For twelve years, the Detroit Lions couldn’t win a single playoff game with Matthew Stafford under center. So when the Lions traded him to the Rams in 2021, it felt like a verdict. The Los Angeles Rams paid a steep price for him anyway, giving away two first-round picks and Jared Goff. A year later, Stafford was hoisting the Lombardi Trophy after Super Bowl LVI. Now a former tight end is weighing in on whether his Lions years alone would’ve ever gotten him to Canton. Eric Ebron didn’t hold back.

“Winning matters in anything. Name a really good quarterback that lost. Before Matthew Stafford went to the Rams. He was not a Hall of Famer,” Eric Ebron didn’t hold back on the On My Soul Podcast.

Stafford’s stats in Detroit were never the issue. Ebron’s point was simple: none of it mattered without wins.

“But he wasn’t a Hall of Famer,” he added. “He hasn’t won anything. Stafford didn’t even win a playoff game until he left Detroit. So you can put as many numbers up as you want. You didn’t win nothing.”

And the numbers really were there. Over twelve seasons, Stafford started 165 games, threw over 45,000 yards, and tossed 282 touchdowns. But the winning record told a different story, a modest 74-90-1, with 144 interceptions and a completion percentage of 62.6. He made only one Pro Bowl the entire time. Moreover, he made just three playoff appearances with the Lions, and he never won any game. Big arm, bigger stats, but nothing to show for it when it counted.

Canton doesn’t hand out jackets for yardage. It wants All-Pro nods, rings, MVPs, real hardware. And that’s exactly what Stafford started collecting once he got to LA.

Last season might have been the best of his career. He won AP NFL MVP for the first time, becoming the first quarterback since Tom Brady in 2007 to lead the league in passing yards, touchdowns, and TD-to-INT ratio in the same season.

His passer rating hit a career high 109.2; he threw an NFL-best 46 touchdowns, and he passed for 4,707 yards. Then there’s the bigger picture. Five seasons with the Rams have given him a Super Bowl ring and a resume that finally matches his talent.

In fewer starts than his Lions run, he’s already put up 19,407 yards and 141 touchdowns, with his completion rate climbing to 65.5 percent and his rating up to 98.5. But the number that really tells the story is his record with a 46-28. Same quarterback, same arm, just a completely different outcome once he left Detroit.

One more season could be all Stafford needs to seal the deal. If he can prove there’s still something left in the tank, that gold jacket conversation might not be a debate much longer.