Many Detroit Lions fans are growing impatient with Jared Goff’s turnovers, but replacing him will require some patience.
It hasn’t been an easy transition for former Rams signal caller Jared Goff to settle into his role as the Lions quarterback. Instead of giving Detroit the push towards contending in the NFC North as he envisioned, realisticallly or not, the Lions are one of only two teams in the NFL still searching for their first win this season.
The Lions’ offense has been inconsistent. There have been injuries along the offensive line and at the receiver position, further thinning an unproven group in the latter case.
Considering that the Lions have been without the services of left tackle Taylor Decker all season and have lost center Frank Ragnow for the year, the offensive line has played about as well as can be expected under their current circumstances.
But the offense hasn’t been nearly productive enough. The Lions rank 25th in the NFL in scoring at 19.6 points a game. Turnovers have been a huge issue, with fumbles an issue for Goff to make it harder for the offense to keep and build momentum.
Replacing Matthew Stafford was never going to be easy for Jared Goff
Goff really only replaced Matthew Stafford on the notion he would be the Lions’ starting quarterback. Especially given that there would be few reliable weapons in the Lions’ passing game. So Goff’s mission was a very difficult one.
to begin with. It was easy to doubt his
So far the deep passing game has been non-existent and the turnovers have been decidedly present. Goff’s three interceptions aren’t the worst in the league. The real issue has been the fumbles. In five games this season, Goff has fumbled six times and lost four of them.
Some have started a ground roots ‘bench Goff’ campaign, that won’t accomplish anything other than ensuring much more losing. David Blough is still the Lions’ backup quarterback.
The Lions are a young, rebuilding team that isn’t going to win much this season regardless of who lines up under center. They were very close to having won two games already, and just couldn’t finish off their opponents on defense.
With continued progress and Goff under center, it stands to reason that the Lions will breakthrough sooner or later and win a game (or two, or three). Perhaps even against the visiting Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday.
But the Lions aren’t about to go on a run to put themselves back in the playoff chase. The only thing they are really chasing is the first pick in the 2022 draft. In terms of finding Goff’s immediate successor, that might be a problem.