Minnesota - 28, Detroit - 24.
Q. Dan said he really regretted at the end not putting it in your hands and letting the offense go for it. With how well you guys have been performing on fourth down, would you have liked to have the ball in your hand on fourth down?
JARED GOFF: I'm not going to question him. I wish I'd have gone over there and demanded to stay on the field. I guarantee he would have let us. Some way, shape, or form. Ultimately, we had two chances as an offense to finish that game.
We had a chance on the longer drive, fourth and long, we didn't convert. Then we had a chance following that and didn't convert on fourth down. Two chances to get a few first downs and didn't do it. Just gave them one too many chances.
Q. During that timeout, did he tell you they were kicking a field goal, or was that the conversation?
JARED GOFF: I think it was decided. There wasn't really much talk.
Q. As a leader of that team, how do you not let that bleed over?
JARED GOFF: I don't think it will. We keep saying, like today, we're close, we're close. I think we're there. We're there. We just have to get a first down here and execute on one more play here. Throw one more better ball, and it's over.
That game should have been over long before they were able to get back in it. I'm sure they know that. We let them back in it, and that's our fault.
Q. Any idea why third down has been kind of such an area that sticks it to you guys these past two games?
JARED GOFF: A think a lot of the times we're playing with two downs. So the numbers may look poor, but we're converting on fourth, and we're doing it somewhat on purpose. It's not always that way, but there's some where we're throwing it short of the sticks and knowing it's fourth and two, we're going to go for it. So yeah.
Q. How much do you fight, I guess on the sidelines, to go for it on fourth down?
JARED GOFF: I wish I would have. I wish I would have. I didn't, as much as I wish I would have. That was a tough spot, man. It was a tough decision. Obviously, we make the field goal and stop them on defense, there's no question about it.
It's tough. It was fourth and four. You're kind of in that tweener zone. You can even discuss punting it in some scenarios. Ultimately, I think, I wish I would have said something to Dan, and I didn't. I'm sure he would have let us have it if I had done that.
Q. What do you say or anyone say to Austin after a game like that? Not that it's on him solely but --
JARED GOFF: He's going to make the game winner for us at some point. He's going to have to keep his head up and keep treading along every day. It shouldn't have come down to it. It really shouldn't have.
We had two drives there, fourth and one, and then the following drive off of the turnover on downs where get a couple first downs, throw a couple of completions, couple of efficient runs, and the game's over.
Q. You guys go for it on fourth down so much. It almost seems like you have to bury it. You can't just run it. There was a couple of missed passes or incompletions on third and fourth and short. Is that just because you can't run it every single time on all those fourth downs?
JARED GOFF: I'm not sure what --
Q. On third or two or fourth and two, people are wondering why you were throwing the ball so much?
JARED GOFF: We were 4 for 6 today. I don't know how many were runs and passes on fourth down.
Third and two, that's a good question for Ben. I'll do either, and you can argue either. I'm sure I lean typically towards what's converting more typically for us, but you can do either.
Q. On other teams, what's been the thing that pushes you over this hump?
JARED GOFF: Belief. Belief in each other and full execution there at the end of the game. All these games are going to be one score. For the most part, they're going to be one score games. Even the Washington game got dicey towards the end.
The NFL is so good, being in a position to win the game even once, get a couple of first downs and the game's over is a gift, and you need to take advantage of it. And we didn't.
I don't know why. We had two chances today to put it away, and we didn't.
Q. The offensive line and the way they played. No sacks, two hits on you.
JARED GOFF: They played really good. Those two edge rubbers are the real deal, and I thought they did a great job keeping me upright and in the run game as well. We had a lot of good things going well there. They've been really gelling together. I thought having Frank back this week was really helpful. It looked good.
Q. I was going to ask about the offensive line, but when you're in the pocket (indiscernible). Was that something you identified in film, or is that just a feel thing in the moment?
JARED GOFF: I just did it a little bit more today. I don't think I was anticipating doing it. Yeah, I don't know.
Q. You guys had Chark going early in this game. The first couple weeks, he really wasn't connecting. Was that intentional to kind of get him into a rhythm?
JARED GOFF: Yeah, Ben was very aware of it, and I'm very aware of it too. We want to get the guys that need the ball, the ball, and he's one of them.
I think the biggest one that's still hurting me right now is that cross ahead to him just off his hand. I just missed him. I'm sure he'd say he could make that catch, but, no, I've got to make a better throw. That may have broken the game wide open. We were uptown. That's one that still hurts me.
To answer your question, he's a great player, and we need to get him the ball as much as possible.
Q. When you talk about the running game, it seems like (indiscernible) the offensive line.
JARED GOFF: We've got a deep running game in both players and scheme. Obviously up front we're kind of getting to the point where we can kind of run any type of run, whether it's gap zone, inside zone, some of the jet sweep stuff. We've been having success with all of it, which is really good for our offense and opens it up.
Like you saw today, there was a lot of really good moments for us today. Again, you'd love to be standing here saying and then we did that run that finished the game or that pass that finished it, whatever it may be. Yeah, it sucks.
Q. Probably no better than most, but with what some of your teammates are going through (indiscernible)?
JARED GOFF: That's our offense. They're tough guys. I know they'll fight through it. Yeah, every team is going to deal with something like that. It's next man up, right? We feel good about our depth.
Q. Evan Brown do well at guard?
JARED GOFF: Yeah, Evan did good. I've got a lot of experience with Evan. He stepped up and played well. I don't know how many times he's played guard, but I felt like he did a good job out there.
I thought that was really good with the O-line this week specifically is how focused they were. A lot of guys in there who have a lot of experience. Skipper is the least one, but he's so focused himself. I thought they did a good job.
Q. In this locker room, what do you need to say, if anything, to help get over the loss of this?
JARED GOFF: I think the idea that we're close, kind of I spoke to earlier, like yeah, we're getting better. Yeah, sure, we're close to winning, but we're there. Our defense played well. Our offense played well. We just have to finish and make two or three more plays at the end of the game, and we're having a completely different conversation now.
You're going to say, yeah, it is close, but we did it last week. We can do it. We know we can do it. We have the guys who can do it. We have the coaches who can do it. Just need to do it. What is that reason why? I don't know. I know we have the guys here to solve those problems.
It's not close. It's there. Like we just need to do it, if that makes sense. I know it's kind of convoluted, but you know what I mean.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports