticipated "Monday Night Football" clash against the San Francisco 49ers, Detroit Lions coach Dan Campbell wrestled with the decision of whether to rest his starters or let them take the field.
In the end, Campbell opted to stick with his first-string players. His decision paid off as the Lions edged out the 49ers with a 40-34 victory at Levi's Stadium—a rematch of the 2023 NFC Championship Game—while avoiding significant injuries.
"Yeah, it was on my mind. I thought about it a lot," Campbell admitted. "I thought about it leading up to the game, and I thought about it last night. I told the staff, but I finally settled on the right thing to do: play these guys. We owed it to the team.
"It was one of those tough spots. It's hard to decide who to sit, and it's not fair to put guys in who haven’t been fully prepared to play," he continued. "The biggest thing was improving on areas we struggled with last week, and we did. We cleaned up a lot offensively."
While the game held no playoff implications, it carried emotional weight for the Lions, who sought redemption after squandering a 17-point halftime lead to the 49ers in last season's NFC Championship, a loss that kept them from the Super Bowl.
That bitter memory still lingers for many players.
"I really wanted that get-back," said Lions safety Kerby Joseph, who snagged two interceptions during the game. "Last year, they beat us here, and I had a chip on my shoulder from that. People might say this game didn’t mean much, but it meant a lot to us. We were so close last year, and it felt good to come back to San Francisco and get a win. We started slow on defense, but we finished strong."
Lions quarterback Jared Goff, enjoying a homecoming in California, echoed that sentiment. Goff delivered a stellar performance, throwing for 303 yards on 26-of-34 passing with three touchdowns and no interceptions.
With Campbell firmly deciding to play the starters, Goff entered the game locked in. "I put [the thought of sitting out] to bed pretty early in the week," he said.
The result? Goff notched his seventh three-touchdown game of the season, tying Matthew Stafford’s 2011 record for the most such games in a single season in Lions history.
For the Lions, pride was on the line—and they delivered.
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