The Detroit Lions' path from NFL cellar-dweller to playoff darling can be attributed to many people in the organization, but maybe no one has been more instrumental than quarterback Jared Goff.
After the 29-year-old former first-overall pick defeated his former team — the Los Angeles Rams — in Sunday's wild-card round of this season's playoffs, he left Ford Field in a special way: riding shotgun in a truck driven by his father, Jerry Goff.
For those who don't know, Jared got his pro sports athleticism from dad, who was a Major League Baseball player back in the day.
Jared Goff's Dad, Jerry Goff, Played Six Seasons in MLB
Jerry Goff plays catcher for the Houston Astros during a 1995 game. (Photo By MICHAEL MACOR/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)
"Goff's Gaffes" — that's the headline Jerry Goff read on a newspaper taped to the wall of a Chicago bar urinal one day in May 1996.
That's because, on May 12, 1996, Goff tied the MLB record for most passed balls in a single game. He let six pitches get by him while playing catcher for the Houston Astros against the Montreal Expos. It's a record that was originally set 90 years prior in 1906, when Cincinnati Reds pitcher Harry "Rube" Vickers played out of position behind home plate and made his only appearance at catcher, according to a Seattles Times article from 1996.
"Unfortunately I'm going to be remembered forever about this, but it's not something I'm going to let live with me," Goff said of the record at the time. "It's not like I lost a family member. It's not the end of the world."
Jerry Goff, Carson Wentz's dad (kidding, Jared'sdad). Had 6 passed balls in 1 game. Hope Jared's not in shotgun much pic.twitter.com/dY2OMWEYBH
— Paul Kelly (@pau1ke11y) April 29, 2016
It wasn't the end of the world for Jerry Goff — who, alongside his wife and Jared's mother, Nancy Goff, are now watching their son win playoff games for the Lions.
Though that game wound up being his final one in the big leagues — one in which he also hit a home run — Jerry can proudly say he spent parts of six seasons in MLB with the Expos, Pittsburgh Pirates and Astros. His career wasn't anything like his son's. He played in 90 games — 52 of which came as a 26-year-old rookie with the Expos in 1990 — and hit .215 with seven home runs.
In fact, a young Jared Goff was even a part of that career for a little bit. Jerry told ESPN that Jared and his older sister, Lauren Goff, went on the road with their dad in 1996 when he was between the Triple-A minor league affiliate Tucson Toros and the Astros. They were also there during his final season of organized baseball in 1997, when he played for the Amarillo Dillas of the Texas-Louisiana League.
It was because Jerry spent so much of his playing career on the road in different cities that he and Nancy were able to give Jared advice when the Rams traded him to the Lions in March 2021.
Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group/Getty Images
"Dad and I moved many, many, many times," Nancy said she told Jared, via ESPN, "and some of the moves that we thought were the worst move that could've happened ended up being a pathway to some of the best times we had."
Jared became a star quarterback at the University of California, Berkeley, the same school his parents both attended. And after an up-and-down stint with the Rams — which included a Super Bowl appearance — he can firmly say Detroit is where he's supposed to be.
