For the first time in his tenure with the Lions, we saw more than the exterior of Jared Goff. The typically stoic quarterback swallowed hard after Detroit's loss to the Rams when asked about the pressure of playing for a team with such little margin for error. He took time to steady his voice.
"I love our guys," said Goff. "And I think that’s the number one thing, our coaches and our guys in that locker room."
He paused again, for a few more seconds. Then he gathered himself and continued.
"I don’t care what you guys say about the roster, we got dudes who fight. And that’s all I can really ask for," said Goff. "I love these guys, and we’re going to keep fighting until the end. You guys have seen it week after week. We fight. We battle. We pay to the best of our ability and unfortunately it hasn't been enough.
"We need to do things to fix it, but there’s always pressure. And the margin for error that (Dan Campbell) talks about is just, that’s where we’re at. And that’s what we’re tasked with. But I wouldn’t do it with anyone else other than in that locker room."
The Lions lost 28-19 to the star-studded Rams after recovering an onsides kick and converting two fake punts, after out-gaining one of the most explosive offenses in football, after carrying a lead into the fourth quarter, relinquishing it, and then driving to the Rams' 12-yard line with a chance at a go-ahead touchdown with five minutes to go. They lost despite playing well and maybe deserving better for the third time this season. The Lions' record says they're winless. They are. And "we're a lot better than our record shows," said Goff.
"Ultimately in this league, that doesn’t matter. It really doesn’t. I can say that as long as I want, but until we win some games, we can’t really prove it. I do believe we are a lot better than 0-7," he said. "And we have had some chances to win this year and just ultimately haven’t done it. With that being said, teams that do win games in this league win games for a reason, and vice versa. So we need to find a way to get on that side of it a little more often."
Maybe that happens next week. The Lions are hosting the 2-5 Eagles. If Detroit continues to play the way it did against the Rams, or in Week 3 against the Ravens or Week 5 against the Vikings, it will win a game soon enough. This team competes too hard under Campbell to push the limits of another winless season. Right?
"Look, we are what our record says we are," Campbell said. "That’s the bottom line about this league. Now I know this, our guys come back to work. They were ready to go. They believed in the plan, they executed the plan for the most part, minus a couple plays, and that’s what happens."
The Lions thew their best punch at the Rams and still took one on the chin. They're the NFL's last winless team left. They're competitive in some games, much less than that in others. They have 10 games to go, 10 chances to prove Goff's point, that they're better than their record. Campbell wants 0-7 to make them sick, or it won't make them better.
"If this does not continue to sting and burn and taste like you-know-what, then you got a problem," he said. "You cannot allow yourself to go numb. You can’t. Because I’m not. All it does is just piss me off even more. And it just motivates me to get out of this mess.
"I do think we have the right type of guys. So as long as they continue to hate this taste, they’ll come back to work and be ready to go. They will. And I think we got the right type of guys to do that."