Detroit dominated in the most crucial game of the regular season; the difference was a quarterback who seems ready for the demands ahead.

Now in his fourth season with the Lions, Goff guided Detroit to its finest regular season performance / Erick W. Rasco/Sport Illustrated.

About Jared Goff, that’s kind of the idea. The Detroit Lions and Minnesota Vikings entered Sunday night’s Most Important Game of the Season (maybe) with castoff quarterbacks, and you could forget that. Goff has performed so brilliantly in Detroit, and the Lions have won so much that you might label him as a franchise quarterback without any criticism. After their 31–9 loss to the Vikings, Goff’s Lions, 15–2, are the top seed in the NFC, and the game exposed far more than any typical regular-season game reveals.

Goff is willing to respond to some basic inquiries. Sam Darnold doesn’t.

Showing why Kevin O’Connell should be the NFL’s Coach of the Year for winning 14 games with him, Darnold spent much of Sunday evening. Over open receivers, he floated passes. He failed to make plays under duress, as the Lions frequently pushed him to do. Afterwards, Lions coach Dan Campbell observed, “When he can see it and has time, he’s deadly.” The Lions understood they had to get to Darnold. …. If [we] given him enough time, he would pick us apart.

Campbell intended that as a complement. Still, it was also an indictment. When given time and space, most NFL quarterbacks perform very effectively. The really good ones perform even when they don’t. O’Connell and the Vikings most likely extracted every bit Darnold could produce this year. Anyone who believes Darnold is the long-term solution should be alarmed by his 18-of- 41, 166-yard, zero-touchdown performance Sunday night.

Goff, meantime, rebuilt himself at the most watched position in sports, completing one of the toughest tasks an athlete can undertake. Los Angeles Rams coach Sean McVay benched Goff for John Wolford for the playoffs four years ago because he was so down on Goff. Wolford suffered, and Goff performed; McVay still wanted an upgrade, thus the Rams traded Goff as part of a package for Matthew Stafford.

Stafford guided the Rams to a Super Bowl triumph, and for most of that season Goff looked like a broken quarterback. The first season following the trade seemed to confirm McVay correct.

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

Goff has also managed himself quite brilliantly both personally and publicly. He takes slights personally but never gets sidetracked by them. He does not look for or linger on credit. He is among the NFL players easiest to find.

Still, there will be residual doubts about Goff’s capacity to win a Super Bowl until he does. Those among the supporters singing his name might not want to hear that. But Goff understands as well as anybody that this is how the NFL works. Lamar Jackson still questions himself even after he has won two MVP honors; why would not Goff?

“This is just tick No. 1: Check,” Goff said following the Lions’ Sunday night acquisition of the NFC’s top seed. “Tick No. 2 comes next.”.

Out of 308 postseason attempts, Goff only threw two interceptions. From the player who seemed overwhelmed in the Rams’ 13–3 Super Bowl LIII loss, he has evolved. The New England Patriots Nevertheless, the Lions will need their offense to get them to the Super Bowl as the defense is still heavily injured.

Linebacker Alex Anzalone returned to play against Minnesota, but their two best defensive lineman remain injured. Alim McNeill is gone for the season; Aidan Hutchinson is not expected to be back before the Super Bowl. Rookie cornerback Terrion Arnold departed Sunday’s game with a foot injury; X-rays were negative, and Arnold stated he is certain he would be on the field in two weeks, but he was also wearing a boot, and Campbell provided a we’ll see answer.

A healthy Lions roster is the best in the league top to bottom. The injuries are a real worry, though, and NFL teams usually do not blow out three straight playoff opponents. For at least the past two decades, every Super Bowl winner has also prevailed in a close playoff game. Usually, quarterbacks are the difference in this surroundings. Although Andy Reid is an excellent coach, he won three (so far) Super Bowls without Patrick Mahomes and zero.

Darnold started the evening with a far better passer rating and higher ( ESPN) QBR than Stafford this season, which merely serves to demonstrate that in 2025 we are as near to a correct quarterback rating system as we are to a pig-free ham sandwich. Stafford is far better than Darnold; the Vikings have to make up the difference if they are to surpass the Lions.

Goff is what the Lions want him to be, not who McVay decided he was. Goff threw two interceptions in the first half against the Vikings, but he was not unsettled. He never appears to get rocked any more. Goff is three strong games away from a Super Bowl triumph, but one poor one away from confronting those annoying old questions. An NFL quarterback lives this way. Goff takes in everything.

Michael Rosenberg

Michael Rosenberg is a senior writer at Sports Illustrated, covering any and all sports. He writes essays, profiles and investigative reports and has covered practically every major athletic event. He joined SI in 2012 after working at the Detroit Free Press for 13 years, eight of those as a columnist. Rosenberg is the author of “War As They Knew It: Woody Hayes, Bo Schembechler and America in a Time of Unrest.” Many of his tales have also been included in compilations of the top sportswriting from each year. He is wed with three children.