DETROIT — In the first quarter, Jared Goff held the ball too long amid a closing pass rush, got strip-sacked and watched a red-zone opportunity get fumbled away.
Midway through the second, he airmailed a pass right into the hands of Washington’s Quan Martin, who promptly slalomed his way to a 40-yard pick-6 (complete with Goff getting decked and checked for a concussion).
A few minutes later, just before the end of the first half, Goff was late to hit an open Jameson Williams for a touchdown, allowing Washington’s Mike Sainristil to close ground and intercept the pass.
Maybe Detroit’s defense was too injury-riddled to ever win the Super Bowl, the rightful goal following an epic 15-2 regular season and a No. 1 seed in the NFC playoffs. But the Lions certainly weren’t going to be able to do it when their star quarterback was dragging them down with four total turnovers in the game.
There was little margin for error here, certainly when facing a rookie quarterback in Jayden Daniels who plays like the game-breaking, calm-headed, big-play veteran that Goff was supposed to be. He tossed two TDs against no picks.
Just like that, the NFC race is upside down, the Lions out and these daring, dangerous, out-of-nowhere Commanders will take on either Philadelphia or the Los Angeles Rams in the NFC championship game on the road next Sunday.
For Detroit though, where hope had become a reasonable emotion after generations of emptiness, one enduring question will emerge from the rubble of this collapse.
Even when all its defensive starters return from injury next season, is Jared Goff good enough to lead the Lions to the promised land?
He certainly wasn’t Saturday.
Goff finished 23-of-40 for 313 yards, one touchdown, three interceptions (he added the last one on the final Lions desperation drive) and one lost fumble.
“It sucks,” Goff said. “Sucks. Worst part of this job. You hate it when you feel like you let guys down … Had I played better, ‘do we win?’ Possibly. And that’s the part that will eat me alive this offseason.
“I’m still processing this,” he continued. “Going to have some hard nights coming up, unfortunately.”
That’s true for the entire organization. Head coach Dan Campbell choked up with emotion trying to describe the loss, trying to take all of the blame while expressing his appreciation for his guys
“It’s just the players,” Campbell said, his voice halting. “What they put into it. People don’t know, you know, what they go through. You have to get up. Body is beat to s***. Mentally stay locked in and do those things. Long season.”
That said, it wasn’t hard to identify the main issue: A defense held together by Scotch tape and a turnover machine at QB.
“As everybody knows, you turn the ball over five times … it’s just too much,” Campbell said. “It’s too hard against a team like that.”
Goff is surrounded by talent — a ridiculous running back in Jahmyr Gibbs, a breathtaking speedster in Jameson Williams (at least when he isn’t passing; he threw a pick on a botched gadget play), a skilled tight end in Sam LaPorta (who made a one-handed touchdown grab) and a sure-fire slot receiver in Amon-Ra St. Brown. And then there is an excellent offensive line.
So much of that was on display Saturday, following the tried and true blueprint as the defensive injuries piled up — ride the hot offense, an aggressive mindset and offensive coordinator Ben Johnson’s trickery to victory.
Doing so didn’t require Goff to be the best quarterback in the league; but even this kind of a Maserati needs a driver who won’t plow into traffic.
“Just crap,” Goff said. “I wish I had an answer for you. It just sucks. Yeah, I wish I could have played a little bit better. I wish I could have taken care of the ball better. I wish I could have had the pick 6 back, that was a really poor decision by me.
“It’s on me. I’ve got to take care of it better and we would have given ourselves a better chance to win had I done that.”
The game was lost in that disastrous second quarter, when a Lions 7-3 lead evaporated into a 31-21 Washington advantage that Detroit could never climb back out from. The Lions’ defense had a few moments, got a couple stops but the offense couldn’t reciprocate.
“Defense holds them, limits points and we come back and turn the ball over,” Campbell said.
“That’s what I am beating myself up about,” Goff said. “All three of them [first-half turnovers] turned into points.”
Goff once led the Los Angeles Rams to the Super Bowl, only to have the offense manage just three points in a loss. L.A. shipped him to Detroit four years ago because it thought then-Lions QB Matthew Stafford could do what Goff couldn’t; lead the Lions to a championship. They sent a plethora of draft picks along with Goff to get Stafford who promptly led the Rams to a Super Bowl victory.
Detroit has drafted wisely and seen Goff have a career resurgence; but are there limitations? If he was going to throw four interceptions against Washington in the divisional round, was there really any chance he could piece together the level of play needed to win three times?
And can that somehow be different next season, when Detroit should again be a contender, especially when Aidan Hutchinson and the defense return?
“What do we need to improve?” Campbell said of his offseason to-do list. “What do we need to fix?”
Goff will need to be better. A lot better. As good as he’s been, as many highlights as this offense produced, it can’t go far with a quarterback as an anchor. Was this just a bad night, or the ceiling for him?
“It’s a humbling game,” Goff said. “It’s a humbling sport.”
It won’t get any less so, even after the pain of this wears off.
