Before Dan Campbell and Jared Goff arrived in town, the Detroit Lions were synonymous with failure for nearly half a century following the NFL-AFL merger in 1970. And that’s not even being harsh. From 1970 to 2021, the Lions had a .408 regular-season winning percentage—worse than every team except the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
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Over that same period, they won just a single playoff game, which is four times fewer than the next-worst team. The Houston Texans were only founded in 2002 and they had more postseason wins during that time. However, the toil and struggle are finally giving way to success for the Lions. The last few years represent their most successful stretch in the Super Bowl era. They went 12-5 and reached the NFC Championships Game in 2023, then went 15-2 last year.
A lot of the credit for that goes to general manager Brad Holmes for the roster-building and Campbell for his unique coaching style. However, Goff deserves just as many flowers. Without a competent quarterback in there, the Lions would still be suffering in the basement of the league.
Goff is a California kid, but he’s ingratiated himself with the gritty City of Detroit and their fans more than he could have ever imagined. They even have a Goff chant now.
When the Detroit faithful busted it out against Goff’s old team, the Los Angeles Rams, in the 2023 Wild Card playoffs, Goff was humbled by the support.
“When I was coming down the tunnel, and it kind of started, and I thought, ‘Oh, that’s pretty cool.’ And to be honest, I thought, okay that’s the end of it. That was cool they did that, they’re showing a ‘We see you’ kind of thing. We understand what you had been through in the last 2-3 years. We see you and you’re our guy and we got your back today. And that was kind of the messaging, I think.”
Goff had been shipped out of L.A. just two years prior in an exchange for veteran Matthew Stafford. At the time, many viewed Goff as a throwaway piece in the trade. Stafford, meanwhile, won the Rams a Super Bowl that very year in 2021.
But Goff’s impact in Detroit is proving to be far more enduring. Even during their NFC Championship Game loss to the San Francisco 49ers, chants of his name could be heard. This time, from the visiting Lions fans.
“I thought it was done. Okay, cool, they did it. Whatever. We play again the next week against Tampa at home. Same thing. And I’m like, ‘Alright, cool.’ We win, we go to the NFC Championship. I’m like, alright, that’s for sure done now. We’re in San Francisco for the NFC Championship Game, and it starts up again! And I’m like, are they doing it again on the road? Like holy smokes.”
Goff went on to talk about how the chant became even more common and “took on a life of its own” during Detroit’s 15-2 season this past year. He was clearly honored by the support, saying that it was something he never thought he would come close to experiencing.
Despite the disappointing loss in the 2024 playoffs, Goff deserves every bit of praise he’s getting from the MoTown fans. He’s led them to 10+ wins in back-to-back seasons for the first time in the franchise’s history. And he’s also been racking up the individual numbers.
From 2022 to 2024, Goff was first in passing yards, first in TD passes, second in passer rating, fourth in completion percentage, and fourth in INT rate. He’s been delivering the goods, and it’s only a matter of time before that translates into another deep playoff run.
