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Detroit Lions
And to try to illustrate my feelings on that, I reminded Detroit Lions coach Dan Campbell of something he said to me about his quarterback a couple of years ago—on why, when everyone saw Goff as a salary dump in the Matthew Stafford trade, he saw something else.
As the story goes, Campbell was the New Orleans Saints’ tight ends coach and assistant head coach in 2018, when Goff was the Los Angeles Rams’ rising second-year quarterback. The two teams played in the NFC title game that winter, in January ’19. One of Campbell’s most vivid memories from it was how, in maybe the loudest, most intense environment he’d ever been in, the other team’s quarterback was so calm and level, as he coolly ended Campbell’s season.
Campbell filed it away, drew on it as the Lions negotiated the trade of Stafford, and benefited from it once again Sunday in Minneapolis. That quality Goff showed on that afternoon in January 2019 loomed large when Detroit stumbled out of the gate on this Sunday in October ’24.
Simply put, everything that could go wrong did go wrong. A fake punt on the Lions’ first series failed. The Vikings scored two plays later, with Aaron Jones bouncing an inside run to the outside and running 33 yards to paydirt. Goff then took a sack on third-and-3, Sam Darnold hit a big one to Justin Jefferson and it was 10–0 before you could blink. Which is exactly where the never-blink aspect to Goff’s makeup came into play.
“It’s what you don’t see,” Campbell told me after the game. “It’s what you can’t see with your eyes. That’s the most important thing for any player that’s in this league, that wants to be a player you can count on. That’s what he’s got in his brain and what he’s got in his heart. The guy’s a competitor. He doesn’t get frazzled. He’s tough. He’s durable. That’s what makes him dangerous. That’s what makes him a winner.
“That’s what makes him the type of guy that when the chips are down and things have not gone your way, he’s going to find a way to move the ball for us and make a big throw and help us win. That’s what I don’t second guess or worry about at all. He’s that type of player. That is a rare trait in this league. When you’ve got talent, and he’s got talent, but it’s the other thing. How many times have we seen these quarterbacks, and they’ve got all the gifts, but when you need them, they crumble? This guy doesn’t.”
It was clear from the underneath throws to Amon-Ra St. Brown and Jahmyr Gibbs on the drive that straddled the first and second quarter, which set up a 45-yard burst from Gibbs (with some Vikings’ ankles broken in the process) for the team’s first touchdown. It was seen again in how he stood in against a six-man pressure to throw a dime to the post to St. Brown for a 35-yard score on the team’s next possession.
Then, there were throws he made to Gibbs and St. Brown on the final possession, with the Lions down 29–28, and down to their last shot to win the game.
“We’re sitting there with under two minutes, a minute and a half, and we hit the pass to Saint across the middle that really puts us in position for [rookie Jake] Bates to kick the game-winner,” Campbell says. “Believe me, he had more than that, but those are the ones I think of.”
Thing is, some people will look at it, and think that Goff’s success is a product of what’s around him. To a degree, that’s true. But that’s true of a lot of quarterbacks who’ve won MVP awards in the past.
This is also true: Goff’s passer rating Sunday was a sparkling 140.0, and had it been 10 points higher, he’d have become the first quarterback to hit 150 in three consecutive weeks. He’s sixth in the NFL in passing yards and touchdown passes, second in completion percentage, and first among starting QBs in yards per attempt and passer rating.
But, again, this is about more than all of that. It’s about the belief, too, that the Lions have when faced with the kind of adversity that hit Sunday. And that’s no surprise for Detroit anymore, to the point where Campbell, on purpose this time, didn’t give him a game ball.
“I didn’t give him one,” Campbell says. “He may get one. Why not? But what about Gibbs and St. Brown? I always give [more] out on Wednesday. We love the guy. I know exactly who he is.”
And as for the idea he could win MVP?
“You’re not going to hear me disagree with that,” Campbell says. “I’m not going to fight you.”
Yup, Campbell knows what he’s got—just what he hoped he was trading for three years ago. Even if this is a little better than even he might’ve expected.
