Will History Remember Matthew Stafford as a Lion or a Ram?

I remember the 2008 Detroit Lions season incredibly well. It was at a time in my life when I had immersed myself in sports and was an avid listener of Detroit sports talk radio. It was a year defined by futility, the first time that a team lost 16 games in a season and the first winless NFL season since the Baltimore Colts went 0-8-1 in the strike-shortened 1982 season. The team was ripped down to the studs, and the next year would be a new beginning. The first step in that process was drafting their quarterback of the future.

That quarterback was Matthew Stafford. He was given the impossible task of resurrecting a franchise that had been downtrodden for years that hadn’t won a playoff game since 1991. Stafford would go on to play 12 seasons in Detroit and become the best quarterback in the history of the franchise before being traded to the Rams. And yet, as he cements himself as an MVP candidate in Los Angeles, we are left to wonder if history will choose to remember him as a perseverant Detroit Lion or as a champion with the Rams.

The Loyal Soldier

Stafford stayed in Detroit longer than most reasonable football fans would have expected him to. His 12 years in the Motor City were defined by a loyalty to the franchise but also by a management team that continuously failed him. He had three different coaches when he was a Lion, and what became of those coaches is indicative of the disservice that he was done in the first decade of his career.

Stafford’s first five seasons were with Jim Schwartz, who was the defensive coordinator for the Titans for eight years before being hired. Since being relieved of his duties in 2013 by the Lions he has had three different defensive coordinator positions with great success but has never sniffed another head coaching opportunity.

His next coach was Jim Caldwell, who went 26-22 as head coach of the Colts with one Super Bowl appearance. He was the best coach Stafford had in Detroit, where he went 36-28. Since then, he has been an assistant for both the Miami Dolphins and Carolina Panthers.

Caldwell’s replacement was Matt Patricia, a former assistant under Bill Belichick who was an unmitigated disaster in Detroit, going 13-29-1. Patricia, like Schwartz, has never had another head coaching opportunity. But he has seen tremendous success in college as a defensive coordinator at Ohio State.

In those 12 seasons, Stafford only had a top ten scoring defense once. Seven of those seasons featured a bottom third defense, and two of those seasons featured the worst defense in football. While Stafford did have gifted receivers like Calvin Johnson, Golden Tate, and Kenny Golladay, they often struggled to equip him with a consistent running game. It’s therefore no surprise that Stafford went 74-90-1 as a starter in Detroit, a reflection of the poor roster building that plagued his time there.

For Lions fans, Stafford is remembered for his loyalty and toughness—a player that wanted to make it work in the city more than anything. He was deeply involved in the community, never gave the press a bad quote, and always took accountability. He is without question, the best quarterback that the franchise has had in the Super Bowl era. But when the Dan Campbell era began, it was time for a reset.

In one of the most mutually beneficial trades in the history of the league, Stafford was sent to Los Angeles for Jared Goff and three draft picks that became Jameson Williams, Sam LaPorta, and Jahmyr Gibbs. The trade gave the Lions their new start and gave Stafford a chance to win—and both parties got what they wanted.

The Reinvention

The trade to the Rams paid immediate dividends for Stafford and the Rams, as the team went 12-5 and won the Super Bowl. After 12 years of toiling away in Detroit, Stafford was rewarded with the glory that had eluded him for so long. There was so much sympathy from Lions fans toward Stafford getting a title, that a very large contingent of Lions fans became Rams fans for a brief moment and even bought “Detroit Rams” merchandise that featured a melding of the logos of both teams.

Stafford has done a lot of winning as a Ram, going 43-25 in his five years out west. He has evolved from the power arm warrior that he was in Detroit into a savvy technician that utilizes deception and arm angles to make every throw imaginable. Since joining the Rams in 2021, Stafford ranks fifth in passing yards, seventh in touchdown passes, fourth in passing success rate, and seventh in touchdown rate. In short, he has consistently been one of the best passers in the league.

As of this writing, Stafford is the betting favorite for MVP, leads the NFL in touchdowns, and is third lowest in interception rate. With his time in Los Angeles, Stafford is building his Hall of Fame case. Pro Football Reference has a Hall of Fame Monitor that tracks the achievements of players and rates their chances of getting inducted. The average score of a Hall of Fame quarterback is 108. Stafford’s current score is 86.58—boosted by his raw numbers (9th in passing yards and passing touchdowns all-time) but brought down by his lack of Pro Bowl and All-Pro selections (two and zero, respectively).

If he wins MVP this season and leads the Rams to a deep playoff run, his Hall of Fame candidacy will likely be a formality. The irony of Stafford is in wondering how we will remember him. The other players in the passing record books are typically associated with one team predominantly. Peyton Manning will always be a Colt in the eyes of most people despite winning a Super Bowl as a Bronco for instance, ditto for Tom Brady the Patriot vs Tom Brady the Buc.

Stafford presents the strange case where he is the best quarterback that the Lions have ever had, and yet it is plausible to think that we will remember him as a Ram. Stafford is currently fifth in passing yards, third in touchdowns, third in completion percentage (minimum 250 attempts), and second in game winning drives in Rams history. There is a compelling case to be made that with another Super Bowl and one more solid year of production that Stafford may also be the best Rams quarterback ever.

Matthew Stafford has had a strange journey, and it is not done yet. As we take stock of his career, we are left to wonder how we will remember his greatness. Will it be throwing vertical routes to Calvin Johnson in a losing effort or will it be the image of the craftsman dropping pinpoint dimes to Cooper Kupp and Davante Adams? History tends to remember the victors, and Stafford will be the ultimate test of that when his career is over.

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