Cal Sports Report

Jared Goff Guides Lions Closer to a Playoff Berth With Big Win

Former Cal quarterback has a big game in Detroit's clutch victory over the Bears

Jake Curtis

Former Cal quarterback Jared Goff had a big game on Sunday, helping the Detroit Lions beat the Chicago Bears. 41-10 and stay alive for a playoff berth.

The Lions are now 8-8 heading into the final game of the regular season next week in Green Bay against the Packers, who are also 8-8 after beating the Vikings. Seattle knocked off the Jets, leaving the Lions and Packers tied with the Seahawks for the seventh and final playoff berth in the NFC, all with 8-8 records.

The Seahawks own the tiebreraker with the Lions, so Detroit would need to beat Green Bay and have the Rams knock off the Seahawks for the Lions to get a playoff spot. So it could come down to Goff needing his former team to pull off an upset of Seattle to get him into the postseason.

"It's where we want to be," Goff said after the game, "playing the last game of the season and it means something and we'll see where we land."

The Washington Commanders entered Sunday's action holding the seventh and final NFC playoff spot at 7-7-1.  But the Commanders, whose head coach is former Cal linebacker Ron Rivera, lost to the Browns 24-10 on Sunday to drop to 7-8-1. 

That left Washington a half-game behind the Packers, Lions and Seahawks, but with the Packers facing each other, the Commanders are virtually eliminated from possibilities.

The Giants beat the Colts 38-10 Sunday to improve to 9-6-1 and clinch a berth in the postseason. New York currently owns the No. 6 playoff spot in the NFC.

The Lions looked like a playoff team on Sunday as they rolled past the Bears for their seventh win in their past nine games after a 1-6 start.

Goff was 21-for-29 for 255 yards, three touchdowns, no interceptions and season-best 133.5 passer rating. Over the past eight games, Goff has thrown 15 TD passes with no interceptions and Detroit has gone 6-2.

He began the day seventh in the NFL in passer rating, and may move up the list after his performance on Sunday.

His first TD pass tied the score at 7-7 after Chicago had scored on its first possession.

Goff's second touchdown pass pushed the Lions' lead to 21-10:

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And his third touchdown throw, to D'Andre Swift, put the Lions aherad 38-10, proving icing on the cake and preventing Chicago from having any hope of a comeback.

The loss dropped the Bears' record to 3-13, as Chicago quarterback Justin Fields had a challenging day against the Lions' defense.  He finished 7-for-21 for 75 yards, one touchdown, one interception and a 40.8 passer rating.

It was Detroit's final home game of the season, and the crowd certainly enjoyed the show.

"It's really cool, man, to see the culture building," Goff said.

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Cover photo of Jared Goff by Lon Horwedel, USA TODAY Sports

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Jake Curtis
JAKE CURTIS

Jake Curtis worked in the San Francisco Chronicle sports department for 27 years, covering virtually every sport, including numerous Final Fours, several college football national championship games, an NBA Finals, world championship boxing matches and a World Cup. He was a Cal beat writer for many of those years, and won awards for his feature stories.

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