Jared Goff Shuts Down Idea Lions Hold Animosity Toward Ben Johnson

Unlike Detroit Lions fans, Jared Goff holds no ill will toward former offensive coordinator Ben Johnson.

Goff told Mark Sanchez on FOX Sports’ “Rearview” that Johnson’s decision to depart for a division rival didn’t add any extra motivation for him in the Lions’ 52-21 victory over the Chicago Bears on Sunday.

“Ultimately, we just wanted to get a win – 1-1 is a whole lot better than 0-2. Certainly, in our own division, 0-2 would have been tough,” Goff said. “But yeah, we just wanted to get a win. And all the extra stuff with Dan [Campbell] and that whole thing, that there was a storyline there. But to be honest with you, we didn’t really focus on that.”

Johnson’s return brought some extra attention to pregame warmups and postgame handshakes. When Johnson first took the field, he was greeted with some pretty loud boos from Lions fans. After the game, some read into the quick handshake that Johnson and Campbell had as some sort of feud between the two coaches. During the game, Lions fans also chanted “F*** Ben Johnson!” With the Lions playing their starters well into the fourth quarter of Sunday’s blowout win, there was also some speculation that Detroit was running up the score to stick to Johnson.

Goff reiterated, though, that he and the Lions “have a lot of respect” for Johnson.

“He’s a close friend of mine,” Goff said. “He’s somebody who’s done a lot for me in my career, and I love the dude, but, for those three hours, we want to get after him.”

Still, Sunday was all business for Goff. He admitted that he didn’t reach out to Johnson ahead of Sunday’s game before he completed 23 of 28 passes for 334 yards and five touchdowns.

“He’s a very serious guy, and I knew he wanted to be in the zone and didn’t want to bother him,” Goff said. “We’ll chat. We chatted after, briefly, and I’m sure we’ll chat throughout the year.”

While the Lions’ offense looked the way it did under Johnson over the last few seasons on Sunday, it didn’t look that way in John Morton’s first game as the team’s offensive coordinator. The Lions didn’t reach the end zone until the fourth quarter of their 27-13 Week 1 loss to the Green Bay Packers, only putting up 246 total yards of offense.

With Week 2 serving as a big test for Morton, the new offensive coordinator succeeded. That didn’t surprise Goff, who said Morton is a “demanding” offensive coordinator who has “everything you want.”

“Being able to kind of block out the noise that was last week and come back this week with a better plan and lead us in the right direction this week was huge,” Goff said. “He’s been awesome, he really has. He was in a different role with us in 2022. Being able to create that relationship with him then and then him coming back now and seeing him grow into this role even more, it’s been a lot of fun. Him and I work hand in hand, and I do my best for him every day. “

Goff doesn’t love everything about Morton, though. Sanchez, who spent time with Morton during his college career at USC, mentioned the tattoo that the coach has on his ankle, calling it “the worst.” Goff agreed.

“It’s horrible,” Goff said with a laugh. “It’s pretty funny, and guys riffing all the time, like, dude, what is that? It looks like a Harley Davidson logo that’s like, blurred.”

Want great stories delivered right to your inbox? Create or log in to your FOX Sports account, and follow leagues, teams and players to receive a personalized newsletter daily!

What did you think of this story?