The Detroit Lions officially turned their franchise around with a stellar 2023 season. But Lions quarterback Jared Goff suggested the local media doesn’t quite see it that way.
While appearing on Willbo’s “Trading Cards” podcast, Goff argued the local Detroit media will “relish in the negativity” too often for how good the team has become.
“Hey guys, we have a good team. We’ve had success,” Goff said to co-hosts Robbie and Will McInerny. “We can be happy about that, we can celebrate that and not have to write about how we’re constantly the underdog. No, teams are gonna be gunning for us now. We won the division and all that.
“I’m probably overthinking it in my head and it’s the chip on my shoulder and the competitor in me.”
Before 2023, there were plenty of reasons for the Detroit media to be negative. From 1992-2022, the Lions had just four 10-win seasons and went 0-8 in the playoffs.
But in 2023, Detroit won 12 games for the first time since 1991. That led to the team hosting its first playoff game in 30 years.
Last season, the Lions also won their first playoff game in 32 years and won multiple contests in the same postseason for the first time since 1957.
Lions’ Jared Goff Sends Message to Detroit Media
It’s possible Lions media isn’t negative only because of the city’s football team. Putting aside Michigan’s recent football national championship, Detroit hasn’t won any sports title in 16 years.
The Detroit Red Wings and the WNBA’s Detroit Shock captured the city’s last titles in 2008. Since then, the Lions posted the NFL’s first 0-16 season, and the Red Wings have seen their 25-year playoff streak end. This NBA season, the Detroit Pistons tied the league record for the most consecutive losses at 28.
The Detroit Tigers have been up and down the past two decades as well. They have lost in the World Series twice and nearly tied an MLB single-season record with 119 losses in 2003.
With all of that happening in one city, it gets easy to be negative. But Goff made it clear on “Trading Cards” that he’s tired of it.
“Maybe that’s what gets clicks and that’s what sells, but it’s no longer what they need to live in,” said Goff.
Goff Revisits Pre-NFC Championship Game Question
His appearance on “Trading Cards” may have been the first time Goff explicitly addressed the negativity he feels from the media. But it’s pretty evident that he has felt this way for a long time.
Goff had a comical exchange with a Detroit media member in the week prior to the NFC championship game. The question was about the gap in talent the Lions were perceived to have with the San Francisco 49ers.
The Lions quarterback addressed the exchange on the podcast.
“I wasn’t trying to be rude to the guy, I was just like that’s our own beat reporter that’s been with us for three years,” Goff added. “You haven’t been in San Francisco. You know what our team looks like. Why do we gotta talk about how good their players are? Talk about how good our players are. That’s like how I felt.”
The media still might not completely take the Lions seriously. But head coach Dan Campbell made his team aware that other players and coaches around the NFL will in 2024.
“I don’t care how much better we get, or what we add, or what we draft. It’s irrelevant,” Campbell told reporters after the NFC championship game loss. “It’s going to be tough. Everyone in our division is going to be loading back up.
“You aren’t hiding from anybody anymore. Everybody is going to want a piece of you.”
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Lions’ Jared Goff Puts Detroit Media on Notice