The Detroit Lions had their shot. Down 31–21 on Thanksgiving with just under 11 minutes remaining, the offense faced a massive 4th-and-3 at the Green Bay 21-yard line. It was exactly the kind of moment you expect your franchise quarterback to deliver in, and Jared Goff had the right call, the right read, and the right receiver.
The play design rolled Goff to his right, freeing Jameson Williams on a crosser with room to run. Williams separated, the window opened, and Goff fired. But the ball arrived low and slightly behind the sprinting wideout, bouncing off Williams’ hands and hip before hitting the turf.
For a Lions team desperately needing points, it was the turning point.
And afterward, Goff didn’t dodge a single ounce of the responsibility.
Jared Goff missed throw vs Packers
Goff: “That’s the one that’ll hurt me for a while.”
In his postgame presser, Goff was blunt about the miss: no excuses, no deflection, no hesitation.
He said, “I’ve got to connect with Jammo there on the one down in the red zone. I’ve got to give him a better throw. He makes that catch, he might score right there, and the drive might be over. That’s the one that’ll hurt me for a while.”
Those are the words of a quarterback who knows exactly what that moment meant.
Goff didn’t attribute it to timing, pressure, scheme, or personnel. He pinned it entirely on himself.
The fourth-down issue isn’t complicated to Goff: “I’ve just got to hit him.”
Detroit’s struggles on fourth down have lingered over the last few weeks. Goff was asked how the team can improve in those moments, and his answer was almost startlingly simple.
“I don’t think there’s anything you can do… you’ve just got to execute in those big moments,” he said. “I had Jamo open. He’s screaming across. I’ve got to hit him. That’s the bottom line.”
No magic solution. No “we’ll look at the tape.” No shifting blame.
Just a quarterback saying: I have to make the throw.
Even without St. Brown, Goff felt others stepped up
Losing Amon-Ra St. Brown early in the game didn’t help, but Goff didn’t lean on that as a reason for the loss.
“Everyone stepped up and did a good job. Jamo became that guy who was getting open a lot,” he said. “TeSlaa did a good job, TK did a good job… guys stepped up.”
If anything, he seemed encouraged by what the backups contributed, reinforcing that the missed fourth-down opportunities were what truly swung the game.
The mindset now? One message: “Win the next one.”
At 7–5, the Lions are in a very different position than last season, when they surged into playoff contention. But Goff isn’t entertaining any panic.
“Win the next one. Find a way to win the next one. Get to eight and five,” he said. “We know where we’re at… but we’ve got to beat Dallas.”
It’s as straightforward as it gets: don’t dwell, don’t spiral — respond.
The Bottom Line
Jared Goff isn’t ducking from the loss. He’s not pointing fingers. He’s not offering excuses.
He knows the throw to Jameson Williams was the pivot point, and he said it plainly: that one’s on him.
If the Lions claw their way out of this late-season hole, this accountability from their quarterback may end up being one of the reasons why.