How A “Bridge Quarterback” Became Detroit’s Greatest Hope

In March 2021, the Los Angeles Rams traded Jared Goff to the Detroit Lions like he was an afterthought. No warning. No conversation. Thirty seconds after the phone call, it was already on Twitter. The media called him a bridge quarterback. A placeholder. A guy who couldn’t win the big one. Nobody was talking about what this meant for Detroit — a city that hadn’t won a playoff game in 30 years, that had watched Barry Sanders and Calvin Johnson walk away with nothing to show for it. A fanbase that had been let down so many times they’d almost stopped believing. This is the story of what happens when the wrong team throws away the right player. Subscribe for more stories about the human side of sport.