Cal Sports Report

Jared Goff Will Return to Bay Area to Face Team He Loved Growing Up

Detroit fans chant the name of former Cal QB Goff after the win over Bucs. He wears No. 16 as a tribute to Joe Montana, and he’ll face 49ers for NFC Title

Jake Curtis

Jared Goff Will Return to Bay Area to Face Team He Loved Growing Up
Jared Goff Will Return to Bay Area to Face Team He Loved Growing Up /

Jared Goff’s outstanding performance in the Lions’ 31-23 victory over the Buccaneers on Sunday earned Goff the opportunity to return home to the Bay Area and face the team he adored growing up -- with a berth in the Super Bowl on the line.

After his final game in Detroit this season, the crowd again chanted his name:

He has found a home in Detroit, and now he will return home to the Bay Area for a bigger game.

Goff was born in San Rafael, Calif., and grew up in Novato, just across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco, and attended nearby Cal in Berkeley. And he was an ardent fan of the 49ers, the team Goff and Detroit will face next Sunday in Santa Clara, Calif., in the NFC championship game.

Goff will not be the only former Cal player coming back to the Bay Area for the NFC title game. Defensive tackle Tyson Alualu was in the starting lineup and made one tackle and recorded one quarterback hit for the Lions on Sunday after being elevated from the practice squad. He is expected to promoted from the practice squad again to face San Francisco and might be in the starting lineup.

“Get to go back home to play in front of friends and family,” Goff said after Sunday’s game.

Goff wears jersey No. 16 in tribute to 49ers Hall of Famer Joe Montana, who played his final NFL game when Goff was 2 months old. When Goff was 10 years old he was annoyed when the 49ers did not choose fellow Northern California resident and Cal star Aaron Rodgers with the No. 1 overall pick of the 2005 NFL Draft, taking Alex Smith instead.

Eight years ago, when Goff was working out for NFL personnel prior to the 2016 NFL draft, he was asked whether he would like to be taken by the 49ers, who had the No. 9 pick that year.

“I think it would be great,” Goff said according to NBC Sports Bay Area at the time. “It would be a really cool thing. Growing up a fan of them, it would be awesome.”

The Niners never got the chance as the Rams took Goff with the first overall draft selection. And Goff was a star for the Rams, taking them to the Super Bowl in the 2018 season. But Goff had perhaps the worst game of his pro career in that 13-3 loss to the Patriots, going 19-for-38 for 229 yards, no touchdowns, one interception, four sacks and a 57.9 passer rating. It began his slow demise in the eyes of Rams coach Sean McVay.

But Goff has risen again, on a different team. He has a chance to take a second team to the Super Bowl if he and the Lions can pull off an upset of the team he loved as a kid in the Bay Area. (The 49ers are 7-point favorites.)

Goff went 30-for-43 for 287 yards, two touchdowns, no interceptions and a 103.5 passer rating against the Buccaneers.

Here is his first touchdown pass, which gave the Lions a 10-3 lead.

Goff was particularly effective in the second half, and this perfectly placed touchdown pass gave the Lions a 31-17 lead.

So it will be Goff, the first of 253 players taken in the 2016 NFL draft, matched against 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy, the last of 262 players selected in the 2022 NFL draft, for a spot in the Super Bowl.

The big question is whether it will rain in Santa Clara, Calif., like it did for the 49ers’ 24-21 victory over the Green Bay Packers on Saturday.

Purdy clearly was bothered by the wet conditions on Saturday, and Goff had more serious problems as a Cal freshman in a rainstorm in Eugene against Oregon. He simply could not hang onto the ball in the driving rain, going 3-for-6 for 11 yards before being benched in favor of Zach Kline. Kline performed adequately under those conditions and there were suggestions that Kline might replace Goff as the Bears’ starter the next week. That did not happen, and Goff went on to an outstanding college career.

Goff has played four NFL games on the 49ers home field, all as a member of the Rams. Goff went 2-2 in those games, winning in 2017 and 2018 and losing in 2019 and 2020. Next Sunday will be his first visit to the 49ers’ Levi’s Stadium as a member of the Lions.

Oh, and by the way, there is only a 5% chance of rain next Sunday in Santa Clara.

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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