Jared Goffis not the most fleet of foot.
In an oblique way, Chicago Bears coach and former Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson reminded everyone of that Monday in a postgame news conference following his team’s 20-point victory over the Philadelphia Eagles. After third-stringer Case Keenum threw for 247 yards and two touchdowns to lead the winning effort, a reporter asked Johnson if he had to tailor the game plan for a 38-year-old dropback passer who was not nearly athletic as the injured starter he replaced, Caleb Williams.
“Well, I’ve got a little history of that, with calling plays for someone not so mobile,” Johnson said with a wry smile.
Johnson didn’t say Goff by name. But everyone knew he was referring to the Lions’ on-field
leader. The innocuous dig wasn’t the first thinly veiled jab Johnson took at Goff’s lack of agility. Soon after he took charge of Detroit’s NFC North rival, he noted how eager he was to work with Williamsbecause of his escapability that allows him to venture outside the pocket and extend plays.
#Bears HC Ben Johnson with a friendly dig at Jared Goff 😅 pic.twitter.com/TDkWTDOv0o
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) September 29, 2026
“I get excited thinking about that because I haven’t really been around that since I’ve been in the league,” he said at the 2025 NFL combine.
Goff wasn’t insulted by Johnson’s comments then. He isn’t miffed by his former play-caller’s most recent ones now. The two have talked since and there isn’t any bad blood between them.
“Yes, it’s no big deal,” Goff told reporters Wednesday, Sept. 30.
After all, Goff knows that Johnson was speaking the truth. Goff would be the first to acknowledge he doesn’t make plays with his feet but rather his right arm and brain.
“Goff’s game is cerebral,” Dan Campbell said.
Goff, the Lions coach explained, is “able to get us in the right call, turn the protections, alter some of what we’re doing in the pass game, what routes we’re calling … what’s the look. And that’s his game, and he’s damn good at it.”
The exemplary work Goff has done in the beginning of his 11th NFL season corroborates that. Among quarterbacks with at least one start, Goff ranks fourth in efficiency rating, sixth in passing yards and seventh in completion percentage. When opponents have blitzed him, he been devastatingly effective, connecting on 30 of 36 attempts for 304 yards and five touchdowns. Goff has also yet to throw an interception in 109 attempts and has the second-lowest rate of turnover-worthy plays among quarterbacks with 100 or more dropbacks, according to Pro Football Focus.
To sum it up, he rarely puts the ball in harm’s way. Goff has developed a reputation for being cautious, suppressing the urge to take risky deep shots and defaulting to one of his safer options after toggling through his progressions.
“Everyone wants to see the big-time throws downfield, the 60-yard touchdowns.” said associate head coach Scottie Montgomery. “But consistently he has been able to check the football down and get catch-and-knife opportunities for our skill guys underneath,”
Goff’s prudent, calculated approach is a reflection of his intelligence and ability to quickly process what is happening in front of him. Unlike some of his dual-threat peers blessed with more physical gifts, Goff knows the only way for him to be successful is to use his mind to guide his accurate right arm. A case can be made that Goff has become a top-level quarterback, in part, because he can’t use his legs to run away from his problems.
“I think you’re forced to win from the pocket,” Goff said. “I don’t have necessarily the luxury of being wrong pre-snap and being able to fix it post-snap. I have to typically be right pre-snap, and if I’m not, then I have to do something from the pocket to make myself right to find space or buy time.”
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It’s usually a subtle maneuver or two – like a quick lateral step or a move to duck out of the way of an oncoming rusher. Sometimes it’s all of the above. During the first quarter of a 31-30 overtime conquest of New Orleans in the season opener, Goff did his best Baryshnikov impression as he evaded a Saints front bearing down on him before firing a 19-yard strike to tight end Sam LaPorta.
“Jared can glide around in the pocket a little bit,” edge rusher Aidan Hutchinson said with a grin.
But he isn’t much of a scrambler. In 154 career games, he has rushed for just 611 yards on 304 attempts.
There, of course, has never been the expectation Goff will take off and run for big gains.
That’s not his forte. Campbell is well aware. But it doesn’t limit what the Lions can do when they possess the ball, he insisted.
“I don't feel like that's a hindrance,” Campbell said. “We run the offense we run, and we're very good at it because of Jared Goff.”
Goff may not be very mobile. But Campbell believes he still has the moves to take the Lions where they want to go.
Contact Rainer Sabin at rsabin@freepress.com. Follow him @RainerSabin on X.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Ben Johnson reminded us brainpower is Jared Goff's secret weapon
