The Lions fell behind early in Sunday’s road game against the Vikings and they fell behind late, but neither deficit proved to be insurmountable.
Quarterback Jared Goff went 12-of-12 in the first half as the Lions rattled off 21 straight points to erase a 10-0 Minnesota lead and he hit on two passes for 30 yards to set up Jake Bates’s game-winning field goal after the Vikings took the lead on an Ivan Pace fumble return for a touchdown.
Goff ended the day 22-of-25 and has completed 73.6 percent of his passes for the season, which he says is a testament to his ability to weather storms without losing his cool.
“I say composure,” Goff said, via Eric Woodyard of ESPN.com. “Mostly toward the offense. There’s a lot of stuff going on. They do a lot of things. They blitz. They want to pressure. They want to apply the pressure. For us, it was go down 10-0 and we’re kind of getting kicked in the mouth a bit. Stay calm, stay relaxed. We have the fumble they score on. Stay calm, stay relaxed. It really came in handy for us.”
Lions head coach Dan Campbell doesn’t always give off the calm, relaxed vibe that Goff is talking about, but it’s clear that the quarterback’s approach took hold on Sunday and the Lions are now on top of the NFC North as a result. That should make it easier to keep the faith in the face of future adversity and it could make another division title just the first of many accomplishments this season.
