To Play Or Not To Play, That Is The Question

As the N.F.L. regular season has come to a close, there has been much talk about how coaches have handled their personnel in some "meaningless" games over the last few weeks of the season. Whether or not to play starters when play-off spots are already sown up can be a two sided coin. Should teams be obligated to put their best players on the field for the full 60 minutes every Sunday, or are they justified in protecting their assets when late season games are no longer important in determining a teams play-off fate? Interestingly enough we have seen coaches use differing strategies over the last couple of weeks, and their have been drawbacks either way.
Colts head coach Jim Caldwell has gone down the road of resting players or playing them sparingly in the final two games of the season. He came under some criticism for pulling starters in a close game against the Jets two weeks ago and in effect ruining the Colts chances for a possibly historic undefeated run. He now has a team that critics would say has lost all of it's momentum and is on a two game losing streak going into the play-offs. Bill Belichick on the other hand, decided to play his regulars in his team's final game even though his play-off spot was already determined. He lost the leagues top receiver Wes Welker in doing so with a severe knee injury. He also chose to play Tom Brady in spite of the fact that he has a sore shoulder, bad ribs and a broken finger. Surely there would have been little second guessing of Belichick had he rested Brady in that last game.
One can argue that each and every team should play to win to their fullest extent every week to preserve the integrity of the game and make sure that fans get their money's worth when they spend big bucks to attend N.F.L. games. Others will say that it is smart for coaches to protect their players and have earned the right to sit players late in the year because they have locked down their play-off spot. After all is said and done an undefeated regular season means nothing if it doesn't end in a Super Bowl win, just ask Belichick and company about that. So, maybe resting players down the stretch is a good move, but it does seem wrong to have teams on the field not trying to win games. "You play to win the game", just ask Herm Edwards about that. You can also ask anyone who watched that ridiculous Jets vs. Bengals game last Sunday night. I'm not sure there is a simple answer to the question, so I ask you, to play or not to play?