The Detroit Lions and Minnesota Vikings entered Sunday night’s Most Important Game of the Season (Probably) with castoff quarterbacks, and if you have forgotten that about Jared Goff, that’s kind of the point. Goff has played so well in Detroit, and the Lions have won so much, that you can call him a franchise quarterback without getting much pushback. Goff’s Lions are 15–2 and the No. 1 seed in the NFC after their 31–9 defeat of the Vikings, and the game revealed a lot more than a single regular-season game usually does.

Goff looks ready to answer some fundamental questions. Sam Darnold does not.

Darnold spent most of Sunday evening showing why Kevin O’Connell should be the NFL’s Coach of the Year for winning 14 games with him. He sailed throws over open receivers. The Lions repeatedly forced him to make plays under pressure and he failed to do so. Lions coach Dan Campbell said afterward that the Lions knew they had to get to Darnold because, “When he can see it and has time, he’s deadly. … He’d pick us apart if [we] gave him that much time.”

Campbell meant it as a compliment. But it was also an indictment. Most NFL quarterbacks play well when they have time and space. The really good ones play well even when they don’t. O’Connell and the Vikings probably squeezed everything they could out of Darnold this year. Darnold’s 18-of-41, 166-yard, zero-touchdown performance Sunday night should alarm anybody who thinks he is a long-term answer.

Goff, meanwhile, has done one of the hardest things an athlete can do: He rebuilt himself at the most scrutinized position in sports. Four years ago, Los Angeles Rams coach Sean McVay was so down on Goff that he benched him for John Wolford for the playoffs. Wolford got hurt and Goff played, but McVay still wanted an upgrade, which is why the Rams traded Goff as part of a package for Matthew Stafford.

The first season after the trade seemed to prove McVay right: Stafford led the Rams to a Super Bowl victory, and for most of that year, Goff looked like a broken quarterback.

The Lions stuck with Goff, then created the most favorable circumstances for any quarterback in the NFL. Goff has one of the NFL’s best coordinators, Ben Johnson; the league’s most complete receiver, Amon-Ra St. Brown; one of its surest tight ends, Sam LaPorta; its best road-grader offensive lineman, Penei Sewell; and two young players, Jameson Williams and Jahmyr Gibbs, who are as explosive as any pair in the league.

Goff has also handled himself exceptionally well, publicly and privately. He takes slights personally but never gets sidetracked by them. He does not seek or dwell on credit. He is as easy to root for as anybody in the NFL.

And yet: Until Goff wins a Super Bowl, there will be lingering questions about his ability to do so. The fans chanting his name might not want to hear that. But Goff knows as well as anybody that this is how the NFL works. Lamar Jackson has won two MVP awards and still faces those questions, so why wouldn’t Goff?

“This is just tick No. 1: Check,” Goff said after the Lions clinched the NFC’s No. 1 seed Sunday night. “Tick No. 2 is next.”

Goff has only thrown two interceptions in 308 postseason attempts. He has come a long way from the player who looked overwhelmed in the Rams’ 13–3 Super Bowl LIII loss to the New England Patriots. But the Lions will need their offense to carry them to the Super Bowl, because the defense is still injury-riddled.

Linebacker Alex Anzalone returned to action against Minnesota, but their two best defensive linemen remain sidelined. Aidan Hutchinson is unlikely to return before the Super Bowl, and Alim McNeill is out for the season. Rookie cornerback Terrion Arnold left Sunday’s game with a foot injury; X-rays were negative, and Arnold said he is confident he will be on the field in two weeks, but he was also wearing a boot, and Campbell gave a we’ll see answer.

Top to bottom, a healthy Lions roster is the best in the league. But the injuries are a real concern, and NFL teams generally do not blow out three straight playoff opponents. Every Super Bowl winner for at least the past two decades has won a tight playoff game. In this environment, quarterbacks are usually the difference. Andy Reid is a great coach, but he won zero Super Bowls without Patrick Mahomes and three (so far) with him.

Darnold began the evening with a considerably higher passer rating and higher (ESPN) QBR than Stafford this season, which just confirms that in 2025, we are as close to an accurate quarterback rating system as we are to a pig-free ham sandwich. Stafford is a far superior player to Darnold; to beat the Lions, the Vikings must make up the difference.

The Lions need Goff to be who they think he is, not who McVay decided he was. Goff was shaky in the first half against the Vikings, throwing two interceptions, but he didn’t get rattled. He never seems to get rattled any more. Goff is three good games away from a Super Bowl victory—but one bad one away from facing those pesky old questions. This is life for an NFL quarterback. Goff embraces all of it.