Jared Goff Simply Isn't Answer
After six games in the 2022 season, it's clear as day that the Detroit Lions are nowhere closer to being a playoff team than they were a season ago.
Last season, they went a dismal 3-13-1 in the first year of the Dan Campbell-Brad Holmes era, and there's a good chance now that the team won't win more than four games this year.
Campbell's erroneous in-game decision-making and the defense's subpar play are the main reasons for this being the case. And, they've been written about aplenty by various media outlets.
Yet, they're far from the only reasons for the Lions' disappointing 2022 campaign. Most notably, Jared Goff's struggles have begun to take center stage.
The veteran signal-caller's production has noticeably dipped the last two games, making it more apparent that he's clearly not Detroit's long-term answer at quarterback.
There's no denying the fact that the seventh-year pro had a solid start to his second season in the Motor City. Through the first four weeks of the campaign, he threw for 1,126 yards and 11 touchdowns, as opposed to three interceptions.
He also recorded two four-touchdown games through his first four games of the season, notching his first in Detroit's Week 2 win against the Washington Commanders and his second in a Week 4 loss to the Seattle Seahawks.
He was riding high at the time, and was starting to gain some serious consideration from the team's fanbase to be the starter under center a season from now.
But, then Week 5 against the New England Patriots happened, and everything came crashing down for the 2016 No. 1 overall pick.
In the contest, a 29-0 defeat at the hands of New England, he failed to throw for a touchdown for the first time this year, while tossing an interception and losing a fumble.
It was an ugly performance from Goff and the Lions' offense. But, it was just one game, so it was believed -- at least by a certain sect of the fanbase -- that Detroit would be much more productive coming out of the bye.
Tim Heitman, USA TODAY Sports
It was the furthest thing from the truth, however, in the Lions' 24-6 loss to the Dallas Cowboys Sunday.
Goff recorded arguably his worst performance to date as a member of the Lions. He not only failed to throw a single TD pass. But, he also threw two picks and lost a pair of fumbles, both of which came late in the fourth quarter.
To make matters worse, all four of his turnovers came in the final half of play, and three of his four miscues resulted in scoring drives for Dak Prescott and the Cowboys.
Jamaal Williams, starting in the place of the injured D'Andre Swift, also recorded a fourth-quarter turnover. He fumbled at the Cowboys' 1-yard line with 12:21 remaining in the game. If he would have scored, the Lions would've taken a 12-10 lead. Instead, he committed the first of four turnovers for Detroit in the quarter.
"Absolutely," Goff told reporters after the game, when asked if the four fourth-quarter turnovers were hard for him and the Lions' offense to overcome. "Yeah, can't do it. The defense played their tails off today, and gave us a great chance to win that game. We didn't do our part offensively."
Goff did the opposite of putting his team in position to succeed Sunday, and Detroit paid for it dearly.
"It doesn't matter who we have, or what we're doing, or who we're playing, the bottom line is you got to find a way to win," Campbell, the second-year Lions head coach, said in the postgame. "I really felt like we were on track to do that. And then, you know, we made those couple of mistakes that killed us, the turnovers. And, you know, against an opponent this good, it's good luck. This is a good opponent. It's a talented roster, and it's well-coached."
The turnovers from Goff were ill-timed mistakes from Detroit's starting quarterback, and they were too much for the team's offense to overcome against Dallas.
And more importantly, they were the embodiment of a passer that is not fit to lead a winning NFL franchise.
If it wasn't obvious before Sunday, it is readily apparent now: The Lions need to move on from Goff at season's end.
