Culture

Shock, fear, euphoria and heartbreak: The story of England's Euro 2024

Published

5 months ago

July 15, 2024

Shock, fear, euphoria and heartbreak: The story of England's Euro 2024

It was past midnight in Berlin and, in the bowels of the Olympiastadion, one England player after another emerged from the dressing room in stony-faced silence. Some heads were bowed, some hoods were pulled up. There goes Harry Kane. There goes Jude Bellingham. There goes Phil Foden. There goes Declan Rice.

It was a night of long walks for England’s players. First, the miserable trudge to the podium, where the European Championship trophy was adorned in red and yellow ribbons — look if you want, but walk on by. Then down staircases to the dressing room, where tears were shed. Now this: a circuitous route to the exit, where a bus was waiting to whisk them off into the night, their dreams of glory dashed once again in a 2-1 defeat by Spain.

Few of them were willing to chat. One who did was John Stones, who described his emotions as “mental torture”. “You think, ‘Could I have done this? Could I have done that? What if this happened?’,” the Manchester City defender said, reflecting on Mikel Oyarzabal’s late winner. “You can play so many scenarios around in your head.”

But defeat had been coming. There had been moments of euphoria as England stumbled through the knockout stage, but in some ways, it was the least convincing of their four major tournaments under Gareth Southgate. They spent more time teetering on the edge of calamity than glory.

Stones passes the trophy, which now belongs to Spain (Dan Mullan/Getty Images)

It was a strange campaign in so many ways. Southgate repeatedly spoke about the “noise” that was so difficult to overcome, but in the end, there was silence. The only noise was the fiesta coming from Spain’s dressing room down the corridor.

Stones spoke of pride in everything England’s players had done in Germany — “how we handled ourselves, how we gave everyone these memories” — but said that ultimately “it’s just sad”. It felt that way watching them leave, particularly youngsters like Kobbie Mainoo and Cole Palmer, who hadn’t experienced disappointment like this before.

For Southgate, Kane and others, the long lonely walk was achingly familiar.

To tell this story of England’s summer The Athletic has spent the past month speaking to multiple people close to the camp, many of whom have chosen to remain anonymous to protect their relationships.

Five and a half weeks before the final, Kane and Southgate went for another walk. This one was at Tottenham Hotspur’s training ground, where England were gathered before their final pre-tournament warm-up match.

Kane was worried. He and some of his team-mates were in a state of shock after Southgate, having already left Jordan Henderson and Marcus Rashford out of his pre-tournament squad, omitted Harry Maguire and Jack Grealish from the final group of 26.

Southgate had not enjoyed informing youngsters James Trafford, Jarrad Branthwaite, Jarell Quansah and Curtis Jones they had missed the final cut, but they always hoped for inclusion rather than expected it. James Maddison knew the writing was on the wall. Leaving out Maguire and Grealish was going to be much harder.

Maguire knew he faced a race against time, having missed the final weeks of Manchester United’s season with a calf injury. But even after a slight setback, the defender felt he would be fit by England’s third group game. He was shocked when Southgate told him he was out of the final squad. Maguire insisted he would be fit. Southgate told him he couldn’t take the risk.

Grealish was equally stunned. He had made a positive impact from the bench in the friendly against Bosnia & Herzegovina three days earlier and hoped he would be involved in the final warm-up match against Iceland at Wembley, but he too was summoned by Southgate and told he had not made the cut.

Kane and Southgate spoke after a final squad selection that left many players shocked (Richard Pelham/Getty Images)

Maddison left the camp almost immediately. Maguire and Grealish hung around, still shocked. In both cases, that sense of shock was shared by team-mates. Some visited Grealish in his bedroom, expressing disbelief. Rice said in a news conference he was “gutted” that Maddison and Grealish, “two of my best mates in the squad”, had been left out.

Beyond personal feelings, some players simply felt Grealish should have been included because of his quality and big-game experience. He had barely figured in the final weeks of the season at Manchester City, but he started both legs of a Champions League quarter-final against Real Madrid in April. If Pep Guardiola was willing to trust him in big games, why was he suddenly surplus to Southgate’s requirements? Was it personal? Something else?

Grealish wished all his team-mates good luck before he left the camp, but he was in no mood for pleasantries with Southgate. He was shocked and deeply upset. It left a bittersweet feeling among some of the players as they received confirmation of their call-ups. For many, it was not a happy camp that evening.

Grealish and Maddison were both left out of the final squad (Eddie Keogh – The FA/The FA via Getty Images)

Kane was keen to discuss the matter with Southgate so that he could better understand the decision and relay the manager’s thoughts to the rest of the squad. On that walk, Southgate tried to explain his reasoning.

The following evening, England were beaten by Iceland at Wembley in their final warm-up game. There were boos at full time from those who stayed long enough. England had only one shot on target all evening.

For the first time under Southgate, the mood inside and outside the squad felt far from optimal as they set off for a major tournament.

No stone had been left unturned by the FA the staff at their base in Blankenhain in the former East Germany, just over 60 miles from the border with the Czech Republic.

The Spa & GolfResort Weimarer Land had everything from a basketball court, a padel court and a games room, to spa pools, ice baths, relaxation pods and cryotherapy chambers. There were two 18-hole golf courses, to the delight of Kane and others, as well as golf and driving simulators. Each player’s bedroom was decorated with home comforts, family photographs and letters written by loved ones. There was artwork commissioned of various players’ pets, some of them wearing England shirts.

Meals were prepared by Danny Schwabe, the resort’s Michelin-starred chef. It even smelt like home; FA officials had brought diffusers from St George’s Park, their English training base, to make the players feel more at home.

At one time, England players would complain about being shut away in their bedrooms at tournaments. Under Southgate, they spend most of their time in communal areas, whether around the pool (between matches of volleyball and water polo) or around the big screen, watching the other matches, or in the games room or the juice bar. Lewis Dunk and masseur Ben Mortlock set to work on the Lego kits the FA had provided, quickly building the Hogwarts Castle set from Harry Potter.

There was a different dynamic to this squad: no Raheem Sterling, no Henderson, no Sterling, no Maguire, no Rashford, no Grealish.

Some of the personalities within the squad were well established: Kane a quiet leader, Jordan Pickford exuberant, Rice as infectiously enthusiastic off the pitch as on it, Bellingham exuding alpha male energy, Bukayo Saka the universally loved “starboy”. Others would emerge as the tournament went on, not least “Uncle” Marc Guehi, mature beyond his 24 years, and youngsters like Palmer and Mainoo.

Gallagher’s midfield inclusion was curtailed by Southgate (Adam Davy/PA Images via Getty Images)

A favourite pastime was “Werewolf”, from which the TV series “The Traitors” is adapted. Trent Alexander-Arnold and Bellingham, fiercely competitive in everything they do, were the main players — something they referenced with their celebration when Bellingham scored against Serbia to get England’s campaign off to a winning start.

But their performance that day in Gelsenkirchen was unconvincing. England hadn’t hit the ground running the way Germany and Spain had. After a dominant first half-hour, featuring Bellingham’s goal, they had just 44 per cent of the possession and managed just two more shots on target.

There were other concerns. Southgate’s use of Alexander-Arnold in an unfamiliar midfield role had not paid off. The balance wasn’t right. The manager expressed worries afterwards about the physical condition of his players.

Next was a 1-1 draw with Denmark in Frankfurt. Again, there was a lack of fluency and cohesion. Alexander-Arnold was substituted again, this time just 10 minutes into the second half. Southgate seemed to have pulled the plug on that experiment and was now ready to try Conor Gallagher instead.

The team’s energy levels were a real concern now. Southgate spoke of “limitations” in their ability to press because of the “physical profile of the team”. Kane, for his part, said England’s players were “not sure how to put the pressure on and who’s supposed to be going” when the opposition have the ball.

A day later, a report appeared in the London Times detailing the coaching staff’s concerns about the deficiencies in the team’s pressing game, but specifically about Kane. The report detailed conversations Southgate’s coaching staff had previously had with Kane, explaining to him that when pressing an opponent, he has to be at top speed when he reaches them. Kane, the report said, “has never been able to do this. He moves at half-speed towards his opponent, slowing down as he gets there”.

Kane scored against Denmark but was later criticised (Vasile Mihai-Antonio/Getty Images)

The report was by David Walsh, who ghost-wrote a book with Southgate two decades ago and was billed recently as “the journalist who knows him best”. The line about Kane’s pressing might have been historic, or might not have come from Southgate, but it was strikingly specific.

Kane ended the tournament with three goals, sharing the Golden Boot award, but he looked uncomfortable throughout. There were frequent suggestions that he was struggling with the back injury that curtailed his season at Bayern Munich, but publicly, he insisted he was fit.

The issues were piling up, but the biggest of them, according to Southgate, was the one that escalated in the following days.

As much as Southgate was worried about his team’s energy levels, their lack of cohesion, their lack of creative spark and the struggles of Kane, what troubled him most post-Denmark was what he called an “unusual environment”.

This was his fourth tournament as England manager and it was the first time he felt tension in the air. He spoke of “noise” and the difficulty players had in trying to shut it out.

There was still a warmth to media engagements at the team’s base in Blankenhain — built around the now traditional daily player-versus-reporter darts challenge — but some of the players felt they were under attack from former England players including Gary Lineker, who, on his podcast The Rest Is Football, called the performance against Denmark “s***”.

Kane hit back at the pundits, saying they had a “responsibility” to consider the impact of their words on a group of players — some of them at their first tournament — who were already under intense pressure.

At this point, there were whispers from inside the camp about whether Southgate had erred by leaving Henderson, Maguire and others behind. Even if they were not going to get much playing time, some players wondered whether their personalities and experience might have helped bring a sense of calm.

According to those briefed on the matter, one player told a member of Southgate’s staff he had “never known anything like” the criticism the team faced after the Denmark draw, particularly on social media. There had been a backlash after 0-0 draws with Scotland at Euro 2020 and the United States at the World Cup in 2022, but nothing on this scale. Kane was getting stick, but so were Bellingham, Rice, Foden, Kyle Walker, Kieran Trippier and others.

Southgate was troubled by the reaction of his players to the draw with Denmark (Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

There was also unrest when one newspaper accompanied Walker’s former mistress, the mother of his 10-month-old son, to the game against Denmark. Another player’s marriage was also the subject of media speculation.

The players always look forward to spending time with their families the day after a game, but Kane said some of them felt a seven-hour “fun day”, with bouncy castles and inflatable slides laid on for the children, had been a “bit too long”. “We might cut down on that in future,” he said — and they did.

In the days after the Denmark game, Southgate showed his players some footage from the final whistle in Frankfurt. He openly challenged the players over their body language, telling them, “They (Denmark) are on two points, we’re on four. They’re celebrating with their fans, we’re on our knees.”

Southgate felt their reaction, symptomatic of that “unusual environment”, had fuelled an outside perception of a failing campaign. But the environment got worse before it got better.

First came the boos and jeers. Then, as Southgate made a point of applauding the fans at the end of a dismal 0-0 draw with Slovenia in Cologne, came a stream of insults as the air turned blue. Finally, there were some plastic beer cups thrown in the manager’s direction, which shocked him.

England’s place in the knockout stage was already secure before they kicked a ball against Slovenia, but the mood darkened at the final whistle. It was aimed primarily at Southgate, but the players felt it, too. Ezri Konsa told reporters that some of the players’ family members had been “hit with a few drinks. My brother was hit, a few others. It was coming from all angles”.

So was the criticism. The team just wasn’t working. Bellingham, Saka, Foden and Kane were all struggling. Rice was carrying a heavy load in midfield. There were issues with the balance of the team — the blend in midfield, the lack of width in attack, the absence of a specialist left-back with Luke Shaw still sidelined — but what troubled Southgate above all was what he again referred to as an “unusual environment”.

He reflected after Cologne that the difference in mood was “probably because of me” and that this was now “creating a bit of an issue for the group”.

Empty cups thrown at Gareth Southgate as he applauds the England supporters. @TheAthleticFC #ThreeLions pic.twitter.com/rvJhL6t5OL
— Dan Sheldon (@Dan_Sheldon_) June 25, 2024
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There were players Southgate felt he had to take aside. They included Alexander-Arnold, who had been cast aside after two games in midfield, and Gallagher, who was deeply disappointed at being substituted at half-time against Slovenia. Southgate assured both players they would still have important contributions to make, even if they were from the bench. He was pleased by both players’ response over the rest of the tournament.

But Southgate detected an underlying angst within the group. He didn’t go into specifics at the time, but two weeks later, having turned a corner, he was willing to acknowledge it publicly.

“I’ve talked to a lot of psychologists over the years and one of the things that human beings want to avoid is public embarrassment,” he told ITV Sport. “We had a little bit of that mindset in the group stage. We weren’t free. We were too aware of the noise around us.”

One player seemed more aware than anyone. Bellingham’s man-of-the-match performance against Serbia was followed by indifferent displays against Denmark and Slovenia. He was said by those familiar with the team environment to be acutely aware of every word said or written about him in the media. Any criticism of his performances seemed nuanced, but he would later refer to a “pile-on”.

His demeanour was the subject of murmurs. That “Hey Jude” Adidas advert, which portrayed him as the national team’s saviour, was well received by the public, but some within the camp felt the tone was at odds with the collective ethos of Southgate’s England.

Bellingham has followed a different path to his England team-mates: eschewing the Premier League to go from Birmingham City to Borussia Dortmund to Real Madrid. He was fast-tracked through the England development teams without spending much time with others in his age group. Other than a close friendship with Alexander-Arnold, he does not have as many strong connections within the squad as others do.

On the eve of the tournament, Bellingham was promoted to the team’s “leadership group” with Kane, Walker and Rice. But his leadership did not extend to attending any of the daily outside media duties at Blankenhain, whereas less experienced players, including some on the fringes of the squad, such as Palmer, Anthony Gordon and Adam Wharton, faced up and answered awkward questions on the team’s behalf.

This was picked up on by former England captain Wayne Rooney, who wrote in a newspaper column that Bellingham “is in a position where he should be taking responsibility”. “It may be time to grow up, make decisions and say, ‘I need to help out and speak during the difficult times’,” Rooney said, “because if England win these Euros, I’m sure you’ll see him doing interviews.”

Bellingham — and England — needed a big response on the pitch against Slovakia in the round of 16.

England were staring into the abyss. It was the fifth minute of stoppage time and they were on the way out of the tournament, 1-0 down to Slovakia. They hadn’t got a single shot on target. Their campaign — and, it seemed, Southgate’s tenure — was about to end in embarrassment, ignominy and rancour.

And then, after a long throw-in from Walker was headed on by Guehi, Bellingham did something extraordinary, leaping, contorting his body in mid-air and saving England with a spectacular, dramatic scissor kick. Bellingham charged away in celebration. “WHO ELSE?” he asked. “WHO ELSE?”

Well, there was also Kane. In the first minute of extra time, the forward made it 2-1. From facing humiliation in the face, England were heading to the quarter-finals.

This time, Bellingham did the post-match interview rounds, having been named player of the match by UEFA. He said his celebration was partly adrenaline-fuelled but partly a “message to a few people”. “You hear people talk a lot of rubbish,” he said. “It’s nice that when you deliver, you can give them a little back.”

There was also a moment, after that goal, where Bellingham appeared to make a crotch-grabbing gesture. UEFA gave him a suspended one-match ban — to be triggered in the event of a further offence — and fined him €30,000.

Bellingham was the man of the moment, but the biggest pluses for Southgate were the performance of Mainoo, who had brought a better balance to the midfield since replacing Gallagher at half-time against Slovenia, and the contributions of Palmer, Eberechi Eze and Ivan Toney from the bench.

The spectacular Bellingham goal that changed the mood (Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)

There was a different mood as England returned to Blankenhain that evening. Nobody doubted they had got away with a poor performance, but it felt like a weight had been lifted by the euphoria. Back at their hotel, the players bonded, some of them taking Southgate up on his offer of a celebratory beer or two.

The next day brought a recovery session, more family time — a more relaxed mood this time — and, in the evening, a surprise visit by singer Ed Sheeran, who performed an acoustic session for the players, as he had during Euro 2020.

Not every player shares Kane’s enthusiasm for Sheeran’s music, but the night was a great success. Again, the players were allowed to have a drink or two. Some took the opportunity to sing with Sheeran. There was hilarity when Ollie Watkins, an enthusiastic singer, suddenly got stage fright and walked off, telling Sheeran, “Sorry, this song isn’t the one.”

But in a wider sense, the fear of embarrassment had been overcome — just. On the training pitch, on the padel and basketball courts, in those evening games of “Werewolf”, the mood was more upbeat. There was a unity of purpose and a sense of momentum. They were on what looked like the gentler side of the knockout bracket. That helped, too, with Spain, Germany and France all on the other side.

There was also a six-day break between the Slovakia game and the quarter-final against Switzerland: time to recover, recharge batteries and refocus, but also time to work on the training pitch.

Three days before the quarter-final, there were widespread reports that Southgate was considering switching to a three-man central defence against Switzerland. With Guehi suspended after two yellow cards, it was reported that Konsa was likely to join Walker and Stones in central defence, with Saka and Trippier as wing-backs.

Southgate and Holland were livid. Journalists were invited to a conference call where FA officials expressed anger and disapproval on the manager’s behalf. Southgate later asked in an interview with Talksport, “How does it help the team to give the Swiss (who might have been expecting us to play differently) three days to work out what we might do?”

The indignant reaction was a surprise. Media outlets, including The Athletic, have frequently run stories about potential personnel or system changes without attracting such a backlash. The possibility of reverting to a back three, mirroring Switzerland’s system, had already been speculated upon given they had done so in extra time against Slovakia and Southgate had frequently used that system earlier in his tenure.

They worked extensively on the back three in the build-up to the quarter-final. They also prepared for the possibility of a penalty shootout: not just working on their own technique (including the walk-up and the importance of slowing down breathing), but preparing each taker with a designated “buddy” to support him after the kick, to avoid others being disturbed.

The first-half performance against Switzerland was England’s best of the tournament to date, but there was a familiar drop-off after the interval. A sinking feeling took hold even before Breel Embolo gave Switzerland the lead with 15 minutes remaining.

Pickford’s penalty water bottle (Carl Recine/Getty Images)

It was desperation time again for Southgate. Off came Trippier, Mainoo and Konsa. On came Eze, Palmer and, for the first time all tournament, Shaw. Salvation came almost instantly from Saka, the 22-year-old cutting inside from the right and beating Yann Sommer with a shot whipped inside the far post to force extra time. England looked the likelier winners in the first half of extra time, but they ended up clinging on in the closing stages.

Penalties, then: so often the source of English tournament misery in the past, but rarely so (with the Euro 2020 final a notable exception) under Southgate.

Their preparations looked clinical in their precision. So, too, did their penalties as Palmer, Bellingham, Saka and Toney all scored while Pickford pulled off a great save to deny Manuel Akanji (diving to his left, just as the instructions on his water bottle had told him to if the Manchester City defender stepped up).

Alexander-Arnold walked up to take England’s fifth penalty, knowing that he could secure victory. His response was emphatic, a thunderous shot that sent his team through to the semi-finals. On the pitch and in the stands, the celebrations were loud and joyous.

The previous angst had given way to joy and a sudden sense of excitement about what this tournament might now have in store.

There was barely time to rest now. England’s players returned to Blankenhain that night and, after a recovery session the next day, there was only time for two full training sessions before they flew to Dortmund, where they would play the Netherlands in the semi-final on the Wednesday evening.

Southgate reflected on how “at the beginning of the tournament, the expectation weighed quite heavily and of course the external noise was louder than it has ever been”. “We couldn’t quite get ourselves into the right place,” he said. “I felt that shifted once we got into the knockout stages and definitely in the quarter-final.”

The “shift” he spoke about was, he felt, from a “fear mindset” to a “challenge mindset” — being driven by the challenge in front of them rather than consumed by fear of consequences.

But it didn’t quite ring true. They had looked fearful for long periods against both Slovakia and Switzerland, only to be rescued in both matches by a moment of individual brilliance. Performances were still unconvincing. They were going to have to raise their game against the Netherlands.

That need grew after they fell behind to a seventh-minute thunderbolt from Xavi Simons. But they responded well. The manner in which they equalised was fortunate — a Kane penalty following a VAR review which found that Denzel Dumfries had followed through on the England captain — but they were playing more fluently, with Foden enjoying his best 45 minutes of the tournament.

But again they lost their way after half-time. Again they went most of the second half without producing so much as a shot. Foden’s influence had faded after an excellent first half. Kane looked exhausted.

Throughout his tenure, Southgate’s use of substitutions in big matches has been arguably the biggest blot against his record. This time, needing fresh legs, he sent on Palmer and Watkins for Foden and Kane. A big call. Two big calls.

Watkins had only had one brief cameo in the tournament to that point, but earlier in the day, Watkins had told Palmer the pair of them were going to combine for the winning goal. Palmer, receiving the ball in the inside-right channel, knew where to play the pass. Watkins knew where to run. He took one touch to tee himself up and then surprised Bart Verbruggen with a crisp finish inside the far post. England were through to the final.

Watkins creates another euphoric moment (Adrian Dennis/AFP via Getty Images)

The scenes that followed will live long in the memory: Watkins being mobbed by the whole squad, led by Kane; Rice close to tears; Jordan Pickford going berserk; every player looking euphoric, including those who hadn’t kicked a ball in the tournament; Southgate dancing along to “Freed from Desire” and punching the air with delight.

“One more!” Southgate shouted, holding his finger up to the supporters. “Come on!” One more game. One more victory to “make history”, as Southgate put it later.

Spool forward to 10.53pm local time on Sunday. The final whistle was blown and, as Spain’s players and supporters celebrated a deserved triumph, their English counterparts sank into despair.

Rice on his knees. Stones on his back. Saka down, disconsolate. Bellingham walked off the pitch, towards the dugout, and then took out his frustration on a crate of water bottles.

The first half went reasonably well for England. They had far less possession than in previous matches, but Spain’s attacking threat had been kept at arm’s length. Foden forced Unai Simon into an awkward save just before the interval.

But barely a minute into the second half, Spain struck through Nico Williams after the precociously talented teenager Lamine Yamal had escaped from Shaw on the opposite flank. It was a terrible time to concede.

Spain turned the screw, with Williams and Yamal enjoying themselves, and Pickford was repeatedly called into action. Kane gestured to his team-mates to keep going, but it was easier said than done. Again, he looked done for.

Southgate rang the changes, sending on Watkins for Kane and then Palmer for Mainoo. If England were going down, they at least had a duty to go down swinging.

Palmer is the latest to stir England, but this time they did not have the final word (Eddie Keogh – The FA/The FA via Getty Images)

Palmer’s impact, again, was almost immediate. He had barely been on the pitch for two minutes when he struck a first-time shot that beat Simon with the help of a slight deflection. England were back in the game.

It briefly looked like both teams were gearing up for extra time, but Spain found renewed impetus. Yamal forced Pickford into another save and then, in the 86th minute, Oyarzabal played the ball wide to Marc Cucurella and made a perfectly timed run for the return pass, sliding in ahead of Guehi to make it 2-1.

England rallied again, with Rice and Guehi both going close from a corner, but Spain would not be denied.

There was post-match talk of fine margins, as there often is, but this time it didn’t feel that way. England were lucky to end up on the right side of those fine margins earlier in the tournament. They had sailed close to the wind for weeks. It was no surprise when, finally, coming up against a far more coherent team, they were blown off course.

Additional contributor: Dan Sheldon

(Top photo: Getty Images: design: Eamonn Dalton)

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Culture

His dad’s illness drew Andrew Wiggins away from basketball. Now the Warrior is rediscovering his joy

Published

49 minutes ago

December 26, 2024

Press Room

His dad’s illness drew Andrew Wiggins away from basketball. Now the Warrior is rediscovering his joy

SAN FRANCISCO — Andrew Wiggins has always been the quiet one in the Golden State Warriors mix of stars, content with chilling in the background while the big personalities and loud voices hoard all the attention. The stage of personality, with its burdens, isn’t worth mounting.

He would sit back and smile, shaking his head as Draymond Green talked his talk, laughing uncontrollably as Steph Curry danced his dance. And when the festivities were done, win or lose, Wiggins would scoop up his young daughters and head home to be with his family, like his father taught him to do.

But over the previous two seasons, Warriors coach Steve Kerr noticed a different kind of quiet taking hold within one of his most important players. Something more than his usual reservedness. Something deeper. As Mitchell Wiggins’ health deteriorated rapidly, his son withdrew. From the team, from the game, from everything.

“It was brutal because it was an ongoing thing for such a long time where his dad was suffering,” Kerr said. “To see someone you love, your father, suffering for such a long period of time — you can imagine how that would impact your daily existence.”

Wiggins took an extended leave of absence to be with his father two seasons ago and missed some time here and there last season as Mitchell went through various treatments. His numbers declined significantly, his defensive energy disappeared and the Warriors went right down with him.

Those who suffer in silence tend to sacrifice empathy. What exactly was wrong, how deep his hurt, was kept locked behind Wiggins’ penchant for privacy. Thus, he was a central figure of blame for the Warriors missing the playoffs and became the subject of the fan base’s trade wishes.

If only fans knew how much none of it mattered.

“Not caring about basketball as much,” Wiggins said. “You got your life to worry about. You’ve got certain things going on in your life that are your priority. Basketball is kind of in the shadows. You try to figure out a good balance.”

Mitchell Wiggins died in September at the age of 64, devastating a close-knit family. Mitchell and his wife, Marita Payne-Wiggins, were both stellar athletes in their younger days, and they helped their children navigate the cutthroat world of professional sports while not losing sight of the most important things in life.

Three months later, the fog has lifted enough for his soul to breathe. The hurt has settled. After wading through months on top of months of pending grief, bereavement has subsided. Life continues for Wiggins, even with the dad-sized hole in his heart.

Where Wiggins once felt lost and helpless while watching his father suffer through various treatments, he has managed to rediscover his spirit and find reconnection in the wake of his death.

It has been an up-and-down start to this season for the Warriors as they search for the help Curry needs to make another run in the Western Conference. One of the most encouraging signs for them to this point is the reappearance of Wiggins’ smile and the return to the souped-up role player who was so integral to the Warriors’ 2022 title.

After two years of missed games, uneven performances and trade rumors, Wiggins is showing signs of emerging from the fog. His father’s death in September, and the long health struggles that preceded it, shook him and his family to the bone. The mourning will never abate, but Wiggins looks like a man at peace with his surroundings.

“My mind is definitely in a better place,” he said.

Andrew Wiggins warms up before a Golden State game at Chase Center. (Noah Graham / NBAE via Getty Images)

It has been a long road to get here. One game before the All-Star break in 2023, Wiggins left the Warriors. He missed the final 25 games of the regular season for what the team called personal reasons. No more specifics were given at the time, and he returned for the playoffs, where the Warriors were bounced in the second round by the Los Angeles Lakers.

Wiggins was a more regular presence last season, playing in 71 games. But for a large portion of the season, he wasn’t really there. He averaged just 13.2 points per game, almost four points lower than his previous career low, as a rookie with the Minnesota Timberwolves in 2014-15. He shot 35.8 percent from 3-point range, took only 2.7 free throws per game and floated on defense to the point that Kerr chose to take Wiggins out of the starting lineup for the first time in his career. The Warriors knew Wiggins was carrying a heavy burden while his father was in and out of the hospital.

This season, his numbers are back where they belong — 17.3 points, 4.1 rebounds and 42.6 percent from 3-point range, all numbers at or better than his lone All-Star season in 2021-22. There are still uneven nights, like a 1-for-7 shooting performance from 3 in a loss Monday to the Indiana Pacers. But there are also real glimpses of the difference-maker Wiggins can be, including in a game last weekend against his former team.

As the Warriors started to pull away from the Timberwolves in the fourth quarter on Saturday, burly forward Julius Randle grabbed the ball and took Wiggins to the paint. If this was last season, Wiggins might have given in as Randle backed him down. He might not have been able to summon the strength and the give-a-damn to bow his back, absorb the first hit and respond with force.

Wiggins was giving up a few inches and more than 50 pounds, but he clenched his jaw and got into the fight. He took the first collision, and then a second as Randle backed him down and elevated for a turnaround jumper. Wiggins held his ground, kept his base strong and went right up with Randle, shoving the shot right down the Wolves forward’s throat to preserve a seven-point lead with three minutes to play.

The defensive stand set up a Curry 3, and then another to balloon the lead to double digits. Then came the hammer, an alley-oop dunk from Wiggins and a finger-roll layup in the last two minutes to ice the victory against his former team.

“Just really grinding and just getting back to myself and being with my family and friends,” he said earlier this month. “Just remembering that I’ve been doing this for a long time at a high level. This is what I can do. At the end of the day, just going out there, defending, playing two-way basketball.”

Just like dad back in the day.

Mitchell Wiggins during his time with the Rockets in the 1980s. (Bill Baptist / NBAE via Getty Images; Tim de Frisco / Allsport via Getty Images)

Mitchell Wiggins was a dawg on the court. He was an All-American at Florida State and a first-round draft choice of the Indiana Pacers in 1983. But he made a name for himself as a defensive specialist and rugged, rebounding guard for the great Houston Rockets teams of the mid-1980s.

“He was a warrior,” said Timberwolves television analyst Jim Petersen, who played with Mitchell on those Rockets teams. “He was so competitive. He was an amazing offensive rebounder for a guard, and that tells you something about his toughness. And then also he was a lockdown defender as well. He was our defensive stopper.”

While at Florida State, Mitchell met his future wife, Marita Payne, a sprinter who went on to win two silver medals for Canada in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. They were star athletes, but family was at the center of everything. Andrew has two older brothers and three younger sisters, and the children learned about love, connection and trust by watching their parents.

When Andrew was traded to the Timberwolves before his rookie season in a deal that sent Kevin Love to Cleveland to team up with LeBron James, Mitchell, Marita and their three daughters moved from Toronto to Minnesota to be closer to him. Wiggins’ sisters were fixtures at Target Center during his time there, and the importance of family was a constant theme of his six seasons with the organization.

“You can see the tight-knit group that they were. I mean, it’s pretty evident that family is the most important thing to Andrew,” Petersen said. “And that’s the thing. Your heart was breaking for Andrew when you knew Mitchell was going through his health problems because it was affecting Andrew so much on the court. You could see how connected they are as a group.”

The bond between father and son was no joke. After Wiggins was the second-best player during the Warriors’ run to the championship in 2022, Mitchell Wiggins beamed, but maybe not for the reason you would expect.

The basketball was great, of course. For the first seven seasons of his career, Wiggins had been assailed as a disappointment, a No. 1 overall pick with all the physical talent in the world but without the motor to make a difference. He was a worthy wingman to Curry’s brilliance. Mitchell reveled in the redemption, but he couldn’t stop talking about the father Andrew was to his two daughters, about the brother he was to his siblings, about the son he was to him and Marita.

“Everybody realized the talent he had early on, the athletic talent,” Mitchell told The Athletic in the champagne-soaked postgame celebration. “But the biggest thing that me and his mom are proud of is the man and the son that he became. He’s a father that adores his kids, like I adore my kids. When I see him with his girls, his eyes light up. As a father, that’s when I’m most proud.”

Mitchell Wiggins was, is, a monument in the mind of his All-Star son. Behind the scenes, in private moments, Wiggins struggled to grapple with the reality of life without his father. Trauma tends to arrive suddenly, coming out of nowhere to alter lives. But Wiggins was stalked by it for years, haunted by its inevitability.

Even as Wiggins kept his father’s condition private, the Warriors were well aware of the heartache he endured. They never questioned his need to be away from the team. They never doubted his commitment to the organization.

“Everybody loves Wiggs because of who he is, what kind of human being he is, what kind of father and husband he is,” Kerr said. “And we know the pain that he’s been through the last couple of years. You could see it in his play, but just in his demeanor.”

His father was always there for him, so Andrew did not hesitate to leave basketball behind when Mitchell was in need. There was no debate, no pull back to the game and only steadfast support from the Warriors organization. However long it took, whatever he had to do, they were behind him all the way.

“I wouldn’t say it’s all a blur now, but it was just something that’s going on and you’re literally just taking it day by day,” Wiggins said about taking care of his father. “That’s how it was for me. You’re not thinking big picture. You’re not planning for the future. You’re not thinking about the past. You’re literally taking it day by day.”

Kerr, former GM Bob Myers and all of Wiggins’ teammates closed ranks around him, refusing to let anything leak as the public clamored for more information. It only reinforced Wiggins’ belief in what he has with the Warriors.

“This is a first-class organization,” he said. “I don’t think it gets any better than this, to be honest. This is top notch.”

One of the Wiggins family’s greatest resources throughout their patriarch’s long battle was Dr. Robby Sikka, who befriended Andrew during his time as Timberwolves vice president of basketball operations and player wellness under former lead executive Gersson Rosas. Sikka oversaw all aspects of player health in the position and led the team’s response to COVID-19 in 2020.

So when his father grew ill, Wiggins reached out to Sikka for help in navigating the byzantine health care system. Sikka was a constant presence, answering questions, reaching out to health care professionals and serving as a guiding light through the darkness.

“I was going through a lot, but Robby was always there for me,” Wiggins said. “I trust him. He’s like a brother. He’s part of the family now.”

Sikka also helped Karl-Anthony Towns when his mother fell ill with COVID and eventually died and has grown close with Anthony Edwards ever since the front office Sikka was a part of drafted him No. 1 overall in 2020.

All three players have lost a parent in their young lives (Edwards lost his mother to cancer in 2015 when he was 14). And now all three are investing in an app that Sikka is developing dedicated to giving people access to in-depth medical information and care. The Smart Health app will launch early in 2025 and is designed to help provide average people access to the same kind of expert medical guidance that professional athletes receive. It provides secure storage for medical records to expedite what can be a cumbersome process of sharing personal health data with new doctors. It uses artificial intelligence to answer health questions and it also tracks nutrition, sleep and everything else that goes into maintaining good health.

“What Robby is doing is giving everyone the opportunity to truly have full access to their medical records, so that they don’t always need to make an appointment to answer a question for themselves,” said Towns, who played with Wiggins for five and a half seasons in Minnesota. “I told Robby that as long as we can save lives, that’s all that I’m here for. I think that this opportunity truly has an opportunity to save not just one, but millions of lives.”

For Wiggins, the motivation was simple. Sikka was a crucial part of his family’s journey with Mitchell, giving him a knowledgeable sounding board in the toughest of times. He does not believe that winning Rookie of the Year should be a prerequisite for having access to that type of assistance when a loved one is sick.

“It helps cut out the hassle and gets you straight to the point,” Wiggins said. “It’s always more important and you’re more attached when it’s personal and when you’ve been through something.”

Wiggins smiled as he talked about paying it forward. And he smiled at the gift that is coming his family’s way. His fiancée, Mychal, is pregnant with the couple’s third child. This one is a boy.

“First boy in the family,” he said. “We’re all very excited. We’re all looking forward to it. My daughters are very happy. They talk about it every day. It’s going to be great.”

The Warriors’ plane ride home from Minnesota was joyous, following their much-needed win on the Timberwolves court. But Kerr found a moment even better than Saturday’s rebound victory. It warmed his heart in a way that reminded him of a significance greater than basketball. The real wins following debilitating losses.

He saw Wiggins with his daughters as they roamed the charter plane. He saw Mychal and felt the swell of warmth. He saw Wiggins’ trademark grin, the one that only surfaces from a visceral happiness. It doesn’t come easy. The rare display of Wigg’s widest smile is always a moment in that locker room, and they cherish it as such.

More than perhaps anyone in the Golden State franchise, Kerr knows what such a moment means to Wiggins and what it took to recapture this serenity.

“Just seeing those little girls on the plane,” Kerr said. “They’re just beautiful girls. And Wiggs has that million-megawatt smile. It’s so funny because he’s so quiet. But you can see the gleam in his eyes and in his smile. He loves life, and he loves his family. He’s a very simple person in that regard. He doesn’t need a whole lot. He’s not in this for the fame or the glory. No, he loves to play basketball, he loves his family and he enjoys his existence.”

His father died much too soon. But he didn’t leave his son unprepared. Wiggins, who turns 30 in February, has the blueprint for his own family. Mitchell showed him what it means to be a father from the moment Andrew arrived.

The circle of life produces beauty with its hardships. A beauty exists in this transition for Wiggins. The hurt he feels is evidence of a worthy father. The love he feels for his family is evident of a tradition of passing down.

And now he’ll have a son. Kerr called it karma, Wiggins getting the chance to recreate the wonderful relationship he had with his father.

“I’ve always been really close with my family. That’s just how we grew up. I want that for my kids,” Wiggins said, repeating himself for emphasis. “I want that for my kids.”

This will be the first Christmas without Mitchell. Andrew will be on national television as his Warriors play the Lakers. The spotlight following Curry and LeBron James is bright and sure to shine on Wiggins.

He will assuredly shy away from it as much as humanly possible. But when it does find him, it will shine on a man who again knows peace. A father who has picked up the baton of his patriarch. A son who lost a dad who will never leave.

“I think about my dad every day,” Wiggins said. “Twenty-four seven.”

The Warriors are 15-13 this season, in eighth place in the West and still very much trying to find their way to competitiveness. Wiggins finding his way back to them is a good place to start.

“It’s wonderful to see him at peace,” Kerr said. “It’s obviously a terrible outcome to all of this with his father passing away. I think just peace of mind, expecting a boy here in a couple of months and two beautiful little girls, a great family. He’s happy. And we were all thrilled to see that because of what a wonderful person he is.”

(Illustration: Meech Robinson / The Athletic; top photos: Nathaniel S. Butler, Garrett Ellwood / NBAE via Getty Images; Kavin Mistry / Getty Images)

Culture

Why Bill Belichick abandoned hope of landing NFL job, pursuit of wins record

Published

9 hours ago

December 26, 2024

Press Room

Why Bill Belichick abandoned hope of landing NFL job, pursuit of wins record

Bill Belichick’s foray into college football drew plenty of double takes across the industry, but the logic behind his decision might have been as simple as it was surprising.

“He’s a football coach,” a source close to Belichick said. “He’s going to coach somewhere.”

After 49 seasons in the NFL, Belichick made a stark career change Wednesday when he accepted the head coaching job at the University of North Carolina.

Welcome to Chapel Hill, Bill Belichick!
The eight-time Super Bowl Champion has officially been named our next @UNCFootball Head Coach. #GoHeels x #ChapelBill pic.twitter.com/cnngQI7gnC
— UNC Tar Heels (@GoHeels) December 12, 2024
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The 72-year-old’s pursuit of Don Shula’s wins record has been put on hold, perhaps permanently. Belichick needed 15 wins to surpass the NFL’s all-time mark of 347.

The record meant a lot to Belichick, particularly in recent years when it appeared to be more attainable. So, why did he call off the chase?

It’s perhaps more important to assess the situation from the opposite viewpoint.

One NFL team with a coaching vacancy had already ruled out the idea of interviewing Belichick, according to a league source. Sources with a couple of other teams with potential head coach vacancies didn’t believe there’d be enough support within the building to hire Belichick. The New York Jets, who will be hiring a coach and general manager, were never considered a possibility due to their long-running shared animosity for each other.

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And among the seven coaching vacancies last year — excluding the New England Patriots, who fired Belichick — the architect of the greatest dynasty in league history only drew serious interest from the Atlanta Falcons. Several of those teams quickly dismissed the idea of interviewing Belichick, according to league sources. Some even expressed relief Belichick wouldn’t disrupt the organization’s power structure.

Belichick, the most prepared figure in the NFL for so long, had to recognize a chilling reality: He’d once again be a long shot to get a job in the league’s upcoming hiring cycle. It’s common for coaches to put out feelers to gauge their attractiveness to organizations.

“(Belichick) burned a lot of bridges over his career,” a high-ranking team executive said.

Belichick still wanted to coach, though, so it was important for him to act. North Carolina, which employed his father in the 1950s, was the most high-profile program with an opening. Belichick turns 73 in April and couldn’t run the risk of being shut out of another hiring cycle.

“If he wanted to coach again, he almost had to take this job,” another team executive said.

Another longtime Belichick associate thought the move to UNC made sense for other reasons, too. Belichick will essentially have unilateral control over the program, which wouldn’t necessarily be the case if he had gotten another NFL opportunity. And a handful of Belichick’s closest friends — Nick Saban, Greg Schiano, Chip Kelly, Kirk Ferentz and Jedd Fisch — have enjoyed success at the college level. He can use them as resources as he acclimates to a different football world.

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Also consider that Belichick could have waited to see if there’d be openings with the Dallas Cowboys, New York Giants or Jacksonville Jaguars — among other teams — but they ultimately might not have been great fits. Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones isn’t ceding control of his front office, and it’s too early to know what the upcoming power structure will look like within the Giants and Jaguars if more drastic changes are on the way.

“There might be some owners who want (Belichick’s) structure and stability, but he is 72,” another longtime executive from a team that was involved in last year’s NFL hiring cycle said. “I think a lot of teams want to build something long-term, and he clearly has a capped timeline.”

Belichick’s resume still stands alone. He is viewed by his peers as the greatest coach of his era, if not in history. And last season, even as the Patriots wallowed to a 4-13 record, a couple of personnel executives said Belichick’s defense still displayed some revolutionary concepts.

But they had fair and objective criticisms about the way things ended with the Patriots, with their record worsening in each of his last two seasons and failing to win a playoff game over his final five years. Parting with quarterback Tom Brady was a head-scratcher, but the failure to find a suitable successor made the matter exponentially worse.

Belichick’s push for organizational control has also been at the center of discussion with teams. One executive referred to the Patriots as a “unicorn” during the Belichick era, as he won three Super Bowls in his first five seasons, gained considerably more control after Scott Pioli’s departure in 2009 and was able to run the team how he saw fit. That’s not a common structure for much of the league.

Plus, the model had deteriorated in Belichick’s later years with the Patriots. There was a push for more collaboration with the 2021 NFL Draft, but that collaboration fell apart in 2022, according to league sources. Patriots scouts were often frustrated by their lack of involvement after the annual combine — nearly two months before the draft — or their general inclusion in the building throughout the season.

“I think people would be concerned about the culture in the building,” a fourth executive said. “(Belichick’s) culture worked when they were winning, but he got fired because they weren’t winning.”

Of course, the culture also extends to the locker room. Modern-day players don’t relate to the old-school coaching approach the way they did 10 or even 20 years ago. As one of Belichick’s former players recently said, “It’s nice to go somewhere and not get told how much you suck every day.”

That player was not alone in that sentiment. And adding to that, coaches and executives from other teams were turned off by Belichick’s public alienation of former Patriots quarterback Mac Jones.

Belichick has enjoyed unprecedented levels of success throughout his career. No one around the league would ever deny that.

But while teams eye a long-term solution with their next head coach, they have a lot of fair questions about the way it fell apart in New England and whether Belichick would be the right fit within their organization. And even if Belichick did turn around an NFL team, his age limits his longevity.

Naturally, the same questions will exist at North Carolina, but here’s the difference: UNC was offering a job, and it was anything but guaranteed the NFL would do the same.

(Photo: Timothy T Ludwig / Getty Images)

Culture

How Jared Goff hitting rock bottom became his and the Detroit Lions’ salvation

Published

21 hours ago

December 25, 2024

Press Room

How Jared Goff hitting rock bottom became his and the Detroit Lions’ salvation

ALLEN PARK, Mich. — First came the beating, another desultory setback in the rapidly degenerating professional life of Jared Goff, the face of a flailing franchise’s enduring futility. That was torture enough. What Goff truly dreaded, however, was The Meeting. Summoned to Detroit Lions coach Dan Campbell’s office on a late-October Tuesday in 2022, Goff feared the worst, and with good reason. Two days earlier, in an ugly road defeat to the Dallas Cowboys, he’d been responsible for almost as many turnovers (four) as points (six). The Lions were 1-5, and 4-18-1 since Campbell had taken over as a rookie head coach and Goff had become the starting quarterback. It felt like the whole world wanted him benched, and that Campbell, if only out of self-preservation, would imminently grant that wish.

If the perception was that Goff was broken, well, it was a fair assumption. At 24, he’d gone head-to-head with Tom Brady on Super Sunday. Now, having just turned 28, he’d lost his mojo. He was getting booed by the home crowd, and his failings were constantly flaunted. Los Angeles Rams coach Sean McVay, the man who’d rejected Goff, had just hoisted a Lombardi Trophy in his home stadium, validating his wunderkind status. And he’d done it in his first season with Matthew Stafford, the Lions’ longtime starting quarterback who’d been swapped out for Goff. In dating terms, Goff had been dumped by his partner and was now eating ice cream alone on the couch while watching the ex escort a radiant new flame up the red carpet.

As Goff entered Campbell’s office, he braced himself for bad news. “I know how this thing goes,” he told himself. “I’m not naïve. Is this it for me?” Yet Campbell, an outside-the-box hire with an unflinching nature, told his struggling starter he was sticking with him. And as Goff began to exhale, he had an epiphany.

“Man, I’ve got to stop trying to do too much,” Goff told Campbell. “I’ve been trying to overcome certain things throughout the game, constantly thinking that this is the moment we’re gonna turn it around. I’m squeezing so hard trying to help us win, because we all want it so badly. I have to release that a little bit and just do my job, one play at a time. I’m just gonna do my job and not worry about the rest of it.”

Campbell stared back at his quarterback and smiled. “Jared,” he said, “that’s all I’ve wanted you to do this whole time.”

It was a mental shift that helped Goff manage the emotions he’d experienced since being traded to the Lions after the 2020 season, a move that blindsided him and crushed his confidence. The conversation fortified his bond with Campbell and laid the groundwork for a connection with a famished fan base that would come to view his redemption story as its own. Long before Goff became an MVP candidate and the Lions (10-1), who host the Chicago Bears on Thanksgiving, became the betting favorite to win Super Bowl LIX and inspired an iconic chant, the embattled quarterback unlocked the mystery in the nick of time.

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“It’s like you squeeze so hard, and the actual answer is to release,” Goff explained last week while sitting in an upstairs room of his Bloomfield Hills, Mich., home, which doubles as a film-watching sanctuary and memorabilia alcove. “Everyone wanted to fire Dan, fire (general manager Brad Holmes) and bench me. If we’d kept losing, of course they would. (But) it’s funny — you do your job one play at a time, and a little momentum starts to build. You do it 10 plays in a row, then 15, then 20, and the other 10 on offense are doing their job, and good things start to happen.

“It’s ironic that when you try to do less, more happens.”

Goff is a rock star in the Motor City, a pinpoint passer in the midst of a career year for a team laying waste to its opponents. He may have walked into Campbell’s office with trepidation that day 25 months ago, but he emerged with a bounce in his step that has morphed into a strut.

The day after that fateful meeting, Lions owner Sheila Ford Hamp showed up at practice, spoke to reporters and gave Campbell and Holmes a vote of confidence. Four days later, Goff threw for 321 yards in a 31-27 defeat to the Miami Dolphins. And then, somewhat abruptly, the plot shifted and the losing stopped. The Lions are 32-9 since, a tally that includes their first two postseason victories since Jan. 5, 1992, and Goff’s job security rivals Red Bull driver Max Verstappen’s.

In May, the Lions signed Goff to a four-year, $212 million contract extension, with $170 million guaranteed. In late November, Goff is armed with eye-popping numbers that serve as a sharp rebuttal to any remaining doubters. His 109.9 passer rating is the league’s second best, as is his 72.9 percent completion percentage. He’s averaging an NFL-high 9.02 yards per attempt, and he’s part of an MVP conversation that includes fellow quarterbacks Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen and running backs Saquon Barkley and Derrick Henry.

“Jared Goff is operating with as much command and poise as any quarterback in the league,” said San Francisco 49ers assistant head coach/defense Brandon Staley, who was the Rams’ defensive coordinator during Goff’s final season with the team. “They’re putting a lot on his plate pre-snap, and they’re using his experience and knowledge to get into premier plays almost every snap. The timing and ball distribution has been elite all year long. His swagger, unselfishness, and toughness are leading that football team.”

Indianapolis Colts defensive coordinator Gus Bradley, whose team suffered a 24-6 defeat to the Lions on Sunday, views Goff’s success as a direct result of his comfort with Detroit’s offensive scheme: “He has the answers. He knows what he’s looking for. They know how to attack. He and his coaches just see it the same way.”

“He has taken efficiency to a whole new level,” added Atlanta Falcons head coach Raheem Morris.

Since being drafted first overall by the Rams in 2016, the former Cal star has relied upon elite accuracy, a quick release and a penchant for remaining cool under fire. What’s different now, as Staley and Bradley suggest, is Goff’s mental grasp of the position, which deepened when Ben Johnson took over as the Lions’ offensive coordinator after the 2021 season.

“I like to say it’s as much his offense as mine,” said Johnson, who has turned down head coaching opportunities in each of the past two cycles. “It’s really based on what Jared does well, what he felt most comfortable with. And we’ve tried the last two and a half years to challenge him and push him outside his comfort zone.”

Campbell noticed an appreciable difference in his quarterback this past offseason. “When he came in,” Campbell said, “you could tell there was a different feel — like, he wanted to have even more ownership in the offense and to take it to a different level. So now the offense is evolving because of his ability to process and see it.”

Jared Goff’s ownership and understanding of the Lions offense has grown exponentially under offensive coordinator Ben Johnson. (Ryan Kang / Getty Images)

Last month, Johnson told Goff that he’s “now asking these PhD-level questions over the course of the week” that the quarterback hadn’t broached previously. “The game’s slowing down for him, too,” Johnson said. “He can recognize coverages right off the bat. He’ll say during the week, ‘Hey, I know we think that they’re doing Cover 2 in this situation, but if they go man, where do you want me to go with the ball?’ Or, ‘I know it’s not a Cover 0 team, but we’re in this exotic formation, and if they do it versus this and I see it, what do you want me to get to?’”

Two Sundays ago, in the third quarter of the Lions’ 52-6 thrashing of the Jacksonville Jaguars, Goff, en route to a 412-yard passing performance, threw a 5-yard touchdown to tight end Brock Wright that particularly stood out to Johnson. The plan was to deliver a backside throw to wide receiver Tim Patrick, who was lined up to the right of the formation. Goff started by looking left, attempting to get Jags safety Darnell Savage to drift toward Wright, who was running to the far left corner of the end zone. When Goff looked back to his right, he noticed Savage had instead moved to his left toward Patrick — as if the Jags knew exactly what the Lions were planning. Rather than proceeding to his third read, Goff alertly turned back to his left and found Wright, abandoned by Savage, wide open for the easy TD.

“It’s just an example of where he is now,” Johnson said. “It wasn’t like that when he first got here.”

Brock on 🤘#JAXvsDET | 📺 CBS pic.twitter.com/9M4hdMMovV
— Detroit Lions (@Lions) November 17, 2024

Goff’s commitment to intensive film study makes sense, given his physical limitations. Unlike peers such as Jackson, Allen and Patrick Mahomes, Goff can’t rely on his athleticism to get him out of jams and make off-schedule plays. “You do have to find different ways to win in the pocket because you aren’t as fleet of foot,” Goff said. “I have to play disciplined. And the work that I have to do from Monday through Friday, I feel like has to be more. That’s where I feel like I’m able to get my edge, whereas other guys have their athletic ability as their edge.”

There’s another reason Goff is so intent on trying to master his craft: He’s aware of his reputation, and still a bit sensitive about the prevailing perception that McVay, known for his schematic acumen, discarded him because the coach needed an upgrade in that department. It’s a narrative that began in 2017 when it became clear that McVay, then the youngest coach in modern NFL history, was giving his second-year quarterback cues via the in-helmet communications system as Goff waited to receive the snap. It intensified after Goff’s poor performance in L.A.’s 13-3 defeat to the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LIII.

Because McVay had become the brightest young star in his profession — the joke in league circles was that even his acquaintances were getting head-coaching interviews — it was easy to conclude that Goff wasn’t good enough to bring the coach’s brainy schemes to life. The Rams’ decision to deal him just weeks after he’d come off the bench to win a road playoff game with a broken right thumb seemed abrupt and suggested that there were deep-seated reasons for McVay’s dissatisfaction.

“Everyone externally just assumed that I suck,” Goff said, “because why else would this be happening? People thought, ‘He’s done. He’s damaged goods. His story is over. His career will end in this way. This will be the end of the road.’”

Most of the NFL world, including Rams coach Sean McVay, seemed to think Jared Goff was “damaged goods” by the end of his time in L.A. (Abbie Parr / Getty Images)

The trade hit Goff like an earthquake. The Rams, who’d signed the quarterback to a massive contract extension only 17 months earlier, were so desperate to get out of that deal and land Stafford that they included two first-round draft picks and a third-round selection. Goff got the news while hanging out at his Hidden Hills, Calif., home on a Saturday night in late January, via a phone call from McVay — who was in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, celebrating the deal in real time with Stafford and then-Rams left tackle Andrew Whitworth, one of Goff’s closest friends on the team.

The news broke instantly, before Holmes, the Lions’ newly hired GM, could get ahold of his new quarterback. Eventually, Goff took phone calls from Holmes — who’d been the Rams’ director of college scouting when he was drafted — and Campbell, both of whom were still at the Lions’ facility as midnight approached.

At first, Goff seemed shellshocked, but when he heard the excitement in Holmes’ and Campbell’s voices, he became fired up and defiant. The next morning, he told me, “I’m just excited to be somewhere that I know wants me and appreciates me.” His phrasing was intentional. McVay’s reproach over the past two seasons had beaten him down, and this was a stark juxtaposition.

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Most of the football world viewed him as a declining quarterback who’d be a stopgap starter — at best — for the Lions, but Holmes and Campbell saw things differently. “Everybody created that monster and that was never the case with us,” said Holmes, who called it a “lazy narrative.” Goff, who’d gone 1-11 as a true freshman starter for Cal in 2013, viewed it as a chance to do something epic.

“The opportunity that I have to be at the ground floor of something is something that most guys don’t get in their career,” he recalled thinking. “You can either see it as something that’s happened to you or something that’s happening for you.”

The turnaround didn’t happen quickly — and Goff’s self-esteem suffered along the way. “It felt like he got traded here to never be talked about again,” said Goff’s wife, Christen, who was his girlfriend at the time. The model and actress relocated from L.A. to Detroit after the trade and had an up-close-and-personal view of the struggle. In 2021, the Lions didn’t win their first game until December, beginning with an 0-10-1 stretch that included a 28-19 road defeat to the Rams.

In February, a week before Stafford and the Rams would defeat the Cincinnati Bengals in Super Bowl LVI at SoFi Stadium, I visited Goff at his Hidden Hills home, and he did his best to put a positive spin on the situation. “We all run our own race, whatever that may be,” he told me then, expressing excitement at the prospect of working with Johnson as his coordinator. “It’s part of the journey, and this year obviously was a tough experience. My time will come, whenever that may be, to get another crack at it, and in order to get there, there’s a lot of work that needs to be done.”

So Goff did the work — schematically and psychically. He felt stung by the way his Rams tenure ended and experienced conflicting emotions as they won a Super Bowl without him, but he refused to let bitterness be his driving force.

“It’s not vindictive for me,” he insisted. “And I think that was a big part of the journey, that it couldn’t be. Because that’s not enough. That’s not enough to motivate you to get through the hard times. It was never that. … It truly became, how can I help this team and help this city and be a part of this rebuild and do everything I could for Dan and for this coaching staff?”

GO DEEPER

The Lions believed in Jared Goff, and that’s all he needed to come roaring back

Even as the losses mounted, and Goff sensed he might be out of time, Campbell and Holmes never wavered in their support. Both men had long admired Goff’s mental and physical toughness. As things turned around in 2022, Goff’s grit and refusal to fold began to resonate with a fan base conditioned to wallow in enduring misery. The Lions rallied to make a late playoff push but were eliminated on the final night of the regular season — when the Rams lost to the Seattle Seahawks in overtime. Goff got the news during pregame warmups at Lambeau Field, where the Lions’ NFC North rivals, the Green Bay Packers, still faced a win-and-in scenario. Intent on spoiling the Packers’ party, Goff and his teammates earned a 20-16 victory that ended an era for another former Cal quarterback: It was four-time MVP Aaron Rodgers’ final game with the franchise.

It took 12 games before Dan Campbell and Jared Goff celebrated their first win together, but the Lions never wavered in their support for their QB. (Rey Del Rio / Getty Images)

Last season, as the Lions closed in on their first division title and home playoff game in 30 years, it became clear that Goff might have to confront his demons in a conspicuous setting. Sure enough, as if the bracket were drawn up by screenwriters, the third-seeded Lions hosted the sixth-seeded Rams in a first-round playoff game at Ford Field. If Detroit was going to break an NFL-record nine-game postseason losing streak, Goff would have to get past McVay and Stafford.

In the lead-up to the game, Goff tried hard not to make the story about him. As it turned out, tens of thousands of empathic observers would adopt a different approach.

When Goff entered the tunnel to take the field for pregame warmups 50 minutes before kickoff, his image was projected onto the stadium’s video screens. Spontaneously, fans began chanting his name, increasing the volume minutes later when Stafford, who’d spent 12 years as Detroit’s starter, took the field. It was an acknowledgment of the stakes, of Goff’s difficult journey and of a region’s unmitigated embrace of a player who’d won the respect of the paying public.

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“That’s what it felt like,” Goff recalled. “It was very surreal. I was like, ‘Holy s—; this is incredible.’ … They knew I was dumped by this team. They knew that basically (the Rams) said I wasn’t good enough. And they were saying, ‘No, you’re our guy. You are good enough for us. Let’s go win it.’”

Said Christen Goff: “That was so incredible. Everybody here got it. It’s not like they’re cheering his name because they are obsessed with him and they think he’s just everything. It’s because every single one of those people have been him before, or they just get that story, and it resonates with them. … It didn’t feel like fans; it felt like family.”

On the sideline, Goff sidled up to Johnson and told the coordinator, “Dude, I feel great! Let’s go!”

“Yeah,” Johnson answered, “I’d be feeling pretty good if the whole stadium was chanting my name, too.”

Goff delivered, sealing the Lions’ 24-23 victory with an 11-yard pass to star receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown just after the two-minute warning — a typically bold Campbell second-down call — and the chants got even louder. When he reached the locker room, his teammates were joyfully mimicking the “Jared Goff” mantra. He cherished the moment, believing it was a one-off.

Ja-red GOFF! Ja-red GOFF!#AllGrit pic.twitter.com/NGBoC8KRMN
— Detroit Lions (@Lions) January 15, 2024

“I thought that was the end of it,” Goff said. “But yeah, it’s taken on a life of its own.”

The chant resumed a week later at Ford Field as the Lions defeated the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to reach the NFC Championship Game. Soon after, it went viral, surfacing at a University of Michigan hockey game, a Grand Rapids Griffins hockey game and a high school cheerleading competition in eastern Michigan. The chant has since been busted out at Red Wings and Pistons games, at most Lions road games and at Green Day and Creed concerts.

“Now it’s just a fun thing that everybody’s doing when they’re drunk at a bar, which is honestly just as amazing,” Christen Goff said. “I’ve seen it everywhere. People send me videos; I think somebody got married in Italy and a chant broke out. Now I think it’s Michigan’s inside joke.”

Campbell’s wife, Holly, doesn’t see the phenomenon ceasing anytime soon: “I think 50 years from now, Jared Goff chants will still be happening. I think it’s just a thing now. And it’s beautiful, because it is about the underdog fighting adversity and coming out on top.”

Jared Goff has come to be the perfect representation of Detroit. (Cooper Neill / Getty Images)

Last January, it appeared that Goff’s amazing journey would land him back on the sport’s grandest stage. The Bay Area native returned to his home region for the NFC Championship Game, and Detroit took a commanding, 24-7 halftime lead over the 49ers at Levi’s Stadium. A furious San Francisco comeback dashed that dream — or, quite possibly, delayed it.

The Lions have looked like a legitimate contender from the jump in 2024, and Goff has continued to slay ghosts and smash narratives. In the season opener, he beat the Rams again at Ford Field. In early November, Goff — who as a Golden Bears freshman was pulled from a game at Oregon because he couldn’t throw in a driving rainstorm — completed his first 11 passes, and 18 of 22 overall, in similarly wet conditions in Green Bay.

The following week, in a Sunday night road clash with the Houston Texans, Goff threw five interceptions — more than half his current total for the entire season. Yet the Lions, trailing 23-7 at halftime, rallied to win, 26-23, on Jake Bates’ 52-yard field goal as time expired. Afterward, in the visitors’ locker room, Goff channeled another California native, Kendrick Lamar, and essentially dropped a “Not Like Us” remix while addressing his teammates: “If that ain’t a f—ing lesson that it ain’t over until it’s over, that’s what it is, boys. Way to fight all day. We’re f—ing different. We’re f—ing different than all 31 in this league.”

We found a way pic.twitter.com/lzSSpJVMfM
— Detroit Lions (@Lions) November 11, 2024

Later, Goff harkened back to the trying times he, many of his teammates and their coaches have experienced together, and the resolve it fostered.

“Yeah, we are (different),” Goff said, leaning forward in the chair where he sits during his marathon film-study sessions at home. “There aren’t many teams who can go through that and win, on the road, on ‘Sunday Night Football,’ with five turnovers — the whole thing. It took everyone to win that game.

“There are no other teams like us. You can’t replicate it unless you go through what we’ve been through. Which is not fun. And most people don’t survive. And most head coaches don’t stand firm with it — and stand in the s—, and stand in the mud, and take all the criticism.”

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Goff’s voice rose as he continued.

“I think there were moments where Dan could have turned his back on me,” the quarterback said. “He was the head coach on a team that was 0-10-1, and then at the end of the season we were 3-13-1. Could’ve done it then; could’ve done it in the middle of that first season; could’ve done it the next year when we were 1-6 to start. And he never did. And I’m thankful for that. ‘Cause you see it all over the league, where somebody’s head’s got to fall. They were calling for his head. They were calling for Brad’s head. They were calling for my head. And Dan just held the line and said, ‘No, I believe in what we’re doing here, I believe in Jared, I believe in what we have going on, and he’s our guy.’ And here we are.”

As he continues his unlikely comeback story, Goff is exactly where he wants to be, in a place that appreciates every bit of adversity he has overcome. His name may be chanted all over the world, but the 30-year-old quarterback belongs to Detroit and its appreciative fans, and he wouldn’t want it any other way.

“I think they relate to the journey a lot,” Goff said. “Especially the last four years of everyone telling you you’re not good enough, and you kind of turning away from that and saying, ‘Hey, watch me. Let’s see. Let’s see what happens.’ And that motivates me. But I’m not motivated by that as much as I am motivated by wanting to win for this city.”

(Top photo: Cooper Neill / Getty Images)