John Niyo: 'It's disappointing' for Goff, Lions in trying to process early playoff exit

DETROIT — The chants were derisive this time.

From the corner of one end zone inside Ford Field on Saturday night, a throng of visiting fans in burgundy and gold hijacked the Lions’ rallying cry, turning “Jar-ed Goff! Jar-ed Goff!” into a jeer instead of a cheer. Then the Washington Commanders fans who’d taken over swaths of the lower-bowl seating in the waning moments of Saturday's NFC divisional playoff game began saluting their own quarterback, sensational rookie Jayden Daniels, with “M-V-P! M-V-P!”

This was not at all how this night was supposed to go. But when it was over, and Detroit’s Super Bowl dreams had come and gone just like that, buried in a surprising avalanche of turnovers and mistakes as Washington thumped Detroit, 45-31, the Lions’ quarterback lingered on the bench in stunned disbelief.

His position coach, Mark Brunell, sat next to Goff and offered a few words of encouragement before he finally got up and joined the rest of the players already mingling on the field. Goff found David Blough, his former backup in Detroit, for a brief embrace, and then congratulated Daniels as the Fox TV cameras awaited the rookie. But from there, Goff made a beeline for the locker room.

And an offseason that no one in a Lions uniform expected to arrive so abruptly.

“A little bit numb,” was how Goff described the feeling later, “And trying to process it. I’m so painfully disappointed and sorry to our fans. It sucks. This is as tough as it gets. It’s hard. It’s hard.”

He apologized for repeating himself more than once in his postgame comments, but like his head coach before him at the podium, the words were understandably hard to come by.

How do you explain something like this? A 15-2 team that entered the postseason as the odds-on favorite to win it all instead won nothing at all in these playoffs. The first-round bye they fought so hard to earn only led to an early exit. And that coveted home-field advantage ended with a strange, cavernous feeling inside Ford Field, as Lions fans started filing out en masse midway through the fourth quarter.

But this was Goff’s job after it was over, trying to explain any of it. Or all of it, after a nightmarish ending to a record-setting season. Goff committed four turnovers in Saturday’s loss, each one more crushing than the last, until the final interception with 25 seconds left ended a last-ditch drive near the Washington goal line.

“It sucks,” said Goff, who finished 23 of 40 for 313 yards, one touchdown and a season-low 59.7 passer rating. “Worst part of this job. You hate it when you feel like you let guys down.”

And surely, that’s how he felt after this one. On a night where it was clear from the outset the Lions’ injury-ravaged defense wasn’t going to replicate its Week 18 dominance against Minnesota, Goff lost his grip early on and never fully regained it.

His fumble on a sack at the Washington 25-yard line late in the first quarter was the night’s first big momentum swing, robbing the Lions of points while pointing to more trouble ahead. The pocket pressure would be a problem throughout, and Goff compounded the issue with some poor decisions and errant throws. None more so than the pass that sailed over a leaping Tim Patrick and into the hands of Commanders safety Quan Martin, whose pick-6 return was punctuated by a brutal block on Goff — one that should’ve drawn a penalty on Washington’s Frankie Luvu — that sent him briefly to the medical tent for a concussion check.

Goff missed the next series only because it lasted only three plays, though, as Jameson Williams broke off a 61-yard run to cut the Washington lead to 24-21 with 4 minutes left in the half. But then Goff threw another interception on a pass intended for Williams in the end zone on the Lions’ next possession, and Washington responded by going 70 yards in seven plays to take a double-digit lead into the break.

“And I think that's what I’m beating myself up a lot about, is all three of ‘em turned into points,” Goff said of those first-half turnovers. “The pick-6, the fumble was in field-goal range, and the one at the half. But I don’t have great answers for you. I’m disappointed. Wish I could’ve played better. Wish we all could’ve played better and found a way to win.”

They’d found their way so often this season it was jarring to see this one play out like this. Two months ago in Houston, for example, Goff threw three first-half interceptions and the Lions trailed by 17 points before rallying to win on a last-second field goal. And there was a moment midway through the third quarter, when Jahmyr Gibbs rumbled in from 8 yards out to cut the lead to 31-28, where it felt like “it was a brand new ballgame at that point,” Goff said, “and then we just kind of let it slip away again.”

That’s because the defense, which lost another starter in Amik Robertson to a broken arm Saturday, couldn’t get a stop as Washington chewed up 8 1/2 minutes on the ensuing touchdown drive. And then a bizarre play-call from Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson turned into a disaster when Williams took an end-around on a trick play and forced a pass attempt into coverage for another interception.

It was all but over after that. And when the scoreboard finally made it official, that’s when the reality started to settle in.

Campbell was choking back tears as he talked about the disappointment he felt for his players, knowing the full extent of the physical and emotional toll this season delivered amid all the winning. Goff said he appreciated his head coach shouldering the blame, but then offered to carry his own, even as his teammates in a somber locker room offered their support.

“I will ride with Jared Goff till the day I die,” center Frank Ragnow said. “Any aspect of life, football, no matter what it is. He’s one of the most stand-up human beings, players, leaders. And I’ll always have his back.”

Still, coming back from this won’t be easy. And it certainly won’t be quick, even after Goff seemed to validate that huge contract extension he signed last spring with a career-best regular season.

“It just sucks,” Goff said. “I wish I could’ve played a little bit better. Wish I could’ve taken care of the ball a little bit better. …

“I don't want it to sound like we didn’t just play a good team. They came out and they beat us. They played well, and we didn't. That’s the bottom line. Had I played better, do we win? Possibly. And that’s the part that’ll eat me alive for the whole offseason.”

Before he headed out the door to meet that fate, he admitted he wasn’t ready to think about the season as a whole. Or about what’s to come for a team that was convinced this was their year to make it all the way. This roster is built for an extended run as a Super Bowl contender, but there could be major changes in the offseason, most notably the possible departure of Johnson as his coordinator.

“I can't even think about that right now,” Goff said when asked about the offseason. “I’m still kind of processing this. Gonna have some hard nights coming up, unfortunately.

“I wish I could give you guys a better answer right now. It's just … it's disappointing. It's hard. We had everything we wanted. Home-field advantage. The fans were incredible. And unfortunately, we just let it slip out of our hands.”

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