Jared Goff and the Detroit Lions borrowed from Jordan Love and the Green Bay Packers to trick the Chicago Bears on Sunday.
The moment of deceit came in the third quarter of a 34-17 victory, when the Lions faked a fumble and Goff threw a touchdown pass.
Goff intentionally stumbled while dropping back. With Detroit players yelling “Fumble!” and Jahmyr Gibbs pretending to dive for the ball, Goff threw to Sam LaPorta for a 21-yard touchdown that made it 34-14.
Offensive coordinator Ben Johnson approached Goff on Monday with a slightly different plan. It had the quarterback deliberately fumbling, similar to the classic trick play known as the “fumblerooski.”
Goff didn’t think he could pull that one off, so they tweaked the idea. After working on the play in practice, they executed it to perfection against the Bears.
Jared Goff breaks down Lions’ 34-17 win over Bears | NFL on FOX
“At first, it started on Monday, with Ben asking if (I) thought I could fumble on purpose and pick it back up,” Goff said. “I said I don’t know about that. We kind of got off that pretty quickly and were like, ‘Let’s just pretend we’re falling or pretend I’m fumbling but I’m holding onto the ball.’ I think the part that Gibbs dives really sells the play. I’m only doing half of it.”
Gibbs and Tim Patrick told ESPN that Johnson’s inspiration for the play came from the Packers’ season-opening win at Soldier Field last season. Love found a wide-open Luke Musgrave for a 37-yard pass after fumbling the snap.
Reporting by The Associated Press.
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