Will Battle for NFC Boil Down to Sean McVay’s Past?

Peter Schrager on Monday called Jared Goff the most important player in the NFC this season. It’s an interesting title since the former Rams quarterback essentially finds himself in the middle of one of the NFL’s loudest debates entering the season.

The Detroit Lions or Los Angeles Rams. Which NFC team that presents the biggest challenge for reigning Super Bowl champion Philadelphia? Most consider that club either Goff’s Lions or Sean McVay’s Rams.

Facing his steepest hill since McVay and Les Snead traded him to Detroit as part of the Matthew Stafford trade in 2021, Goff has lost his offensive coordinator Ben Johnson and four-time Pro Bowl center Frank Ragnow.

“There’s been a raid of his coaching staff from the last several years,” Shrager said Monday on Get Up. “Six different coaches gone, including Ben Johnson, and now you're telling me that Frank Ragnow, his long-time center, and the other members of the offensive line are no longer there as well.

“I think Jared Goff has had an amazing career arc where it went from success right away with McVay, then to be discarded and then to show that, ‘Hey, no, no, no. I can still play in this game, Pro Bowls, the whole deal.’”

Detroit’s offense has been the whole deal since 2022. Over the past three seasons with Johnson at the helm, Goff has led the Lions to 177 offensive touchdowns and only 154 punts. For context, McVay and the Rams since 2022 have just 112 offensive TDs and 200 punts.

Stability is important, though, and the Rams have it in overflowing fashion. The Rams are one of three NFL teams that hasn’t changed its offensive play-caller since the beginning of the 2017 season, joining Kansas City (Andy Reid) and San Francisco (Kyle Shanahan).

One of those three teams has played in the Super Bowl each of the last seven seasons. And whether Goff can overcome the loss of Johnson is an important question. The Rams and the rest of the NFL will have a much better idea on Dec. 14, when the Lions visit SoFi Stadium to meet Los Angeles in a Week 15 NFC showdown likely to carry significant playoff implications.

Ironically with Aaron Rodgers officially signing in Pittsburgh over the weekend, Goff’s last start with the Rams also was the last time Rodgers won a postseason game, 32-18, in the divisional round of the 2020 NFC playoffs. In that contest at Lambeau Field, then-Packers receiver Davante Adams had nine catches for 66 yards and a touchdown.

Two months later, Stafford was in Los Angeles and Goff was in Detroit. Stafford led the Rams to four straight postseason victories, including Super Bowl LVI, before Goff and his new team ended the streak in a 2023 NFC wild-card game.

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