We heard for years how Sean McVay was the reason for Jared Goff’s success and that without McVay (or a high quality OC) Goff was nothing more than an average QB at best. Sean McVay was an offensive genius who made Goff look like a Pro Bowler. Goff was a system QB and it was the system that made him so good and not himself. And when 2019 and 2020 came along, Goff had a QB passer rating of 86.5 and 90, it was Goff who was to blame and not McVay. Goff was the sole reason for his lack of production not McVay (While some of this is probably true, there was a lot more going on beneath the surface that either you or I know about). We have been listening to this “lazy” rhetoric for years. It’s time for this absurd rhetoric to end.
McVay didn’t just trade Goff but sent him to the Detroit Lions and McVay wasn’t even respectful to Goff in telling him this. And just about everybody expected Goff’s career to essentially die in Detroit. Heck, Goff himself said it seemed like a death sentence (until he talked to BH/DC).
But then the most amazing thing happened. Sheila Ford took over ownership of he Lions and she brought in Brad Holmes and Dan Campbell. And Goff didn’t just resurrect his career, he’s put up insane numbers. It’s safe to say that in the last 4 years (2022-2025) no QB has played any better than Jared Goff. No one. Goff is the only QB to lead his team to top 5 scoring offense for 4 straight seasons (2022-2025). He’s had the 2nd highest QB passer rating in that time at 103.6*. He’s thrown the most TD passes of any QB with 130. He’s thrown for the most yards than any other QB with 18,206. And Goff ints thrown% is tied for 2nd lowest at 1.7%. And he has 13 game-winning drives, which is third, only behind Mahomes and Allen who had 14. He’s done all this in a sport that says highly mobile QBs are better QBs. And he did that after being discarded to a hopeless Detroit Lions team. He didn’t just do this with any team. He did it with the Detroit Lions. And an interesting stat, if you take out Goff’s 2016 Rookie year and 2021, his 1st year with the Lions, Goff has led his offenses to top 5 scoring offense in 6 of 8 years (2 years he didn’t 2019 and 2020). Those seasons aren’t a coincidence that is what you call Hall of Fame numbers. Also, in 2024 the Detroit Lions were the 4th highest scoring team in the history of the NFL.
From all the info that I’ve gathered, in the 2 years in LA in 2019 and 2020 McVay was not just becoming increasingly critical of Goff but created an unstable hostile environment towards him. There is even talk of McVay bashing Goff when speaking to sports broadcasters. And pro bowl tackle Andrew Whitworth gave the analogy that Goff was taking a beating, calling him a “punching bag.” And when one starts to bash and belittle any player, especially your QB, bad things are going to happen….it’s just common sense and that is exactly what did happen. And when the coach creates a toxic environment, the relationship had to end. No one deserves to be a “punching bag”.
The biggest problem with Goff’s lack of production in 2019 and 2020 was not Goff, but McVay’s inability to correct the situation whether it be schematically or players wise (not just one player). Don’t get me wrong, McVay is a great coach, but he apparently has had some serious issues that got in his way in coaching and the way he communicated and treated Goff. His youth got the better of him. When Goff is being likened to a “punching bag,” the issue wasn’t about a disagreement, but about McVay creating an unhealthy environment around Goff which is a recipe for disaster for any player. If a coach is too busy, criticizing his player and not correcting the issues that need to be corrected, then there’s no hope for that relationship.
We’ve heard for years that it was all on Goff while Goff has quietly become arguably the best QB in the NFL.
But you see, it really was Sean McVay all along.