In our 11/13/24 story, The “Bad Boy” Quarterback Hall of Fame has a New Member: Diego Pavia we shared the legend of Detroit’s “Bad Boy” Hall of Famer Quarterback Bobby Layne. Layne was a first round pick by the Chicago Bears in 1948 and was eventually traded to Detroit. While Bobby Layne had a penchant for Bad Boy behavior (on and off the field) he also had a proclivity for winning championships. The “Blonde Bomber” would lead the Detroit Lions to NFL Championships in 1952, 1953, and 1957 and the fans adored him.
He was dazzling on the field as a dual threat and some football historians credit Layne for being the father of the two-minute drill based on his leading his Lions to a come-from-behind 17-16 victory over the arch-rival Cleveland Browns in the 1953 NFL Championship game. In the final minutes Layne drove the Lions 80 yards and threw the winning 33 yard touchdown pass to receiver Jim Doran as time was expiring.
But eventually Bobby Layne’s gift of creating championships faded, and with it management’s tolerance of his frequent “Bad Boy” behaviors throughout his career. As teammate and fellow hall of famer Yale Lary (OL) once said, “When Bobby told you to block, you blocked, and when he said drink, you drank!”
The Curse
Two weeks into the 1958 season the Detroit front office shocked the Lions’ franchise, and the NFL world in general, when they traded Bobby Layne to the Pittsburgh Steelers. No one saw it coming, least of all Bobby Layne. Legend has it that as Bobby packed up his gear and left the Lions locker room for the last time he delivered a bitter parting shot: “This team will not win another (Championship) for another 50 years!”
Bobby Layne ended his 15 year Hall of Fame NFL career with over 26,000 yards passing, 2,451 yards rushing and 196 TD passes (unheard of for the era) and three NFL Championships.
Detroit? Well, since the “Curse of Bobby Layne” was declared in the Lions locker room, Detroit has gone the past six decades without another NFL Championship. In fact, only four active teams in the modern era have never made it to the Super Bowl: the Cleveland Browns, Jacksonville Jaguars, Houston Texans, and Detroit. Given the Jags and Texans were founded in the 1990s and the Browns in the 1940s, this makes the Detroit Lions by far the oldest franchise (1930) to never appear in a Super Bowl.
Enter Jared Goff
Out of California, Jared Goff wore #16 in tribute to his idol Joe Montana. A high school star QB who posted a 39-4 record at Marin Catholic in Kentfield, California, he was recruited and enrolled at the University of California in 2013 and became the first true freshman to ever start at QB for the Golden Bears.
In his career at Cal Jared posted some crazy numbers, including a won-lost record that defies explanation when associated with a Quarterback that set 26 Cal records. In his inaugural freshman season, Jared broke the record for most passing yards in a season (3,508) as well as pass completions (320), but his team finished a dismal 1-11 under new coach Sonny Dykes.
In 2014 Goff dazzled vs the Colorado Buffaloes tossing for 458 yards and a career high seven touchdown passes in a 59-56 win. Later that season Goff threw for a career high 527 yards and five TDs in a barn-burning 60-59 win over Washington State. Huge production! But for all his gun-slinging, the Bears would finish under .500 at 5-7.
For his last year at Cal in 2015 Jared finally got his team into the win column at 7-5 while he finished with a new PAC-12 single season passing-yardage record of 4,714 yards. He also broke the conference passing TD record with 43. The Cal 55-36 win in the Armed Forces Bowl over Air force was ignited by Goff’s six touchdown passes and 467 yards. Cal finished at 8-5.
#1 Pick in the NFL Draft
Oddly, during Goff’s time at Cal, the Golden Bears never beat an in-state rival, going 0-9 vs arch rivals Stanford, UCLA, and Southern Cal. Jared Goff’s father was quoted as saying the lack of a marquee win bothered his son. Never-the-less Jared Goff would declare for the NFL draft in 2016. A lack of marquee wins didn’t seem to bother the LA Rams as they traded up on draft day to make Jared Goff the #1 pick.
Jared Goff was rewarded with a four-year contract worth $27.9 million in guaranteed money. His signing bonus alone was $18.6 million.
But the 2016 season for Jared Goff must have felt a bit like being back at Cal in 2013. He would start seven games and go 0-7. He had a few highlight moments, but the team finished 4-12.
Enter Sean McVay
The Rams hired 30-year-old Sean McVay as head coach in 2017 and in the process made him the youngest NFL head coach in the modern era. McVay installed Goff as his starter in week one of the 2017 season. Together, Coach and Quarterback would transform the Rams from the worst NFL offense the year before to the top-scoring offense in the NFL in 2017. The season would also mark the Rams’ first winning record since 2003 and first playoff appearance since 2004.
Jared Continues with Big Stats
Jared Goff was a big part of the Rams’ success. He seemed to thrive in McVay’s offense, posting 3,804 passing yards and 28 TDs against only 7 pics. He logged an NFL best 12.9 yards per completion, demonstrating his long-ball precision. He started 15 games and posted an 11-4 record. Alas, in their first playoff since 2004, the Rams fell to the Falcons 26-13 in the Wild Card round. Certainly, you can’t blame a playoff loss on a young QB, right?
2018 Rams Break Through
My first upfront and in-person look at Jared Goff was in Super Bowl Llll following the 2018 season. The Rams got to the Big Game by going 13-3 with Goff starting every game. He passed for a massive, league-leading 4,688 yards along with 32 TD passes vs 12 pics. He did have a league high 12 fumbles.
Along the way Jared’s highlights included an 80.5% completion percentage in a win over the Chargers, a perfect QB rating of 158.3 vs the Vikings (465 yards, five TDs) and a four-touchdown passing night in a 54-51 shootout win over the Chiefs on Monday Night Football. It was the third-highest scoring game in NFL history.
The Rams would grind through the playoffs with a 30-22 win over the Cowboys and a hard-fought OT win on the road over the Saints 26-23. With that win Goff became the youngest QB to win an NFC Championship Game and start in the Super Bowl.
A Bridge Too Far
But Super Bowl Llll vs the Patriots would be anti-climatic for the Rams and Jared Goff. It was a game dominated by defense on both sides. The Patriots would win 13-3 as neither team scored a touchdown in the first three quarters. Goff completed 19 of 38 for 229 yards but with a costly interception to Stephon Gilmore late in the game. He looked tentative. In fairness, note that Tom Brady also failed to throw a touchdown pass while managing to become the oldest Quarterback to win a Super Bowl at age 41.
The 13-3 loss tied the Rams with the 1971 Miami Dolphins as the two lowest-scoring teams in Super Bowl history. I can’t fault Jared Goff for not wining the big one here. It was a total offensive shutdown. But it would be the start of second-guessing Jared Goff’s ability to win the big game.
The “Super Bowl Runner-Up Jinx”
This is a fact: Only the 1971 Dallas Cowboys and the 2018 New England Patriots have followed up a Super Bowl defeat with a Super Bowl win. That’s a 2-56 record.
The “Jinx” suggests that a team that loses the Super Bowl will not advance as far as the Conference Championship Game the following season. In fact, only three of the last 27 such teams have done it. Additionally, 12 of those 27 teams did not even make the playoffs the following year.
Epic collapses include the 11-5 1989 Denver Broncos going 5-11 the next year. Or how about the 14-2 1998 Atlanta Flacons collapsing to 5-11 the next year? But the worst is probably the 11-5 2002 Oakland Raiders losing Super Bowl XXXVl and falling to a dismal 4-12 the very next season.
Why a Jinx?
Former Washington Redskins GM Charley Casserly first used the phrase in a Washington Post article and attributed the curse to actual factors like; a shorter offseason (five weeks shorter than the other 18 teams that failed to make the playoffs), contract problems because you have more player demands after a Super Bowl appearance, also players have more demand on their personal time from sponsors and charitable functions. Casserly also noted that once the season starts you become the biggest game on everybody’s schedule.
Of course, the “Super Bowl Runner-up Jinx” is not to be confused with the “Curse of Bobby Layne” but you may be starting to see an intersection coming?
In the 2019 season Jared and the Rams got off to a 3-0 start, but soon the Super Bowl Runner-up Jinx started kicking in. In week-four the Rams were pasted by the Bucs 55-40. Jared passed for a career high 517 yards but with three pics. In week 11 Goff tied the NFL record (Drew Bledsoe) with 45 completions in a game during a 38-31 win over the Vikings. But in week 16 the Rams lost on the road at San Francisco 34-31 and be eliminated from the playoffs.
Jared Goff finished the season with 4,638 yards passing, 22 touchdowns and a startlingly high 16 interceptions as the “Jinx” held the Super Bowl losers to a pedestrian 9-7 record and out of the playoffs.
Can’t Win the Big One or Scapegoat?
As 2020 started, the Rams were looking for answers to “why not us?” when it comes to a Super Bowl win. There are always two obvious places to start looking: Head Coach and Quarterback. Sean McVay at age 33 had a 34-15 record and wasn’t going anywhere. Jared Goff? He had put up big numbers, set some NFL records and presided over a pretty ugly Super Bowl. Recall how his father had said a big win had always eluded Jared while at Cal? Well, some folks in LA were beginning to think the same thing about Jared and the Rams.
The 2020 season did not end well for the Rams nor Jared. The Rams made the playoffs but Jared broke his thumb and was forced to miss the final game of the regular season. The Rams finished 10-6 and Jared was cleared to play in the Wild Card Game but he started the game as backup to QB2 John Wolford. Who? Yup, they sat Goff for Wolford. Talk about hand-writing on the wall?
Goff entered the game in the first quarter after Wolford left the game with a neck injury. It wasn’t very pretty, as Goff completed only nine of 19 passes for 155 yards and a touchdown, but the Rams squeaked out a 30-20 win on the road in Seattle. Goff’s season and tenure with the Rams came to an end in Green Bay the next week as the Rams went down to the Packers 32-18 with Jared passing for only 174 yards.
QBs get Too Much Glory and Too Much Blame
There was a feeling in LA that Jared Goff was holding the Rams back. It could not be authenticated nor justified in any statistical analysis. It was simply a feeling. And with the late injury Jared Goff never got a chance to regain his form before his team was eliminated. He finished 2020 with 3,952 yards passing but only 20 TDs with 13 interceptions. Protecting the football and decision-making became a Jared Goff topic with LA fans and sports writers.
The Trade
On March 18, 2021 Jared Goff was traded to the Detroit Lions for QB Matt Stafford in a deal that included the Rams also sending first round draft picks in 2022 AND 2023 plus a third round pick in 2021 to Detroit. Frankly, Jared Goff felt like a throw-in to the deal. He left no curse when he departed the Rams’ locker room.
It was Matt’s Time
The Los Angeles Rams certainly got what they were looking for in Matt Stafford. In the 2021 regular season Stafford finished in the top five for passing yards, touchdowns, first downs and yards per attempt. In the playoffs Stafford would win his first ever post-season game (he was 0-3 in playoffs with the Lions) with a 34-11 win over the Cardinals. He then gutted out a 30-27 win over Tom Brady and the Buccaneers. In the game Stafford passed for 366 yards and two TDs. Moving to the NFC Championship game for the first time, Matt Stafford brought the Rams back from a 17-7 4th quarter deficit to defeat the 49ers 20-17.
Playing in Super Bowl LVl vs the Cincinnati Bengals on the Rams home field of SoFi Stadium, Matt Stafford passed for 283 yards on 26 of 40 with three passing TDs. He won his first Super Bowl 23-20. He passed for the second most postseason yards with 1,188. He also became the first QB since Eli Manning to lead a fourth-quarter comeback in a Conference Championship and a Super Bowl in the same playoff season. Yes, it’s fair to say the Rams got their man.
A Bad Scene in Detroit
The Lions were looking for answers after three frustrating years with Matt Patricia as head coach. During Patricia’s tenure Detroit labored through records of 6-10, 3-12-1, and 5-11. For the 2020 season, the Lions yielded 519 points allowed, the 3rd worst in NFL history, and gave up the 3rd most yards allowed in NFL history. So much for the defense giving the offense good field position.
Enter Dan Campbell
On January 20, 2021 the Detroit Lions got smart. They hired Dan Campbell as head coach. In his introductory press conference Campbell said, “This team is going to take on the identity of this city, and this city’s been down and it’s found a way to get up. This team’s going to be built on, we’re going to kick you in the teeth… We’re gonna get knocked down and on the way up, we’re going to bite a kneecap off… Before long we’re going to be the last one standing…“
Coming from Dan Campbell that mantra is pretty believable. Dan is 6’5” and 255 lbs and played TE for ten years in the NFL including his last three years in Detroit. You quickly get the impression that if you’re playing for Campbell you’d better be a tough guy. And that includes your Quarterback.
Learning Curve
The 2021 season evolved slowly for the Lions and Jared Goff. The team started 0-6 and midway through the season Goff suffered an oblique injury that sidelined him for several games. But the breakthrough came the week after Thanksgiving when Goff and the Lions defeated the Minnesota Vikings 29-27. This would snap Detroit’s 15-game losing streak vs the Vikings. One “curse” down the drain! But it also marked Jared Goff’s first win without head coach Sean McVay, having gone 0-16-1 in games with a different head coach.
In fact, with Dan Campbell, Goff and the Lions went on to win three of their last four games. While finishing 3-13-1 a buzz was starting in Detroit, although no one was ready to bring up “The Curse of Bobby Layne” just yet.
Enter Brad Holmes
Dan Campbell, Jared Goff and the Lions would spend 2022 and 2023 getting better and breaking through a few barriers. Give credit to General Manager Brad Holmes. In his first days on the job in early 2021, Holmes hired Dan Campbell and shortly after pulled the trigger on the Stafford for Goff and draft picks deal.
So how’s that working out? Well, Brad Holmes leveraged those drafts picks to acquire both TE Sam LaPorta and RB Jahmyr Gibbs. Both emerged as young NFL stars accounting for 20 Touchdowns between them in 2023. The Lions also acquired key pieces like WR Jameson Williams and DL Brodric Martin via additional draft day trades.
And Goff? Well, Brad Holmes had been the assistant GM with the Rams before taking the top job in Detroit. He knew Jared Goff and he knew exactly what he was trading into: talent. Sometimes, particularly at Quarterback, it takes being in the right place at the right time. Jared Goff has found that place. Or just maybe, it found him.
Biting a Lot of Kneecaps!
Over the past two previous seasons (2022-23) Jared Goff passed for 9,013 yards and 59 TDs against only 19 pics. More importantly, the Lions produced a winning record (9-8) in 2022 and in 2023 at 12-5 the team would win its first NFC North title and its first playoff game in 32 years! So one more whammy put to bed!
How ironic that Detroit’s first playoff game would come vs the team that dumped Jared just a few years before? On January 14, 2024 Goff led the Lions to a close victory against his former team, the LA Rams, 24-23. Both Goff and Matt Stafford played brilliantly.
But in the end, as noted by ESPN, it would be Jared Goff “…who lifted his arms in the air, encouraging the Ford Field fans to get even louder, before taking the final snap to end his long-suffering franchise’s skid in the playoffs.” In the game Goff became one of only five QBs in NFL history to produce a game with 275+ yards passing, a completion percentage of 80.0%+ and a passer rating of 120.0+.
Changing History
The Lions’ win ended a nine-game postseason losing streak. It was the longest in NFL history and dated to a victory over Dallas on Jan 5, 1992. Said Goff to ESPN, “We knew what it meant (to this city) when this season started to get into the playoffs and then to get this win.” In the loss even Matt Stafford was gracious, “I’m happy for the players, and happy for the city.”
Detroit and Goff would continue to roll in the playoffs as they defeated the Bucs in the Divisional round 31-23 moving them to one win away from the Super Bowl. In the NFC Championship game vs the San Francisco 49ers Detroit seemed unstoppable, until they weren’t. The Lions led 24-7 at the half only to see the 49ers score 27 straight points and prevail 34-31.
Still More Work to Do
On May 16, 2024 Jared Goff signed a four-year $212 million contract extension with $170 million guaranteed. And why not? Jared Goff has not only been delivering touchdowns and victories for Detroit, he has been knocking off the demons and setting new expectations.
How about curing the 15-game losing streak to the Vikings? Or winning Detroit’s first NFC divisional title since 1993? Then there is the Lions’ first post-season win in 32 years…
Check it off the list.
Is 2024 the Year?
So far in 2024 Jared Goff has the Lions sitting on top of the NFC standings at 11-1. It is their best record after 12 games in team history. The current ten-game win streak ties a franchise record set in 1934. And finally, the 23-20 win over the Bears on Thanksgiving ended an ugly seven game Thanksgiving Day losing streak for the Lions. What’s left? Just the big one.
Is this finally the year to end “The Curse of Bobby Layne?”
Could be. ESPN’s week 13 Power Rankings have the Lions ranked #1. Jared Goff ranks in the top 4 in almost every NFL passing category.
The remaining schedule is challenging. The Lions have five games left including hosting the Bills, Packers, and Vikings. Road trips hit San Francisco and Chicago. Still work to be done. Still key injuries to avoid. Still a little luck needed.
Jared Goff is Changing the Narrative in Detroit
Following last year’s heartbreaking lost to the 49ers in the NFC title game, Jared Goff dismissed the idea of a Bobby Layne Curse. “You hear about all the stories of the last 30 years and all the heartbreak and all the close calls… It has always been my mission to eliminate those. There is no voodoo over the Lions,” said Goff to W.G Brady of the Detroit Sports Nation.
In fact, Goff’s arrival in Detroit, adds Brady, “…represents a beacon of hope for the Lions and their supporters. His refusal to subscribe to the idea of a curse and his commitment to leading the team to new heights is indicative of a larger shift within the franchise. It’s about embracing optimism, challenging the status quo, and finally putting to rest the ghost stories that have haunted the team too long.”
Why Believe in Jared?
I buy the idea that Jared Goff can change the Lions’ narrative. Think about his experiences. His first year at Cal he wears #16 as a tribute to four-time Super Bowl Champion Joe Montana. But the Golden Bears go 1-11. By the time he leaves Cal they are Bowl eligible.
In Jared’s first year with the LA Rams he breaks records but grinds through a 4-12 season plus a coaching change. Two years later he takes the team to the Super Bowl. But the team dumps him and he starts over. At the bottom. Again.
In Jared’s first year in Detroit the Lions post a 3-13-1 record you could only characterize as growing pains. Because the very next year they are 9-8 and then 12-5 and in the playoffs. Today Jared Goff has his Lions sitting atop the NFC at 11-1.
Curse or no curse, Jared Goff could win the whole thing this year. He has been a warrior Quarterback who has overcome the odds too many times to be counted out. But winning a Super Bowl is an elusive and challenging goal. Win it this year or not, one thing is certain; Jared Goff’s father, Jerry Goff, a former MLB player himself, has no reason to worry about Jared winning a marquee game. He now has a list in Detroit that just keeps growing.