With the No. 2 seed still within reach, Detroit Lions coach Dan Campbell decided to play his starters in Sunday’s regular season finale against the Minnesota Vikings, a 30-20 win.
That decision is looking like it could be costly.
Rookie tight end Sam LaPorta left the game late in the first half with a left knee injury and was ruled out by the team at halftime.
Campbell said postgame the injury was “not as bad as it looked, but it’s not good news.”
“We’ll know more tomorrow,” Campbell said. “I know it looked awful. It’s not as bad as that.
But it doesn’t mean that it looks good in the immediate here, to have him for a game.”
LaPorta, who set a new NFL rookie record for receptions by a tight end earlier in the game, was injured on a 5-yard catch for a first down on the first play after the two-minute warning.
He grabbed his left knee as he was tackled to the ground by Josh Metellus
LaPorta limped off under his own power and walked directly to a medical table behind the Lions’ bench, where he underwent further evaluation under a blue medical tent.
Unfortunately for the Lions, LaPorta was not the only player to be ruled out for the game with an injury.
Wide receiver and return man Kalif Raymond, who was having a nice day on special teams with a couple of good returns, went down on an awkward tackle and was quickly ruled out for the game with a knee injury.
