Jared Goff had a nice ‘shut up, all your narratives are wrong’ game in Lions win over Bears, 5 other takeaways
The Lions go undefeated against Ben Johnson.
It wasn’t pretty for the whole game, but this is a great way to end a bad season. Go out and get your win and leave it all on a good note. The Detroit Lions walked out with a 19-16 win, sweeping the NFC North champion Chicago Bears and Ben Johnson.
Shut your mouth when you’re talking to Jared Goff
Jared Goff had a pretty solid “shut up” game. Not only did he kill it under pressure, going 12-of-15 for 168 yards and a touchdown, but he also had his 49th career 300-yard passing game (only Patrick Mahomes has more in the last 10 years with 50), and he did it in cold weather, wearing gloves.
All things he’s not supposed to be able to do. He basically just shut down every narrative about him in one night.
If this is goodbye, it was a fine goodbye
At this point, we don’t know whether Taylor Decker or Graham Glasgow will play in 2026 or retire. If this was their last game, this was the way to go out. It wasn’t a Super Bowl win or a loss in the playoffs, but it was a divisional game on the road against their former offensive coordinator, and it was a good performance. That’s all you can really ask for at this point.
From a writer’s side of things, if this is it, it’s been a pleasure covering both of these players’ careers. All three of us entered this game around the same time, and this is truly the end of an era. I know that sounds funny because I never got on the field or anything like that, but I spent a lot of time at Pride of Detroit, and it was a big part of my career. The first thing I did for them was cover the 2016 draft, the draft in which both of these guys went. They’ve been a part of my career all this time.
Why Dan? Why?
All the Lions had to do was gain one yard, and they theoretically had two tries to do it. All you need to do is run Montgomery, run Gibbs, sneak Goff up the middle. You get a first down in Bears territory, and you have a chance to put this thing out of reach. Instead, Campbell draws up a Montgomery pass for Goff, and it fails horribly. The Lions punt and the Bears take it down, score a touchdown and a two-point conversion, and tie the game.
Look, I get what Campbell was thinking. The Lions had a thread through this game where Montgomery was taking direct snaps, and every single one of them had a different look. I’m not saying you don’t try this. I’m saying, why would you do it there? At that time? Luckily, it didn’t matter in the end.
Time to forgive Derrick Barnes for the Jameis Winston touchdown
This huge stop, along with his interception of Dak Prescott, is more than enough to say that we can look back on that Jameis Winston touchdown catch and the broken tackle he had on Barnes and forget them.
Other than that, Barnes has been really good for the Lions this year, and it’s a good thing they got him signed to that extension. His role could grow even more if Alex Anzalone doesn’t return.
Speaking of getting a bigger role at linebacker
Malcolm Rodriguez got to play more because Anzalone was out of this game with a concussion, and he stepped up in a big way with a huge tackle for loss in the first half. That TFL started the disruption of the Bears’ drive that ended in that PBU by Barnes.
Rodriguez should be in line for a bigger role in 2026 if the Lions bring him back, which should probably happen.
Tate Ratledge
The rookie deserves a shoutout for a very solid performance in this game. He allowed one pressure, and while it’s instant grades and nothing is set in stone till tomorrow, he was the highest-graded offensive lineman of the game on either side, per Pro Football Focus.
The Lions should feel pretty good about the right side of their offensive line right now.
Detroit Lions News
Lions coach Dan Campbell shuts down Jared Goff trade talk about as hard as anyone can shut something down
That should kill any talk about the Lions trading Jared Goff.
