{"id":259723,"date":"2025-12-24T20:35:59","date_gmt":"2025-12-25T01:35:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=259723"},"modified":"2025-12-24T20:54:02","modified_gmt":"2025-12-25T01:54:02","slug":"detroit-lions-biggest-pro-bowl-snub-jared-goff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2025\/12\/24\/detroit-lions-biggest-pro-bowl-snub-jared-goff\/","title":{"rendered":"Detroit Lions’ Biggest Pro Bowl Snub"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

Although their playoff hopes are on life support, the Detroit Lions received some good news yesterday. Jack Campbell<\/a>, Jahmyr Gibbs<\/a>, Penei Sewell,<\/a> Aidan Hutchinson<\/a>, and Amon-Ra St. Brown<\/a> were nominated to the Pro Bowl.<\/a> However, the omission of Lions quarterback Jared Goff,<\/a> who made the list only as an alternate, came as a shocking snub.<\/p>\r\n

Detroit Lions’ Biggest Pro Bowl Snub<\/h2>\r\n

The Lions are one of four NFL teams with five players making the 2025 Pro Bowl. They are in elite company with the Los Angeles Rams<\/a>, Dallas Cowboys,<\/a> and the L.A. Chargers.<\/a> Only four other teams, the Denver Broncos<\/a>, San Francisco 49ers<\/a>, Seattle Seahawks,<\/a> and Baltimore Ravens<\/a>, had more Pro Bowl nominations, with each team boasting six players.<\/p>\r\n

Why Goff Deserved to Be Nominated\u00a0<\/h3>\r\n

A four-time Pro Bowl nominee, Goff continues to lead Detroit as an elite, MVP-caliber quarterback. This is his sixth career 4,000-yard-plus season. According to FOX Sports, only Matthew Stafford ranks higher<\/a> than Goff this season. Completing 68.6% of his passes for 4,036 yards, with 32 touchdowns, and five interceptions, Goff\u2019s QB rating is averaging just under 110%.

By comparison, Seattle quarterback Sam Darnold<\/a> is one of six team players nominated to the Pro Bowl. Passing for 3,703 yards with 24 touchdowns and 13 interceptions, with a 100.4% QBR, Darnold has had a remarkable season. \u00a0He led the Seahawks to an impressive 12-4 record and a playoff berth. However, he is not at the same level as Goff. Darnold comes in at number eight on the FOX Sports list. <\/a>\u00a0

A year ago, Dan Campbell<\/a> proudly touted his quarterback as the best in the NFL: \u201cFind me a quarterback that\u2019s playing better than him in this league.\u201d Smashing existing NFL and franchise records has become almost second nature for the 31-year-old Goff, who added yet another record to his impressive resume last week. Goff is the first Lions player in franchise history to have scored more than 30 touchdowns a year<\/a> for three consecutive years.<\/p>\r\n

Was Goff A Victim Of Detroit\u2019s Offensive Play Calling?<\/h3>\r\n

It\u2019s inconceivable that with his elite skills, Goff didn\u2019t make the Pro Bowl. Critics point to his lack of mobility as his biggest weakness. But when you\u2019re surrounded by two of the most talented running backs in the league, that shouldn\u2019t be a concern. Unfortunately, this season it has become one.

In the last few years, much of the Lions’ offensive success was due to the one-two punch of Gibbs<\/a> and David Montgomery<\/a> together. But this season, operating behind a drastically weakened offensive line and a reduced usage of Montgomery, the Lions\u2019 illustrious ground game sputtered. It’s worth noting the games the Lions won this season, Montgomery played a larger role. \u00a0<\/p>\r\n

\"Brian
Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell, left, and staff check on the injury of safety Brian Branch (32) during the second half at Ford Field in Detroit on Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n



Nonetheless, Goff finds a way to overcome. T<\/span>he epitome of grace and calm under pressure, Goff engineered 11 fourth-quarter comebacks in his career. Even in last week’s losing effort to Pittsburgh, Goff had a season-high 54 completions for over 300 yards in his third straight game. Steady and efficient throughout, he notched 199 yards and two touchdowns in the team’s final three drives.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n

Last month, Brad Galli of WXYZ-Channel 7 reported that Campbell believes Goff is playing the best football of his career.<\/a> Campbell said, “He’s settled into his own to where he just continues to take it up another notch and just continues to get better, process information, the game slows down for him. He’s playing at a high level.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\r\n

Detroit Lions Path To The Playoffs<\/h3>\r\n

Despite Goff’s statistically exceptional year, the Lions are dangerously close to missing the postseason. To make the playoffs, the team must win its remaining two games against the Minnesota Vikings<\/a> and the Chicago Bears<\/a>. If the Lions lose either game, they will automatically be eliminated.\u00a0<\/span>In addition, Detroit’s path to the playoffs is dependent upon the Green Bay Packers <\/a>losing both of their final games against the Ravens and Vikings. Based upon this unlikely scenario, oddsmakers have given the Lions a 5%-8% chance of making the playoffs.

It\u2019s a lousy end to a snake-bitten 2025 season for Detroit. For a team with so many elite, talented players, it\u2019s beyond comprehension that this team won\u2019t make the playoffs. But an avalanche of injuries derailed the team this year and negatively impacted the on-field performance. Facing one of the toughest schedules in the league, the players are enduring a vastly different outcome from last year, when the Lions kept winning games despite the injuries. \u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\r\n

But the challenge is to keep fighting for a playoff berth, and right now, the next hurdle is winning the game in Minnesota. Goff is well known for his mental toughness and resilience. He’s accustomed to getting knocked down and getting back up, ready to continue the fight. Goff’s not even thinking about the Pro Bowl snub. \u00a0His focus is on winning the next two games. \u00a0A Lions victory over Minnesota would be the perfect Christmas present. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yesterday, the Detroit Lions had five players nominated to the Pro-Bowl. However, the omission of Jared Goff came as a shocking snub.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5208,"featured_media":259622,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1,24],"tags":[8938,7578,4828,9781,9757,451,6991],"class_list":["post-259723","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","category-lions","tag-aidan-hutchinson","tag-amon-ra-st-brown","tag-david-montgomery","tag-jack-campbell","tag-jahmyr-gibbs","tag-jared-goff","tag-penei-sewell"],"modified_by":"Sue Levine","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259723","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5208"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=259723"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259723\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":260393,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259723\/revisions\/260393"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/259622"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=259723"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=259723"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=259723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}