Lions QB Jared Goff: "We want to win the Super Bowl. That's our next goal"

Jared Goff
Photo credit © Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK

In a game of word association where Jared Goff chose "freak" for Penei Sewell, "smart" for Brad Holmes, "strong" for Dan Campbell -- and "greatest ever" for Tom Brady -- the Lions quarterback balked when it came to himself. "One word? To describe myself? I don't know," Goff said with a laugh.

How about resilient?

"I like that," said Goff. "Yeah, resilient."

Which brings us to the city he now calls home. When players around the NFL ask Goff about Detroit -- and they ask him more and more these days, what with the Lions winning and all -- he tells them where to stay ("I'm partial to The Shinola") and where to eat (SheWolf) as a broad way of expressing that "the city is in a renaissance."

"I think a lot of people don’t realize that. I didn’t realize that when I was in LA and most people that have never been here wouldn’t realize that," said Goff. "But I come downtown way more this year than I did my first year. There’s more restaurants, there’s more things to do, it’s growing, it’s building. For the national audience to see that this week with the draft is really cool."

Goff was in a third floor room inside the venerable Detroit Club, one of the city's oldest establishments that dates back to the late 1800's. The streets were buzzing just a few blocks away as Detroit makes its final preparations to host the NFL Draft this weekend. Goff is an ambassador of sorts, a California kid who has become one of the faces of football in the Midwest. As much as he's grown in his three seasons with the Lions, the 29-year-old says he has even more "growing left to do."

"Been able to help our team win games, and hopefully can continue to do that for a long time," said Goff, who's in the midst of extension talks with the Lions. "I hope I’m about halfway through my career and have a ton ahead of me."

Since getting traded from Los Angeles to Detroit, Goff has said how much he enjoys representing a place where it's "ingrained in the culture to be a sports fan." The Lions run as deep in Michigan as The Great Lakes. On Tuesday, Goff honored three long-standing Lions fans with a gift from Jared Jewelers, with whom he partnered at the end of last season to surprise his 10 offensive linemen with Breitling watches worth $11,500 a piece.

Goff and Jared Jewelers also presented a $50,000 grant to the Detroit-based nonprofit Give Merit's FATE program, geared toward increasing the local rate of high school graduation and funding college scholarships. Goff has worked closely during his time in Detroit with students in FATE, several of whom were on hand Tuesday. One of them called Goff "the most amazing man I've ever met."

Goff involved himself in the community almost as soon as he arrived three years ago. So did he pour himself into his team. While outsiders viewed his trade to the Lions as a death sentence for his career -- "shipped off and sent to a place to die," he said -- Goff saw it as an opportunity. When the Lions won three games in 2021 and started 1-6 in 2022, Goff continued to envision the success they would enjoy in 2023. Internally driven, he calls himself "eternally optimistic."

"You have to be," he said. "Even when things were as bad as they could be, you have the thought that maybe this is the week we come through, maybe this is when it all turns around. It’s helped me through a lot of hard times, and there were some dark times. But yeah, I was always optimistic we could win games and win playoff games. I believed in Dan (Campbell), believed in what we were doing offensively and defensively, and now we sit here with a good team and a good chance to make some noise."

The motivation this season is clear, and so are the stakes. As co-captain Alex Anzalone said in a gutted locker room after the Lions' loss to the 49ers in the NFC title game last season, "Super Bowl or bust." No one is hiding from those expectations in Detroit, where the mere idea of making the playoffs used to be mocked. Now it's the starting point. The Lions know what it will take to reach the finish line.

"We’ve got some work to do this offseason to get back to where we need to be," said Goff. "For us to think we’re just going to show up and land back in the NFC championship game is foolish. Our whole division is coming after us. They’re going to want their division back, and we’re going to do everything in our power to keep it as ours."

Kings of the North, Goff and the Lions want to expand their domain. They want the NFL to run through Detroit, as it will this weekend. The renaissance must end in a reign.

"It was always the goal," said Goff. "You’re always trying to win games and change the way people feel about the city, or you, or the team, and we’ve been able to do that in some ways. But still have a lot of room to go. We want to win the Super Bowl. That’s our next goal."

Featured Image Photo Credit: © Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK