Four quarterbacks remain in the chase for the Lombardi Trophy ahead of Conference Championship weekend on Sunday.
Kansas City Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes and San Francisco 49ers QB Brock Purdy are no strangers to this weekend and are back for the second-straight year (sixth-straight appearance for Mahomes). Baltimore Ravens QB Lamar Jackson is in for his first AFC title game, while Detroit Lions QB Jared Goff is back on this stage for the first time since the 2018 season. But now, history is on the side of the Detroit Lions quarterback.
Jared Goff Could Join NFL History With a Lions Win
Goff isn’t just one win away from securing the Lions’ first-ever NFC title. He’s a victory away from joining an exclusive list — quarterbacks who have started for two teams in the “Big Game.”
By knocking off the top-seeded 49ers, Goff would become the fifth quarterback in league history to take two different franchises to the Super Bowl. He once quarterbacked the Los Angeles Rams to the 2018 season NFC title before losing to the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LIII.
Who are the other quarterbacks to lead two teams to the annual marquee showcase? Here’s a look:
- Craig Morton: The Hall of Famer first won Super Bowl VI with the Dallas Cowboys over the Miami Dolphins during the 1971 season. Seven years later, he faced the same team that traded him away — this time guiding the Denver Broncos to their first SB appearance. Dallas won that game 27-10.
- Kurt Warner: Warner took the then-St. Louis Rams to two Super Bowl appearances in three years, winning the 1999 season title over the Tennessee Titans. Nearly a decade after his last title in the 2001 season, Warner helped the Arizona Cardinals to their first-ever NFC title in the 2008 campaign. But like Morton, Warner’s second Super Bowl team fell with a 27-23 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XLIII.
- Peyton Manning: Manning joined Morton and Warner as QBs in this group to win the big game in their first appearance, which was during the 2006 season with the Indianapolis Colts. While Manning lost one more championship as a Colt, he took the Broncos to two title game appearances in 2013 and 2015. Manning made history in Feb. 2016 as the first NFL QB to win the Super Bowl with two different teams.
- Tom Brady: The legendary seven-time Super Bowl winner completes this list. Brady won six of his rings with the New England Patriots throughout the 2000s and 2010s. However, he didn’t take long to win with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He won in his first season with the Bucs in 2020. Brady and Manning are the only NFL QBs to win a championship with multiple franchises.
Did Goff Joke About Denying the Lions a Previous Super Bowl Bid?
Ironically, the last time Goff was on this stage was when Lions HC Dan Campbell, defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn, and Goff’s teammate, LB Alex Anzalone, were opponents.
Goff remembers that moment vividly, when he played the past members of the 2018 New Orleans Saints team that lost to the Rams in the NFC Championship Game.
“We joked in there after the game. Ironically, the last time a lot of us played in it was against each other. It was me with the Rams against Dan (Campbell) with the Saints. (Alex) Anzalone was there, Aaron Glenn was there,” Goff told reporters postgame following his 31-23 win over the Bucs on Sunday. “Yeah, so it’s exciting. And not just for me, but for our whole team.”
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All four men have become responsible for bringing a new set of swagger to the Motor City — they have galvanized a football team that has long hoped for a victory parade in February. Goff now says the Lions enter each game with the confidence of a squad expecting to win.
“It’s something that we’ve — it’s not, I don’t want to say this arrogantly, but we expected to win the first game,” Goff said to reporters. “We expected to win this game, and now we get to go to a game we expected to be in against a really good team at their place. And we’re going to come into it expecting to win. It’ll be a tough game, but it’ll be fun.”
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