Saturday open thread: Should the Lions play Zach Zenner or Tion Green vs. Bears?

On Friday, the Detroit Lions declared that Dwayne Washington would miss their Week 11 matchup against the Chicago Bears.

This will be Washington’s fifth game missed already this season after missing four straight earlier in the year with a quad injury. Washington, being just the No. 3 running back on the depth chart, hasn’t had a huge role with the team, but he’s also clearly their preferred short yardage and goal line back.

That leaves the Lions with an important choice coming on Sunday. In the past, the Lions have gone with Zach Zenner as Washington’s replacement. Zenner has played in four games so far this year, rushing 10 times for only 16 yards and a touchdown.

However, the Lions have an untapped resource in undrafted rookie Tion Green, who has yet to be activated on game day. So today’s Question of the Day is:

Which Lions running back would you like to see active in place of Dwayne Washington: Zach Zenner or Tion Green?

My answer: I would go with Zenner. Based on what I’ve seen so far out of Zenner and Washington, I’d actually prefer to see Zenner out there on Sundays, even if Washington were healthy.

Zenner isn’t a dynamic runner by any means, but he puts his head down, picks up what he can with his limited physical skills and gets up and does it again the next play. To me, he’s a much more consistent and reliable runner, who won’t make many mistakes. Washington, on the other hand, has trouble finding the right holes, looks indecisive at times, and just doesn’t look the part for me.

As for Tion Green, I just don’t get the infatuation with him. I get that he’s a big body, but he just hasn’t really shown anything (granted, he’s had very little opportunity to do so). He was largely ineffective in the preseason outside of one long screen play in the finale. I trust that if the Lions haven’t put him on a game day roster yet, there’s probably a good reason for it.

In the end, we’re talking about a small role on this offense, so there’s no real reason to get up in arms about it. Still, Zenner has a good amount of experience and brings something to the table in special teams. I think he deserves to play against the Bears on Sunday.

Your turn.