DETROIT — Last Sunday, Minnesota quarterback Sam Darnold entered the victorious Vikings locker room and was greeted by his teammates, who promptly doused him with water and then lifted him off the ground.
It was something pure and special, out of a jubilant NCAA March Madness upset or perhaps a Hollywood movie where eyes would roll that such a thing doesn’t happen in the real world of professional sports.
Yet it was real — real emotion, real appreciation for a 14th regular-season victory and the quarterback who helped deliver it.
The next night, as has become custom around Detroit games the past year, fans who had flocked to a road game in San Francisco celebrated the Lions' 14th win by filling the stadium with chants about their own quarterback … “JAR-ed Goff, JAR-ed Goff.