The Lions’ 2023 season came to an end in the NFC Championship Game, when the team blew a 24-7 halftime lead to fall to the 49ers 34-31.

While the club has moved on to a new year and a new season, that loss is still providing motivation as Detroit goes forward. Head coach Dan Campbell has mentioned that and quarterback Jared Goff echoed the sentiment in his Tuesday press conference.

“It seems a lot of things just kind of didn’t go our way and I hate for that to sound like an excuse because we felt like we should have won that game anyways, but the second half they played well and we didn’t and that’s kind of the bottom line,” Goff said, via Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press. “I wish I could go back and pinpoint some plays for you but there was a lot of them. There wasn’t just one. There wasn’t just one thing that went wrong, there was a handful of them and, yeah, it’s the way the ball bounced that day, but [it] gave us a ton of fire. It really did.

“And I know Dan’s talked about it, gave us a ton of fire and gives us something to look at and to draw on for next year.”

Goff had one of his best seasons in 2023, completing 67 percent of his passes for 4,575 yards with 30 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. In the postseason, he threw for 837 yards with four touchdowns and no picks.