While Skip Bayless, Stephen A. Smith try to tear Detroit down, Lions QB doesn't give a damn

The Detroit Lions are obvious underdogs against the San Francisco 49ers heading into the NFC Championship Game. Detroit must leave the friendly confines of Ford Field in favor of the Bay Area, a place where the 49ers have played quite well the last few seasons.

On a positive note, these Lions don't really know better. Detroit has little to lose at this point in the season. 2023-24 was already a success, with the Lions winning their first playoff games since 1991, and making their first NFC title game in that same span. Detroit football is back, and this young team expects to be a perennial contender.

While these may not be your same old Lions, it's tough to blame sports media for assuming Detroit won't win this weekend. A victory would send the Lions to their first Super Bowl...ever. It's literally unheard of.

Jared Goff and the Lions don't want to hear that noise, and there's been plenty of it.

Skip Bayless, Stephen A. Smith blast city of Detroit, Lions

The week began with Stephen A Smith making some unfortunate comments about the Motor City. While there was a time the majority of Detroit lived in poverty, the city has improved of late. By no means is it still in such poor shape.

“You go to the outskirts of the Detroit area, it looks like a damn desert town. I’m sitting here wondering how people make money,” Smith said, per the Detroit Free-Press. “I’m looking at it and what is going on in that city? You gotta go there to see what I’m talking about. To know and to see what kind of impact this is having, it extends beyond football.”

Smith went on to say that Detroit was on 'a respirator', which feels like a stretch, even for a man known for exaggerating.

Bayless, meanwhile, focused on the on-field product, tweeting that the Lions had won the right to be blown out by the 49ers.

Lions QB Jared Goff claps back at Skip Bayless, daytime sports talk

In an interview with 97.1 The Ticket in Detroit, Jared Goff made it clear he doesn't want to give Bayless or any of the major daytime sports talk show hosts...well, the time of day. It's the sports media conglomerate's job to hype up these games, even if some of that commentary has gotten out of hand. It is not Goff's job to clap back.

“Nah, I don’t care about anything he says,” Goff said of Bayless, specifically. “You can stop now. Anything those guys say on daytime TV, you can skip over that.”

It's a refreshing take from Goff, who was well within his right to send Bayless and Smith packing.