Jared Goff vs. Sam Darnold: The epic QB battle no one saw coming

DETROIT — Last Sunday, Minnesota quarterback Sam Darnold entered the victorious Vikings locker room and was greeted by his teammates, who promptly doused him with water and then lifted him off the ground.

It was something pure and special, out of a jubilant NCAA March Madness upset or perhaps a Hollywood movie where eyes would roll that such a thing doesn’t happen in the real world of professional sports.

Yet it was real — real emotion, real appreciation for a 14th regular-season victory and the quarterback who helped deliver it.

The next night, as has become custom around Detroit games the past year, fans who had flocked to a road game in San Francisco celebrated the Lions’ 14th win by filling the stadium with chants about their own quarterback … “JAR-ed Goff, JAR-ed Goff.” Teammates sometimes joined in for the rallying cry of a new contender.

The Lions (14-2) and the Vikings (14-2) will match up at Ford Field here on Sunday in one of the most consequential regular-season games in NFL history. Never before has two teams with this many victories met in the regular season, let alone with a division title and the NFC’s No. 1 overall seed on the line (the loser drops all the way to five).

“This is what you’re in it for, man,” Lions head coach Dan Campbell said. “Ultimately this is it. I mean, you couldn’t write a better scenario, you couldn’t come up with this. … It just doesn’t get any better than this. This is fairy-tale stuff.”

Part of the fairy tale is the unlikeliness of the two quarterbacks — and central figures — of this matchup. In 2007, an 8-0 New England team defeated a 7-0 Indianapolis squad in a historical late clash of unbeaten teams. Those teams were QB’d by Tom Brady and Peyton Manning, respectively, another chapter in a long-standing rivalry between two league MVPs and future Hall of Famers.

This is Sam Darnold and Jared Goff.

This came out of nowhere; two California quarterbacks (Darnold of Orange County and USC, Goff of Marin County and Cal-Berkeley) relocated to the Midwest with franchises that have either never won a Super Bowl (Minnesota) or even reached one (Detroit).

Darnold was the third overall pick of the 2018 NFL Draft, but his career quickly descended into bust/journeyman territory. His three years with the New York Jets is remembered for 39 interceptions and his muttering of “seeing ghosts” during one ill-fated game against the Patriots.

Two seasons in Carolina (some of it as a backup) produced little and last season he mostly watched in San Francisco. Minnesota signed him this past offseason as a veteran presence, counting on rookie J.J. McCarthy to lead the Vikings.

McCarthy got hurt, though. Darnold suddenly became a star. He’s thrown 35 touchdowns (previous career high was 19). His 68.1 completion percentage is 8.4 percent higher than his career average (59.7) heading into the season.

Oh, and then there are those 14 victories — which should set up Darnold for a long-term contract in Minnesota that no one could have seen coming. That shower wasn’t just a celebration, it was teammates making a statement (knowingly or not) to management that this is their guy.

“A fun moment, to be embraced by your teammates like that,” Darnold said. “That was pretty special.”

For Goff it’s been special in Detroit as well. He was the first overall pick of the 2016 draft who had five good seasons with the Los Angeles Rams, including reaching the Super Bowl before losing to New England.

By 2021 though, the Rams felt they needed an upgrade and Goff was traded away to Detroit, along with two first-round draft picks and a third-round selection, in exchange for quarterback Matthew Stafford.

The Rams won the Super Bowl that season. Detroit went 3-13-1.

Goff was considered a throw-in on the trade, but Campbell and general manager Brad Holmes believed in him when others didn’t. By last year, the Lions were hosting their first playoff game in decades — against Stafford and the Rams — and the home crowd wanted to make clear their new allegiance and chanted Goff’s name.

It became a battle cry, not just for Goff’s play (71.7 completion percentage and 36 TDs this season) but how he and his teammates embraced the opportunity in Detroit. He never balked at being in the industrial Midwest, he instead made the most of it. A chance is a chance.

Now he’s seeking the Super Bowl he couldn’t deliver to L.A. His name will be sung all Sunday night.

“The people here are special, man,” Goff said after beating the Rams a year ago. “I’m grateful.”

For all the playoff implications — and they are significant — and all the historic impact of these two teams playing in such a game in the final week of the season, the quarterbacks add to it.

This would be incredible with anyone, including two all-time greats — a Brady or a Manning for example. It may be even more incredible with two guys who took the long way — with as many downs as ups — to get here.

One of the biggest regular-season games in NFL history?

It’s Sam Darnold vs. Jared Goff, featuring the power of never giving up on yourself.