The Detroit Lions and quarterback Jared Goff played their hearts out against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday, December 21, going up against rival quarterback Aaron Rodgers in a need-to-win game. But, in the end, the Lions fell 29-24, and let their playoff hopes slip out of their fingers.
Now, the Detroit Lions have a 8-7 record for the season, and that means they have a very little chance, if any, of making it to the postseason. If the team had won, their playoff chances would have gone way up, which makes the loss even more heartbreaking.
The end of the game was controversial, because the referees deemed the game over after an offensive pass interference call, following Amon-Ra St. Brown pushing Jalen Ramsey in his route and causing a stir. The officials said the touchdown counted, but it didn’t, and the whole thing was confusing.
“I was all kinds of confused on the final play of the Steelers – Lions game,” one Lions viewer said on X. “Everyone was. And still is,” another one responded.
Jared Goff Speaks Out About Controversial Detroit Lions Game Ending
After the game, Goff spoke out about the end of the game. He called it a “bad call,” and even if that’s true, the players and coaches in the NFL aren’t supposed to publicly criticize referees after the game.
“The one where St. caught it that we thought was a touchdown, in my opinion, that’s a bad call, but those happen,” he said. “Listen, man, they’ve got a tough job and they make calls that go our way all the time, but that one in particular he should not hang his head about and I know he’d like to have the in line back again.”
He added of TeSlaa, “But, that guy made a great catch earlier in the game, he’s been doing a great job and I have zero reservations about him and know he’ll bounce back.”
Goff also elaborated on that moment when he knew there was a penalty on the play. He wasn’t sure which side it was on.
Jared Goff Says He Was Hoping the Penalty Was on Defense
“Yeah, I knew there was a penalty. Was hoping it was defensive and then we either have another play if St. was down,” Goff aid. “When I saw he wasn’t down, hoping it’s defensive and we get the touchdown and win the game, but didn’t go that way and we lost.”
Every Saturday during the season, the NFL gives punishments to players for actions that happened during the previous week’s games. The NFL states on their official website that these actions are “to protect players from unnecessary risk and preserve competitive balance and game integrity.” Ahead of the season’s start, the NFL and NFL Players Association agree on the set of game-related rules violations that result in these accountability measures.
So, on Saturday, December 27, Goff will find out if he’s fined. We hope he isn’t. He’s a good guy, and he didn’t say anything really bad about the refs and instead admitted that they have a difficult job on the field.
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