Cal Sports Report

Is Lions QB Jared Goff an MVP Contender?

Former Cal star Goff looked like MVP material Saturday when he threw 5 TD passes, putting Detroit on the verge of a division title

Jake Curtis

Is Lions QB Jared Goff an MVP Contender?
Is Lions QB Jared Goff an MVP Contender? /

Even though we are coming down the stretch of the NFL regular season, the MVP race still seems to be wide open.

Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott and 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy seem to be the betting favorites at the moment, with Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson not far behind and non-quarterbacks Christian McCaffrey and Tyreek Hill waiting in the wings.

No one is talking about Lions quarterback and former Cal standout Jared Goff as an MVP candidate, but maybe they should, especially after what he did on Saturday.

Goff threw five touchdown passes with no interceptions while leading the Lions to a 42-17 victory over the Denver Broncos, who had won six of their previous seven games. His 134.6 passer rating for the game was his best of the season, and his season passer rating of 98.2 places him fifth in the NFL among regular starting quarterbacks.   Goff was already ahead of the likes of Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, Jalen Hurts and Trevor Lawrence in passer rating for the season heading into this weekend's games.

His 26 touchdown passes put him second in the NFL in that category for now, although most of the league still has games to play this weekend.  And Goff is sixth in passing yards per game among regular starting quarterbacks.

However, what is more important is what his team is accomplishing.  Detroit is 10-4 and virtually guaranteed its first playoff berth in seven years.  And with a three-game lead in the NFL North with three games to go, the Lions are on the verge of  their first division title in 30 years.

Goff is certainly not the only person responsible for the Lions' sudden emergence to prominence, but a team does not win 10 games at this point with anything less than standout quarterback play. And a quarterback has to play on a playoff team to receive MVP consideration, and typically needs to win his division.

It is a game like Saturday's -- a dominant performance against a surging foe late in the season -- that makes MVPs.

Goff will have to perform well in the final three games -- assuming he plays all three, since the Lions may clinch before then -- to put his name in the MVP discussion.  All it takes is one of television's prominent talking heads to comment that maybe Goff deserves some consideration for MVP for his candidacy to take off.  

Once that comment is heard from someone with credibility, the MVP momentum begins.

Here are Goff's five TD passes:

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

.

Cover photo of Jared Goff is by Junfu Han, USA TODAY Sports

Follow Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jakecurtis53

Find Cal Sports Report on Facebook by going to https://www.facebook.com/si.calsportsreport

Published
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.

Home/Football