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