They never could establish the run today at all. Detroit hasn't exactly been good at stopping the run recently. Very weird game plan all around.
I also think that Johnson wanted to get Caleb to 4k pass yards. I think he needed 74 yards for it and they got the ball starting at the 26, so it would have been exactly 74 yards if they passed the entire way for a TD.
But yeah I had the same thought. Run the ball once and get it to the 2 minute warning and then go from there. They did have a decent looking play on first and 10 but Burden dropped it. This really was a no harm no foul game, but I'm just confused why they came out with the game plan they had. It honestly felt like they didn't want to give teams any more tape on plays they might run in the playoffs. If that's the case then you might as well have rested all your starters.
I'm also really concerned about how badly we start in these divisional games. This goes all the way back to week 11 against the Vikings. It feels like our scripted plays are all terrible and we just stall early in games. Ben eventually makes adjustments, but we've gotta start better. Some of that is on Caleb, but Ben has to get the offense going early and at least give his defense a rest. You absolutely cannot do that in the playoffs and expect to still be in games in the 4th quarter.