Jared Goff, a Cal grad who grew up rooting for the San Francisco 49ers, hadn't beaten the local club since Dec. 30, 2018. Precisely six years later, he was lighting up the Niners defense and hearing his name chanted by the visiting fans as the Detroit Lions secured their 14th victory of the season in a 40-34 road win on Monday night.
"Pretty surreal. Our fans have been unbelievable all year on road games," Goff said of hearing his name chanted in Santa Clara. "It's truly remarkable what they've done. It's loud on third down sometimes for the offense and it's pretty cool. It's very cool for me being home in front of my family and friends and having an experience like that."
Goff had lost his previous six games to the Niners, including last year's NFC Championship Game collapse.
"I know he had a lot of friends and family here, so I know in that regard, that meant something," coach Dan Campbell said. "There was a lot that meant something to him. To be able to get a win out here where we didn't last year, and then the previous history you're talking about with the Los Angeles Rams, and then having family here, but this is different. This is a different Jared Goff now. He's different. This guy has developed and matured, and he's just stepping into his prime. He just continues to get better and better. He's playing at an ultimate level right now. You find me a quarterback that's playing better than him in this league right now. I'd love to see it."
The Lions had next to nothing to play for Monday night against San Francisco, but you wouldn't have known it to watch the Detroit offense gobble up yards and points. Monday night marked the fifth game in 2024 that the Lions scored 40-plus points without a turnover, the most by any team in a single season in NFL history. It was Detroit's sixth 40-plus-point game of the year. Averaging 33.3 points per game would set a new franchise single-season record.
Goff guided the Lions offense with aplomb, generating 303 passing yards, three touchdowns and zero interceptions for a 132.4 passer rating. It marked the fourth consecutive game with three-plus passing TDs, the longest streak by a Lions QB in the Super Bowl era (only Bobby Layne in 1951 had a longer streak -- five games).
Since throwing five interceptions against Houston in Week 10, Goff has 20 passing TDs and one INT over the past seven games. Since Week 11, he leads the NFL in passing yards per game (331.1) and TDs (20).
With next week's showdown against Minnesota for all the marbles, Campbell could have rested some of his key players. Given that they were on a short week, it might have been prudent for an injury-plagued club that hasn't had a week off since Oct. 6. However, conceding isn't in the DNA of Campbell's club.
The coach admitted he'd considered sitting a few key players but ultimately decided it was best to plow forward.
"Look, there's nothing easy about this and there's a number of things you got to decide and we don't get to prepare those other guys because you don't know what's going to happen," he said. "You don't know what's going to happen for first, second down, third down, and red zone leading into the week. For example, like (Hendon) Hooker's not getting those reps, those are Goff's reps because we don't know and that's just one example. So, it's not fair. I just don't believe it's fair to put in a guy who's not prepared to play, especially a young player.
"You can only sit six guys. So, who are those six and then the other guys that don't? Was it fair to them that we're not using everything we've got? We flew out here, we prepared this way, we came out to win and that's ultimately what it came to. You do cross your fingers nobody gets hurt. It's tough and we were fortunate. We got out and now it's on to the next one."
The Lions escaped without major injury to set up a battle of 14-win clubs in Week 18. Dan Campbell vs. Kevin O'Connell, Jared Goff vs. Sam Darnold, Ben Johnson vs. Brian Flores, et al. Get your popcorn ready.
"This is what you're in it for. You couldn't write a better scenario," Campbell said. "You couldn't come up with this. The fact that both teams are sitting at 14-2, and it's for the division and the top seed, it just doesn't get any better than this. This is fairytale stuff. It speaks for itself."
