'Gave us a ton of fire,' Lions QB Jared Goff opens up about the tough loss in NFC title game and what can that mean in 2024 season

However, their hopes and dreams came crashing down when the San Francisco 49ers outperformed them at 34-31, even though the Lions were in the lead till halftime at 24-7. Hearing the quarterback Jared Goff talk about the tragic loss, it seems the team is still not over the loss. 

Instead of self-doubting themselves, the Lions are taking the wise road and using it as motivation for the upcoming season, as previously asserted by head coach Dan Campbell. 

Dan Campbell’s fire and lessons learned from the playoff loss

During the Tuesday press conference, QB Goff shared the same sentiment as his head coach, via Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press.

It seems a lot of things just kind of didn’t go our way and I hate for that to sound like an excuse because we felt like we should have won that game anyways, but the second half they played well and we didn’t and that’s kind of the bottom line. There wasn’t just one thing that went wrong, there was a handful of them and, yeah, it’s the way the ball bounced that day, but [it] gave us a ton of fire. It really did. Said the Lions star quarterback

While talking about the lessons Goff learned from the poor playoff loss, he also highlighted how head coach Campbell has been using it to motivate his players.

And I know Dan’s talked about it, gave us a ton of fire, and gives us something to look at and to draw on for next year.

Added Jared Goff

Even though the Lions couldn’t succeed in breaking their longest-existing Super Bowl drought, their quarterback had a remarkable season. He logged 4,575 yards with 30 touchdowns and 12 interceptions, for a completion rate of 67 percent. In the three games they played in the postseason, Goff threw for 837 yards along with four touchdowns.