From the moment he joined the Lions, Jared Goff has rejected the idea of a rebuild. You might remember these words from his introductory press conference: "I plan to put us over the top. My job as the quarterback of this team is to get to the playoffs, win multiple playoff games and win a championship."
Several months later, Goff's not backing down.
Asked if thinks the Lions are going to surprise people this season, Goff said Monday, "I don’t really know what surprising would look like, but we feel really good. I’ve talked about this at length: internally our expectations are win games and first of all, win the division. That’s always the expectation, win the division and then go from there. Externally, couldn’t care less and honestly, don’t really know what it would be. Hopefully, if there is something to surprise, we will do that."
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Let's tell it like it is. There might be no bigger surprise in the NFL this season than the Lions winning the NFC North. Deep down, even Goff has to admit it. Detroit had the worst defense in the NFL last year and cut ties with three of its most talented players on offense in Matthew Stafford, Kenny Golladay and Marvin Jones. There's a reason -- several reasons, actually -- the Lions are being picked to finish last in the division for the fourth year in a row.
Goff doesn't want to hear them.
"I mean, I know what they would be," he said. "Yeah, of course. It’s a new regime, a new staff, they weren’t very good last year. It’s a whole new thing and I understand it, but just like every other team in this league, there’s expectations. I don’t know what the stat is, but every year there are new teams in the playoffs. Every year there are teams that were in the playoffs last year that aren’t. Why not us? Why can’t we be that one that wasn’t in last year that is this year? Again, it starts one week at a time, but internally, our expectations are as high as anyone else.”
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To Goff's point, eight teams made the playoffs last year -- more than half the 14-team field -- that missed them the year prior. And four of them were coming off sub-.500 seasons. The postseason includes nearly half the league now; it's not that hard to sneak in. And you can understand Goff's personal defiance. He's been to the playoffs in three of his four seasons as an NFL starter and is second only to Tom Brady in wins since 2017.
With the season opener a little less than two weeks away, Goff's hopes are high for Detroit's new offense under Anthony Lynn.
"I think we’ve done a good job of using guys' strengths to put them in spots to be effective. I think that’s the number one thing, is constantly looking at, ‘OK, who are the guys we want to get the ball to? What do I like? What am I best at? And then how do we implement that into plays? How do we make that come alive on the field?’ Up to this point, I think they’ve done a tremendous job of that.”
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Offensively, there are reasons to be halfway optimistic about the Lions. The O-line is loaded with talent, T.J. Hockenson looks poised for a huge season -- "he has all of the ability in the world," said Goff -- and D'Andre Swift and Jamaal Williams could be a solid duo in the backfield. And Goff, for all the knocks on his individual talent, does have the track record of a winner.
But that doesn't exactly amount to the Greatest Show on Turf. And even the 1999 Rams would have trouble scoring enough points to offset what looms on the other side of the ball for Detroit. There will be newcomers to the playoffs this season, maybe even as many as last year. But the Lions are a long-shot at best, even if their new quarterback can't say it.
