Cal Sports Report

At Least Jared Goff Got MVP Votes This Time

Josh Allen won it, but former Cal QB Goff finished fifth, ahead of Patrick Mahomes
Jake Curtis|
Jared Goff and his wife, Christen Harper, who is expecting their first child this summer
Jared Goff and his wife, Christen Harper, who is expecting their first child this summer | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

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California Golden Bears

Former Cal quarterback Jared Goff achieved something significant when the NFL MVP voting was announced Thursday night.

No, he did not win the award, finishing in fifth place, well behind winner Josh Allen. But he did get a few votes, making it the first time Goff has ever received votes for MVP.

Last season, when Goff led the Lions to a 12-5 regular-season record and Detroit's first division title since 1993, making it the most surprising success story in the league, Goff did not get a single vote, even though he finished second in passing yardage and fourh in touchdown passes and only one team had a better regular-season record.

Ten players got MVP votes in 2023, including C.J. Stroud and Myles Garrett, but Goff did not get a single first-, second-, third-, fourth- or fifth-place vote.

In 2018, when Goff finished fourth in both passing yards and passer rating for a Rams team that finished tied for the best regular-season record at 13-3, Goff got no MVP votes. Of course, then only first-place votes were cast. It wasn't until 2022 that MVP voters cast votes for their top five choices.

But the fact remains that this was the first time Goff received any votes. He got no first-place votes and no second-place votes, but he got six third-place votes, five third-place votes and 16 fifth-place votes.

And he finished ahead of two-time NFL winner Patrick Mahomes.

You can make a strong case that Goff should have finished higher than fifth. Two things are worth noting: One, MVP voting takes place before the playoffs so Goff's poor performance in the postseason against Washington was not a factor. Two, a quarterback's value has always been based on the success of his team. Tom Brady is considered the best of all time because he won seven Super Bowls. Period.

With that in mind, there is absolutely no way Joe Burrow, whose team finished with a 9-8 record, should have finished ahead of Mahomes or Goff, both of whom led their teams to 15-2 marks. I don't care if Burrow threw 100 touchdown passes, he should not be ahead of Mahomes or Goff because his team did not even reach the playoffs. The history of MVP voting indicates the success of a quarterback's team has direct influence on his chances of winning the MVP.

Here are the MVP votes:

Goff was also the Lions nominee for the NFL Walter Payton Man of the Year award, but that went to Jaquars defensive end Arik Armstead.

Goff was accompanied to the awards show by his wife, Christen, who is expecting their first child this summer.

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Jake Curtis
JAKE CURTIS

Jake Curtis worked in the San Francisco Chronicle sports department for 27 years, covering virtually every sport, including numerous Final Fours, several college football national championship games, an NBA Finals, world championship boxing matches and a World Cup. He was a Cal beat writer for many of those years, and won awards for his feature stories.

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