DETROIT – Last Sunday, Minnesota quarterback Sam Darnold entered the victorious Vikings locker room and was greeted by his teammates, who promptly doused him with water and then lifted him off the ground.
It was something pure and special, out of a jubilant NCAA March Madness upset or perhaps an eye-rolling Hollywood movie that something like that doesn’t happen in the real world of professional sports.
Still, it was real: real emotion, real appreciation for a 14th regular-season victory and the quarterback who helped achieve it.
The next night, as has become customary around Detroit games over the past year, fans who had flocked to a road game in San Francisco celebrated the Lions’ 14th victory by filling the stadium with chants about their own quarterback… JAR-ed Goff, JAR- Ed Goff.” Teammates sometimes joined in for a new contender’s rallying cry.
The Lions (14-2) and the Vikings (14-2) will face off here Sunday at Ford Field in one of the most consequential regular-season games in NFL history. Never before have two teams with so many wins met in the regular season, let alone with a division title and the NFC’s No. 1 overall ranking (the loser drops all the way to five).
“This is what you do it for, man,” Detroit coach Dan Campbell said. “In the end, this is it. I mean, you couldn’t write a better screenplay, you couldn’t come up with this. …It just doesn’t get any better than this. These are fairytale things.”
Part of the fairytale is the unlikeliness of the two quarterbacks – and central figures – of this matchup. In 2007, an 8-0 New England team defeated an Indianapolis team 7-0 in a historic late clash of undefeated teams. Those teams were QB’d by Tom Brady and Peyton Manning, respectively, a new chapter in a long-standing rivalry between two league MVPs and future Hall of Famers.
This is Sam Darnold and Jared Goff.
This came out of nowhere; two California quarterbacks (Darnold of Orange County and USC, Goff of Marin County and Cal-Berkley) moved to the Midwest with franchises that either never won a Super Bowl (Minnesota) or even reached one (Detroit).
Darnold was the third overall pick of the 2018 NFL Draft, but his career quickly descended into bust/journeyman territory. His three years with the New York Jets are remembered for 39 interceptions and his mutterings about seeing “ghosts” during an ill-fated game against the Patriots.
Two seasons in Carolina (partly as a backup) yielded little and last year he mainly looked in San Francisco. Minnesota signed him as a veteran this year and relied on rookie JJ McCarthy to lead them.
However, McCarthy was injured. Darnold suddenly became a star. He has thrown 35 touchdowns (previous career high was 19). His completion percentage of 68.1 is 8.4 percent higher than his career average (59.7) heading into the season.
Oh, and then there are those fourteen wins – which should earn Darnold a long-term contract in Minnesota that no one could have seen coming. That water shower wasn’t just a party, it was a team making a statement (whether consciously or not) to management that this was their guy.
“A nice moment to be embraced by your teammates like that,” Darnold said. “That was quite special.”
It was also special for Goff in Detroit. He was the first overall pick of the 2016 draft and had five good seasons with the Los Angeles Rams, including reaching the Super Bowl before losing to New England.
However, in 2021, the Rams felt they needed an upgrade and Goff was traded away to Detroit, along with two first-round selections and a third-round selection, in exchange for quarterback Matthew Stafford.
The Rams won the Super Bowl that season. Detroit went 3-13-1.
Goff was considered a trade-in, but Campbell and general manager Brad Holmes believed in him when others didn’t. Last year, the Lions hosted their first playoff game in decades – against Stafford and the Rams – and the home crowd wanted to make their newfound loyalty clear and chanted Goff’s name.
It became a rallying cry not only because of Goff’s play (71.7 completion percentage and 36 TDs this year), but how he and his teammates embraced the opportunity in Detroit. He never minded being in the industrial Midwest, but made the best of it. An opportunity is an opportunity.
Now he’s looking for the Super Bowl he couldn’t deliver in LA. His name will be sung all Sunday evening.
“The people here are special, man,” Goff said after beating the Rams a year ago. “I am grateful.”
For all the playoff implications – and they are significant – and all the historical impact of these two teams playing in such a game in the final week of the season, the quarterbacks only add to that.
This would be incredible for anyone, including two all-time greats – a Brady or a Manning, for example. It might be even more incredible with two guys who have come the long way – with as many downs as ups – to get here.
One of the biggest regular season games in NFL history?
It’s Sam Darnold versus Jared Goff, where you have the power to never give up on yourself.
