Jared Goff, Lions stunned by upset loss to Commanders: ‘We were on top of the world’ Jan 19, 2025

Jayden Daniels and the Washington Commanders shocked the world.

In the process, they left Dan Campbell, Jared Goff and the NFC’s top-seeded Detroit Lions in stunned desolation.

Following the Lions’ startling 45-31 Divisional Round defeat, Campbell took to the podium, his stewardship and dejection apparent after a postseason of promise ended before it even got going.

“It just hurts to lose, man,” he said when asked if it was more difficult dealing with a loss to the No. 6 seed. “I don’t care if you’re the seventh seed, six seed, five seed, one seed. Because I’ve lost at all of them damn near, and it stings. It hurts.”

Detroit won its first-ever NFC North title in the 2023 season before embarking on its first run to the NFC Championship Game since the 1991 season. The Lions became America’s darling, an easy-to-root for squad that had resurrected a forlorn franchise.

These 2024 Lions were no longer the upstart underdogs, though, these were the NFC’s big cats.

They emerged from their regular-season finale, a win over the Minnesota Vikings to clinch the conference’s top seed, as a front-runner to win the Super Bowl — a goal yet to be fulfilled in the franchise’s long chronicle.

Following a bye’s worth of time to heal up, the Lions didn’t pounce on the Commanders, though. Their grandest hopes and aspirations were undone by a rookie dynamo and the misfortune of a staggering five turnovers.

“We were on the top of the world after that Minnesota game and it’s hard standing here right now and trying to process it all,” said Goff, who was intercepted three times and lost a fumble.

Detroit got out to a 7-0 lead following a Jahmyr Gibbs touchdown run in the first quarter. But rather than impose its will on upstart Washington, the Lions found themselves in a back-and-forth they couldn’t keep up with after a Quan Martin 40-yard interception return for a touchdown gave Washington a two-score lead in the second quarter.

“Just sucks,” Goff said. “I wish I could’ve played a little better. Wish I could’ve taken care of the ball a little bit better. Obviously, the pick-six is really the one I’d really like back. That was just a poor decision by me. The other ones are just sometimes a part of the game. But yeah, it’s on me, I gotta take care of it better. Certainly, would’ve given ourselves a better chance to win had I done that.”

Neither Goff nor Campbell shied away from taking the blame for the loss.

The quarterback was unsurprised by his coach shouldering the responsibility; after all, it’s Campbell’s character and personality that’s largely galvanized the Lions’ ascension.

“He’s our rock, man. He is,” Goff said. “No, he shouldn’t do that, but that’s who he is. And we feed off his emotion, his energy. He believes in us, and he loves us and he cares for us. He puts everything he has in it for us, as well. We’re extremely disappointed in ourselves, as well. That’s a good team, that is a good team, but had we played our best, maybe it’s a different outcome. I don’t know, but you like to think so.”

The emotions were on high after the shocker.

Much can be attributed not just to the early exit, but the nature in which it came to fruition.

The Lions had overcome a laundry list of injuries this year, too many to keep up with on the defense. But this wasn’t a day in which the injury-strapped Aaron Glenn defense could overcome the obstacles, surrendering 481 yards and four offensive touchdowns.

Goff had played MVP-caliber ball this season, but he had a terrible showing at the wrong time.

Both Goff and Campbell made sure to credit the Commanders, but at the same time the what-ifs were clearly prevailing thoughts.

“Had I played better, do we win? Possibly,” Goff said. “And that’s the part that will eat me alive for the whole offseason.”

Even including the turnovers, the Lions’ biggest gaffe was likely a flag for too many men on the field with 14:15 to play. It was a mind-spinning mistake on fourth-and-2 from the Lions’ 5-yard line with Detroit trailing, 31-28. Blessed by a new set of downs, the Commanders scored two players later on a Brian Robinson 1-yard run.

“It’s my fault,” Campbell said. “It’s my fault.”

There was plenty that went awry for the Lions on their final night of the season.

Perhaps Campbell and Goff’s character in the darkness of disappointment will bode well for the 2025 season.

Campbell, though, knows nothing is guaranteed, a notion he prophesized after last season’s stunning loss of another ilk was drunk in.

“I told those guys this may have been our only shot,” Campbell said after the Lions had squandered a 17-point halftime lead in an NFC Championship Game loss to the San Francisco 49ers. “Do I think that? No. Do I believe that? No. However, I know how hard it is to get here. I’m well aware. And it’ll be twice as hard to get back to this point next year than it was this year. That’s the reality.”

The harsh reality is that Detroit wasn’t able to replicate its success of a season prior, even with the status of the conference’s top seed.

“It’s not the time to talk about what a great year,” Campbell said of the 15-2 regular season left behind. “Because, at this moment, I don’t think any of us feel that way, you know? The whole point of doing what you do is to get to the show, man. It’s why you play this game and … we fell short.”