Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff walks off the field after an NFL wild-card playoff football game against the Los Angeles Rams, Sunday, Jan. 14, 2024, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

ALLEN PARK, Mich. (AP) — Jared Goff is California cool, staying easy breezy in good times and bad.

The veteran quarterback, who is from the San Francisco Bay Area, has led the Detroit Lions to the most success they’ve had in generations with two playoff victories in one postseason for the first time since winning the 1957 NFL title.

And yet, he has refused to get too emotionally high about that feat.

Goff also would not get too low — at least publicly — when the Lions won just three games in his debut season with them in 2021 and followed up the next season with a 1-6 start.

“He’s the captain of the ship,” Detroit center Frank Ragnow said Wednesday. “He’s as steady as it gets.”

The Lions will lean on Goff to stay the course for at least another week.

He is heading home to play the 49ers, about an hour from his hometown and alma mater, in the NFC championship game on Sunday.

Goff is from Novato, California, attended nearby Marin Catholic High and starred at California before the Los Angeles Rams drafted him No. 1 overall in 2016.

He helped the Rams reach the Super Bowl in his third season, they traded him away two years later and were eliminated by the castaway in a wild-card game earlier this month.

Outside of the Lions’ organization, Goff was viewed as a stopgap quarterback when he was acquired along with a pair of first-round picks and a third-round selection nearly three years ago for Matthew Stafford.

Goff has been much more, validating the faith Lions general manager Brad Holmes had in him when dealing a popular star for a player his former employer didn’t want.

He got in a groove during the 2022 season, lifting the team to eight wins over their final 10 games and stayed in it during much of Detroit’s breakthrough season in which the franchise won its first division title in three decades and ended an NFL record nine-game postseason losing streak that lasted 32 years.

Goff threw 383 straight passes without an interception, a mistake-free run that trailed just two in league history, before throwing a pick in September.

He finished the regular season ranked No. 2 in yards passing and fourth with 30 touchdowns, including five that matched franchise and personal records in last month’s rout against Denver.

In postseason wins over Los Angeles and Tampa Bay, he has completed 74.3% of his passes for 564 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions.

“He’s as accurate as any quarterback I’ve seen,” 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan said.

That’s especially true when Goff can stay in the pocket instead of throwing on the run.

“The key is obviously getting pressure,” San Francisco defensive end Nick Bosa said. “He’s got a really good O-line, so it makes it tough. But if you cover up his first couple reads, and then you get after him and hit him a few times it changes things a little bit.”

A lot has changed for Goff since he grew up as a 49ers fan and wore No. 16 because his father, former Major League Baseball player Jerry Goff, picked Joe Montana’s number for him to wear.

Even though the stakes are much higher than previous visits to San Francisco in the regular season with the Rams, it’s tough to tell by looking at or listening to Goff.

“It’ll be fun to be able to play a big game there, but I’ve played there quite a few times and we’ll have some friends and family there,” he said with a shrug. “It’ll be cool.”

And when Goff is asked about his cool and calm demeanor, he replies with an aw-shucks answer.

“Yeah, it does come quite naturally,” said Goff, who leads active NFC quarterbacks with five career playoff wins. “But I do think there’s a part of me that’s intentional about being consistent whether things are good or bad.”

Detroit (14-5) at San Francisco (13-5)

5:30 p.m., Sunday, FOX

SERIES RECORD: 49ers lead 39-28-1.

LAST MEETING: 49ers beat Lions 41-33 on Sept. 12, 2021, in Detroit.

LAST WEEK: Lions beat Buccaneers 31-23; 49ers beat Packers 24-21.

LIONS OFFENSE: OVERALL (3), RUSH (5), PASS (2), SCORING (5)

LIONS DEFENSE: OVERALL (19), RUSH (2), PASS (27), SCORING (3)

49ERS OFFENSE: OVERALL (2), RUSH (3), PASS (4), SCORING (3)

49ERS DEFENSE: OVERALL (8), RUSH (3), PASS (14), SCORING (3)

TURNOVER DIFFERENTIAL: Lions even; 49ers plus-10.

LIONS PLAYER TO WATCH: Amon-Ra St. Brown. The All-Pro WR is one of the best players on the team, and he’ll have to be at his best to help pull off an upset. In two playoff games, he has 15 catches for 187 yards and a TD. If St. Brown has at least seven receptions against the 49ers, he will join Michael Thomas and Wes Walker as the three players in league history to have seven or more catches in their first three postseason games. In the regular season, he was tied for second in the NFL with a career-high 119 catches, third with a career-high 1,515 yards receiving and set a career high with 10 TD catches.

49ERS PLAYER TO WATCH: QB Brock Purdy. Purdy will join Ben Roethlisberger and Mark Sanchez as the only QBs to start in a conference title game in each of his first two seasons. Purdy struggled most of the game last week when he went 23 for 39 for 252 yards, but recovered in time to lead his first game-winning drive of the season. Purdy led the NFL with a 113 passer rating in the regular season when he threw 31 TD passes and for a franchise-record 4,280 yards.

KEY MATCHUP: Lions DE Aidan Hutchinson vs. 49ers RT Colton McKivitz. Detroit’s second-year pass rusher has eight sacks in the past four games and will be a challenge for the Niners. McKivitz struggled at times against top edge rushers with his nine sacks allowed ranking tied for the fourth most in the NFL in the regular season, according to Pro Football Focus.

KEY INJURIES: Lions G Jonah Jackson (knee) and TE Brock Wright (forearm) will miss the game after being hurt last week and return specialist and WR Kalif Raymond (knee) may be out for a third straight game. … C Frank Ragnow is playing through a sprained knee and ankle while LB Alex Anzalone is doing the same with shoulder and rib injuries for Detroit. … Detroit DE James Houston may return for the first time since breaking an ankle in Week 2. … San Francisco WR Deebo Samuel injured his shoulder last week and is questionable for the game.

SERIES NOTES: The 49ers have won 11 of the past 12 meetings in the series. … San Francisco beat Detroit in coach Dan Campbell’s debut in 2021 when the Lions nearly erased a 24-point deficit in the final two minutes. … This is the third all-time playoff meeting between the teams. San Francisco won a 1983 wild-card game 24-23 when Eddie Murray missed a potential game-winning field goal and Gary Danielson threw five INTs for Detroit. … The Lions overcame a 20-point deficit in the 1957 divisional round to win 31-27.