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The USWNT mystique is gone – at some point, they either step up or they don't

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The USWNT mystique is gone – at some point, they either step up or they don't

For those who weren’t following along during the 2011 World Cup qualifying cycle — in which the U.S. lost to Mexico in the CONCACAF semifinals before Alex Morgan finally sent the U.S. through in a playoff series against Italy — matches against Mexico might have felt like a rivalry in name only.

The U.S. women’s national team had not lost to Mexico since that moment in 2010, and hadn’t lost to any CONCACAF opponent at home since 2000.

Monday night threw that narrative out the window.

The USWNT was outplayed in a 2-0 loss in front of a boisterous crowd in Carson, Ca., and while it didn’t match the low of that 0-0 draw against Portugal in the World Cup group stage last summer, the team’s final group stage match of this Gold Cup was (hopefully) a helpful reminder that the team hasn’t found their new, cohesive identity just yet.

The thing that should worry fans the most is how Monday’s performance was a reflection of the listless USWNT we’ve seen before.

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But how much should we read into the 270 minutes played this year? How much does a loss change what needs to happen ahead of the Olympics? And why is cohesion still such a massive problem?


Mexico provided a necessary test — and a reminder

Mexico deserves full credit and nothing but praise for executing on Monday night in all the places that matter. But by the same token, the USWNT failed in many of those areas.

That failure can be helpful if used correctly (see: losses to France in friendlies at the start of 2015 and 2019, both of which were followed by World Cup titles). However, that’s been the takeaway for this U.S. team for a while now. At some point, the players and coaching staff either step up or they don’t.

What did the U.S. hierarchy want to get out of these games? If there was ever a time to let the team’s young players problem-solve in a difficult situation, it was on Monday night, down 1-0 to Mexico after the first half and with plenty of unproven talent on the field. Let them be tested. Let them fail, even! Instead, 34-year-old, 217-capped Morgan came on after the break. That doesn’t tell interim head coach Twila Kilgore or the incoming Emma Hayes anything about this team right now.


Morgan came on against Mexico (Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

The USWNT mystique is gone, and the rising level of the rest of the world is only part of the story. The players used to wield their collective reputation and mentality as both sword and shield — it told them something about themselves, and something about every other team they faced. Without it, they have lost a weapon and something more symbolic.

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Leaning into an old-fashioned underdog mentality might be the play, as ridiculous as it may sound considering the U.S. is still ranked No. 2 in the world by world governing body FIFA. There has been plenty written on the USWNT’s lack of joy since those very strange Tokyo Olympics, but less focus on a possible flip side: harnessing the anger for good as it sits in joy’s place.

With a generational shift underway, younger players who are hungry for recognition and results should take any emotional advantage they can find.

First though, they have to get onto the field.


Why is cohesion still such a massive problem?

It’s worth remembering that this Gold Cup is the USWNT’s first camp of the year, and that it’s still preseason for the large chunk of this roster that plays domestically in the NWSL. That’s not necessarily an excuse for the cohesion issues that plagued the USWNT on Monday, but it is at least helpful context, along with the massive rotation in personnel that’s happened through the group stage.

Center back Naomi Girma feels like the key to solving this problem, immediately and in the long term. Though it’s understandable to want to manage her load, Girma has already ascended to the tier of player that you need on the field at all times. She’s been through a World Cup now too — and was the USWNT’s best player in New Zealand and Australia by a very comfortable margin.

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Girma facing Argentina (Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

“Something tonight that was missing was just a bit of bravery from the center backs and willingness to play forward,” Kilgore said postgame. “Regardless of how many numbers we have in front of the backline, the expectation is that we look to play forward passes, that we keep the ball moving, and of course that sometimes requires a balance and it comes back, but we do want to play forward.”

If the team’s identity is built upon playing out of the back, it feels like having your best defender — a 23-year-old who the team will build around for the next decade — on the field for the toughest group-stage match would have been a more effective use of Girma than pairing her with Tierna Davidson against Argentina.

USWNT defender Kelley O’Hara said on Monday that the team had sometimes been “stuck” within certain formations and tactics over the past couple of years, and the performance against Mexico had the same feel as some of the team’s more frustrating recent performances. On a night like Monday, it feels like the USWNT is clinging to the very identity they need to shed, and some beautiful principles of play that are great in theory and sometimes need to go out the window when a game calls for it.

It’s impossible to know from the outside if the coaching situation is playing a role here — everything coming from the team (publicly, at least) is that communication from Hayes and Kilgore has been excellent and everyone understands the plan until Hayes arrives from Chelsea in May.

Hayes not being present until then isn’t ideal on a number of fronts, but it’s simply a fact the USWNT must deal with. The federation made this agreement, and now the team is dealing with the ramifications of playing under an interim head coach stationed a continent away a few months before a major tournament. It’s not ideal and it’s not something that can be changed.

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How much can we read into starting XIs and playing time?

The answer for me is still: “Not much at all.” But so you can see the three games side-by-side, here are the line-ups…

Rotation was promised by Kilgore, and she delivered. With the media after Monday’s game, she bristled a bit at a question about whether that rotation had backfired.

“The whole group is prepared to play,” she answered. “The whole group was prepared to play tonight. We could have gone with several options, and this was the group that we chose. I’m very confident that the group is capable of executing.”

Kilgore said that it was important for all players to have opportunities in this tournament, but also important for the team to execute.

“It’s not just about partnerships, it’s about systems, roles and responsibilities,” she said.

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From my vantage point outside the privileged bubble of the USWNT technical staff, the Gold Cup still feels like the right place for experimentation, evaluation and rotation. But if you’re going to do it, you have to actually commit.

(Top photo: Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

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

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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.”

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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.”

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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.”

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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.”

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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.”


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.”

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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.

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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.

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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?”

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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.

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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.

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“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.”

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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.”

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

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“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.”

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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)

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The 2024 Baseball Trivia Extravaganza: Take our mega quiz to test yourself!

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The 2024 Baseball Trivia Extravaganza: Take our mega quiz to test yourself!

When last we saw a Major League Baseball game, the Los Angeles Dodgers were celebrating a World Series title at Yankee Stadium. If you’re a trivia lover like me, you might have noticed a historical oddity: The Dodgers have now clinched a championship at three different versions of Yankee Stadium — the original (in 1955), the renovated original (in 1981) and the current one (in 2024).

Yet how many times have the Dodgers clinched on their home field? Just once, in 1963 — also against the Yankees, naturally.

Those kinds of connections are everywhere in this wonderfully zany sport. To score well on our annual holiday Trivia Extravaganza, it’s best to keep them in mind. Good luck with the nifty fifty questions for 2024, my baseball friends. You may need it.

(For the best results on mobile, you may want to take the quiz directly at this link.)

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(Top illustration: Will Tullos / The Athletic; Luke Hales, Nick Cammett, Mark Cunningham / Getty Images)

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Culture

A guide to Christmas-themed trading cards: From Santa Claus to Clark Griswold

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A guide to Christmas-themed trading cards: From Santa Claus to Clark Griswold

Sports stars, celebrities, and even cryptocurrency all have rookie cards… but does Santa Claus? It’s a question you may ask yourself after consuming a little too much nutmeg. And since the season of giving is officially here, I want to spread some holiday cheer by highlighting Christmas-themed trading cards, which is a bigger niche than you may realize.

So let’s dive into a fun corner of the trading card world, one dominated by the GOAT of gift giving himself: Old St. Nick.

A brief history of Santa Claus trading cards


An 1891 Woolson Spice card. (Photo: eBay)

There isn’t a concrete origin story of Santa Claus trading cards, but some of the first examples in the United States date back to the late 1800s. Ohio-based company Woolson Spice created several artistic Christmas trading cards featuring Santa sitting around the tree with children or on his sleigh. Woolson Spice used the back of the cards to advertise its products, such as Lion Coffee.

There technically isn’t a card from the 19th century that’s coined as Santa’s “true” rookie card among the collecting community, but one of his most known from the time can be found in the 1890 Duke Holidays set. The popular tobacco company produced a 50-card set featuring three Christmas cards, but only the U.S. variation included Santa Claus. According to Professional Sports Authenticators’ (PSA) graded population report, the company has authenticated less than 15 copies. An example of the card is even in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s collection.


1890 Duke Holidays Christmas, U.S. card. (Photo: Metropolitan Museum of Art)

It’s fascinating to see Santa Claus’ evolution from how he was depicted back then compared to today. Many early picture cards showed a thinner-looking version, sometimes dressed in a green or brown suit. It was Coca-Cola’s advertisements starting in the early 1930s that cemented the image of Santa Claus that we have today (although it was political cartoonist Thomas Nast who originated it in the 1860s). And yes, there are trading cards featuring those old Coke ads that were made in the 1990s.

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In the late 1980s, the sports card industry exploded in popularity and began producing more and more sets. One of the first Santa Claus cards that caught the attention of modern collectors is the iconic 1989 Pro Set Football card. The promotional card was given to card shop owners and dealers during the holidays and could not be pulled out of packs, which heightened demand for it.


1989 Pro Set promo card. (Photo: eBay)

The front of the card lists Santa Claus as a “player-coach” and depicts him wearing a baseball cap bearing his own name and a red satin jacket emblazoned with the NFL logo. Inexplicably, he is holding up the very same trading card that he is on, creating a mind-bending card-ception loop. Behind Santa Claus, through a snow-covered window are two Pro Set executives dressed as elves (Leaf remade this card in 2021 with a selection of notable figures ranging from Donald Trump to Pele there instead, which can complicate searches for the more valuable original). The back of the card features Santa Claus’ vital info and a scouting report.

It was such a hit that Pro Set began putting Santa Claus cards into its sets starting in 1990. All of those were printed in far higher quantities, making them easy to obtain today, but the ‘89 card is still highly sought after, with “gem mint” PSA 10 graded copies selling for around $500 to $750.

As the sports card industry continued to innovate in the 1990s, it opened up new opportunities to celebrate the holidays through autograph and memorabilia cards. One of the first autographed cards of Santa Claus can be found in 1991’s Pro Line Portraits with the rarest version limited to 200 copies.

In 1998, Upper Deck produced an oversized Kris Kringle promo card featuring a velvety red piece of “holiday-worn jersey” that was exclusive to the company’s Collector’s Club members. The card can be found on eBay for around $20.

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In 2007, Topps created the most comprehensive offering yet, with a special Santa Claus Holiday Set that contains 18 cards, all featuring versions of Santa Claus on Topps’ most popular designs of all time, including a Kris Kringle relic card, an autograph card, and a rookie card that pays homage to Mickey Mantle’s famous 1952 Topps card. Instead of being a “Topps Certified Autograph,” the signed card in this set is a “Topps Santafied Autograph,” with the back of the card insisting, “Santa himself signed this card with the very pen he uses to make his list of all the naughty and nice children around the world.” The back of the relic card, bearing a piece of Santa’s suit, says, “Topps acquired this suit from Santa himself, who requested it be spread as far and as wide as possible so everyone could have a piece of his holiday spirit to cherish and revisit whenever they wish.”


2007 Topps Holiday Set. (Photo: eBay)

In recent years, Topps has produced more Santa Claus autograph and relic cards for its holiday baseball sets (more on those in a minute), but the disclosures have gotten decidedly less whimsical. “The relic on this card is not from anything at all,” says the back of a 2019 offering.

Over the last decade or so, the hobby’s annual holiday set releases have produced more Santa Claus trading cards than ever before. In the most recent Topps Holiday set releases, collectors can pull rare chase cards of other classic North Pole characters such as Mrs. Claus, Frosty the Snowman, the Gingerbread Man, and more.

Holiday-themed sports sets

The sports card industry offers a few holiday-themed sets that bring a seasonal vibe to collecting with unique player-worn holiday sweater cards and festive super short print variations.

The main baseball card release centered around this festive time of the year is Topps Holiday. First produced in 2016, the set has holiday-inspired designs of the MLB’s rookies and stars where you can find hidden elves, snowflakes, and Christmas lights on cards. Collectors can pull autograph cards, player-worn Christmas hat relics, and those aforementioned rare relic/auto cards of Santa Claus. Topps Holiday sets are retail exclusives that can be found online and in stores like Target and Walmart.

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2024 Topps Holiday Bobby Witt, Jr. image variation. (Photo: eBay)

A few years after the first Topps Holiday release, Panini, which produces NFL and NBA licensed trading cards, began offering Hoops Basketball and Donruss Football holiday-themed sets that have also become popular with collectors. In 2022 Donruss Football, Panini released a visually stunning Santa Claus Downtown insert. The ultra-rare case hit (there has traditionally been only one Downtown insert per every couple hundred packs) is still in massive demand, with PSA 10 copies selling for more than $1,500. The one-of-a-kind Clearly Donruss Holo parallel of this card sold for $3,234.71 in June of this year — a record high for a Santa Claus card, according to CardLadder’s database, which tracks card sales across major online marketplaces.

I would consider these products to be more collector-focused, with less monetary value on average than many other sets, but they offer plenty of chase cards and autograph relics of top rookies and stars that can still fetch hundreds of dollars. PSA 10 Topps Holiday base rookie cards of superstars like Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani sell for north of $100.

Classic holiday movie trading cards


This Peter Billingsley autographed A Christmas Story card sold for $750. (Photo: eBay)

One of my favorite holiday traditions is to sit back with a glass of eggnog and watch Christmas movies — a genre that is also making its way into trading card forms now. This year, actor Chevy Chase released a Christmas Vacation 35th Anniversary Box Set that offers signed cards of the Griswold family and personally used Chevy Chase relic cards. The limited edition release of 300 boxes quickly sold out, but a few have made it to eBay.

Cryptozoic Entertainment and Marquee Trading Cards recently put out a similar set based on the beloved holiday movie “A Christmas Story” to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the film’s release. Collectors have the chance to pull single and dual autograph cards signed by the cast, hand-drawn sketch cards, and serial-numbered chase cards. Sealed boxes are available on eBay for around $130 and a 1/1 Peter Billingsley (Ralphie) autograph card inscribed “I want a Red Ryder!” has already been pulled from a pack and sold for a penny shy of $1,000.

Billingsley also signed cards for Leaf, some with an “Oh fudge” inscription that are being sold for $99 each — exactly what someone might say after their loved ones find out they spent $99 on a Ralphie autographed card.

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(Top photo: Stephen Pond/Getty Images)

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