Detroit Lions

Rams vs Lions playoff showdown has storylines for days — particularly at QB

Updated Jan. 10, 2024 11:53 a.m. ET

Matthew Stafford is returning to the city where his professional career began, for a playoff game he could never lead it to — in a building that has never hosted one.

Jared Goff is hosting the team that drafted him, then traded him to a club that he's thrived with, leading them to a division title for the first time in 30 years.

It's the first time ever that two quarterbacks will face their previous teams in the postseason, let alone the teams that traded them.

Rams. Lions. Playoffs. It's going to be epic.

This has been building for a while in Detroit. Ever since Dan Campbell arrived, with promises of biting kneecaps and more recently, controlled fury. Often referred to as ‘MCDC' for "Motor City Dan Campbell," the Lions head coach perfectly embodies the city and surrounding area. He's brash and caffeine-fueled but above everything, he makes you believe.

Detroit could not simply assume Campbell would alter their status quo. The Lions were coming off their third straight fourth-place finish in the NFC North. It had been five years since their last playoff appearance, a one-and-done affair under Jim Caldwell. Stafford was their best player, but he was expensive and 12 years with a questionable supporting cast had taken a toll.

Things didn't immediately turn around for the first-time head coach. The Lions went 3-13 in Campbell's first season. This was after trading Stafford and receiving Goff as a tertiary consolation prize on top of significant draft compensation. The vision wasn't publicly clear, especially after the very public, very football-guy comments in Campbell's opening presser. But that doesn't mean there wasn't a vision. And it doesn't mean there wasn't support.

Detroit is a very specific shade of blue-collar — Honolulu Blue, to be exact — all through the ups and downs. The city lives and dies with the Lions. And Campbell has never shied away from that.

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Instead, he's emboldened his team with expectations. That was never more evident than in the 2023 regular season. The Lions had managed to turn things around so drastically in 2022 that they came into 2023 as the favorites. Yes, the Lions. The same Lions who had never captured an NFC North title were now the ones Vegas was picking to win it.

Campbell and his team proved them right, with the entire city on their shoulders.

Goff bought in, too. He was near tears on the night Detroit punched their playoff ticket and division title.

"I get emotional thinking about all the guys that went through 3-13, went through 1-6 early last year and now can stand here NFC North champs," said Goff to NFL Network after the game.

As the ultimate reward, the Lions have delivered not only a playoff game, but one in front of their home crowd.

They even invited a beloved old friend to the party; their longtime QB.

The woes in Los Angeles haven't been quite as long. Stafford reached the mountaintop with the Rams, winning a Super Bowl in his first season with the team. Los Angeles, and its offensive wunderkind in head coach Sean McVay, mortgaged the farm, and it paid off in the form of some shiny new jewelry.

The bill, however, came due.

The Rams struggled in 2022, finishing 5-12 and having a miniature fire sale to boot. To clear cap space, they traded one of the best corners in football in Jalen Ramsey and let linebacker Bobby Wagner and edge rusher Leonard Floyd all go.

It wasn't readily apparent the Rams had turned the corner in the first part of 2023. Before their Week 10 bye, Los Angeles was 3-6 and on a three-game skid. But they finished the season 7-1 to get to double-digit wins and punch their postseason ticket behind some of the best play of Stafford's career.

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Stafford now returns to his old home after a significant glow-up — literally — have you seen how tan he is these days?

Yet there is no animosity. Stafford has the ring. Detroit is on the rise. And the NFL script writers are in their bag.

Carmen Vitali covers the NFC North for FOX Sports. Carmen had previous stops with The Draft Network and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. She spent six seasons with the Bucs, including 2020, which added the title of Super Bowl Champion (and boat-parade participant) to her résumé. You can follow Carmen on Twitter at @CarmieV.