Jared Goff on Lions Reaching 2024 NFC Title Game: 'We're Not Here by Accident'

Jared Goff led the Detroit Lions to a 31-23 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday and a berth in the NFC Championship Game, throwing for 287 yards and two touchdowns, but he was quick to credit general manager Brad Holmes and head coach Dan Campbell for putting the current team together.

"The greatest leader I've ever been around," he said of Campbell in particular.

Under Goff, Campbell and Holmes, the Lions qualified for their first postseason berth since 2016. Last week's win was their first playoff victory since the 1991-92 season and their upcoming trip to the NFC Championship Game will be the furthest they've reached in the postseason since that same year.

The Lions have never reached the Super Bowl and before Sunday had only reached the NFC Championship Game once.

So yes, it's heady times in Detroit.

"They're the best. Look around right now. They're not going to leave here for quite some time," Goff told reporters after the game regarding the team's fans. "And this is our last one in front of them and they were special tonight as they were last week. But they deserve it. They deserve this. They deserve to enjoy this and hope to give them a lot more moving forward."

The Lions aren't satisfied with how far they've gotten to this point, however.

"I envisioned that we would have a chance to compete with the big boys, and that's where we're at," Campbell told reporters.

Up next will be the NFC's top seed, the San Francisco 49ers. The Lions will be on the road and are a younger and less proven team at this point, and by any measure have already exceeded expectations this season.

But they are a dangerous bunch, loaded with playmakers on both sides of the ball and led by a quarterback in Goff who has played in a Super Bowl before. The Lions are not to be taken lightly, a statement that wouldn't have been made often about this franchise in past years.