In the grand scheme of things, the 2023 Detroit Lions enjoyed a successful season despite squandering a 24-7 halftime lead en route to losing the NFC Championship game to the San Francisco 49ers.
Lions quarterback Jared Goff nevertheless still has a bitter taste in his mouth because, as he recently told Greg Bishop of Sports Illustrated, “we didn’t win” the season’s final contest.
“Last year, what bothered me, at times, was people had this notion that we were happy to be there, and we certainly weren’t [that],” Goff explained. “And it’s like, ‘No, we’re just damn good.'”
The Lions made some history last September when they entered a season for the first time as the betting favorites to claim the NFC North title since the division was formed in 2002. Detroit achieved that goal while notching a 12-5 record and the Lions then earned their first playoff victory since January 1992.
The Lions rewarded Goff this offseason with a four-year contract extension that included $170M guaranteed and could be worth up to $212M. While he has millions of reasons to be happier today than he was 12 months ago, the former Cal signal-caller acknowledged it still stings that a squad that “certainly” had the goods to win Super Bowl LVIII fell just short of playing in that game.
“I love it, I absolutely love it, and he’s absolutely right,” Detroit head coach Dan Campbell said about Goff’s takes regarding last season. “Yeah, there is no moment, man. You’re dejected. And you’re off. And it hurts.”
Campbell revealed earlier in the summer that he essentially began thinking about the task of returning to the NFC Championship game “the minute that clock went to zero in San Francisco” this past January. He also knows the Lions are now a team “with the target on our back” because it’s no secret that Detroit is, as Goff put it, “damn good.”
As of late Friday morning, DraftKings Sportsbook listed the Lions second behind only the 49ers (+250) among the betting favorites at +550 odds to represent the NFC in Super Bowl LIX. Detroit will look to make quite a statement when it hosts the Los Angeles Rams — Goff’s former team and the team that lost to the Lions in the wild-card round of the playoffs back in January — for a Week 1 “Sunday Night Football” clash on Sept. 8.