L.A. football exiles Goff, Lynn seek fresh start in Detroit.
Goff and Lynn were unceremoniously dumped in L.A., but are excited for second chance with the Lions
ALLEN PARK, Mich. — They arrived in Los Angeles in the hopes of building something special.
They left in dejection and disappointment.
Now, Jared Goff and Anthony Lynn are ready for a reboot, primed to redefine themselves with the Detroit Lions, a franchise that hasn’t won a playoff game in 30 years.
Goff is the quarterback the Rams swapped for Detroit’s Matthew Stafford. Lynn was the first head coach of the relocated Los Angeles Chargers but was fired in January, less than a year after signing a contract extension. He’s now the Lions’ offensive coordinator, his future tied to a quarterback with whom he once shared space in SoFi Stadium.
“I’ve never been fired before in my life, so it took me a little while to get over that,” Lynn told The Times last week after a training camp practice.
“I was going to take a gap year. Ever since I was 6 years old, I haven’t done anything but football. Then this opportunity came up. I had made my mind up that I was staying out this year. But I said, ‘Hey, I can do this.’ ”
There’s no tragedy here. It’s the way of the NFL. People — successful people — are fired and hired, traded and cut every week. But for Goff and Lynn, there’s a little extra sting to their departures.
They were once central figures in their respective locker rooms, but neither played in front of fans at SoFi Stadium. The first time they will experience crowds in that multibillion-dollar venue, they will be on the visitors’ side, when the Lions play at the Rams on Oct. 24.
Both experienced their L.A. apex during the 2018 season. Lynn guided the Chargers to a 12-4 record and a wild-card playoff victory on the road against Lamar Jackson’s Baltimore Ravens. Goff reached the Super Bowl. Both teams saw their season end with a loss to the New England Patriots. The future was bright.
Two years later, Goff and Lynn were packing their bags.
The Rams mortgaged their future to get Goff in 2016, sending six picks, including two firsts, to move up to the top spot in the draft from No. 15. No franchise had ever traded up that far to get the No. 1 pick. After a slow start in the withering Jeff Fisher regime, Goff quickly hit his stride under new coach Sean McVay.
Goff had his share of L.A. highlights. There was the Thursday night victory over Minnesota — 465 yards passing, with five touchdowns to four different receivers — and the epic 54-51 thriller over Kansas City on ”Monday Night Football”. There was the pivotal firstdown run in a playoff victory over Dallas.