Who is Jared Goff? What to know about the Detroit Lions quarterback
Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff was a first round draft pick in 2016 out of the University of California.
After sitting out the first week of the 2024 NFL postseason, it’s time for the Detroit Lions to show their 1-seed in the NFC was no fluke, hosting the 6-seed Washington Commanders on Saturday night at Ford Field.
But how have 1-seeds fared in the NFL playoffs? (More pessimistically put: Are the Lions setting themselves up for disappointment?)
There’s good news and bad news. The good: Of the eight 1-seeds since the NFL adopted its seven-team-per-conference format for the 2020 postseason, six have won their playoff opener. The bad: Of those six, just four won conference titles, and of those, just one hoisted the Lombardi Trophy at season’s end.
We’ve got four seasons under the current NFL playoff setup. Here’s how the No. 1 seeds in each conference fared:
In the AFC, Baltimore won its opener handily, then was upset in the conference title game at home by third-seeded Kansas City, 17-10. The NFC looked primed for an upset, as the 49ers trailed in the second half against both Green Bay and Detroit, but San Francisco rallied to reach the Super Bowl (where it lost to the Taylor Swift-endorsed Chiefs in overtime).
Super Bowl: (3) Chiefs 25, (1) 49ers 22 (OT).
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The chalk was strong in this bracket, as neither Kansas City nor Philadelphia trailed in their divisional round and conference championship victories (though the Chiefs needed a field goal in the final 30 seconds of the AFC title game to beat the Bengals for a Super Bowl berth). In the big game, the Chiefs prevailed on another last-minute field goal.
Super Bowl: (1) Chiefs 38, (1) Eagles 35.
Lions, beware: Both 1-seeds went down in their openers (both on Saturday), with Tennessee falling 19-16 to fourth-seeded Cincinnati (which would go on to the Super Bowl) and Green Bay nose-diving against sixth-seeded (gulp) San Francisco in the night game.
Super Bowl: (4) Rams 23, (4) Bengals 20.
The divisional round featured a pair of cakewalks, as neither Kansas City nor Green Bay trailed, but the conference title games were packed with drama — the Packers were stunned by Tom Brady’s fifth-seeded Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the early game, and the Chiefs trailed 9-0 10 minutes in before putting up 38 points on Buffalo to make the Super Bowl (where they fell to the Bucs, playing at their own stadium in Tampa, Florida).
Super Bowl: (5) Buccaneers 31, (1) Chiefs 9.
