The Chicago Bears should be celebrating this NFC North contract extension

Jared Goff and the Detroit Lions agreed to a four-year, $212-million contract. The deal includes $170-milion guaranteed. Considering the Chicago Bears play this team twice per season, this is a win for the Bears.

Now, first things first. Jared Goff isn't a bad quarterback. In fact, he's a pretty good quarterback, all things considered. With the weapons in Detroit, keeping Goff as the quarterback for an extended period of time is a good thing for them.

The part where this gets hairy is the money aspect. Following his contract extension, Jared Goff is the second-highest-paid quarterback per year in the NFL.

Among the quarterbacks listed, Jared Goff sticks out a bit for a couple of reasons.

First off, is Jared Goff worthy of being one of the highest-paid quarterbacks in the league? It's a question that will take four years to answer, but it's an important question.

When looking solely at guaranteed money among quarterbacks in the league, Goff is guaranteed more than Josh Allen, Patrick Mahomes, Kyler Murray, Matthew Stafford, Dak Prescott, and Kirck Cousins— to name a few.

Obviously, the timing of the contract gives Goff the upper hand due to the salary cap increasing, but it's one of those deals that will be criticized if the Lions don't continue their upward trend.

Another reason the Chicago Bears should be happy about this deal is because Jared Goff seemingly doesn't play well against the Bears.

In Goff's nine matchups against the Bears, dating back to his time with Los Angeles, he's completed 182/283 passes (64.3% completion) for 1,931 yards, 13 touchdowns, and 10 interceptions. Along with his passing stats, he's been sacked 18 times, averaging two sacks per meeting. Lastly, in his six meetings with the Bears as the starter for Detroit, Goff has an even 3-3 record.

Considering the Chicago Bears have been drafting early in the first round since Goff's arrival in Detroit, holding a 3-3 record with a team they play twice per season gives the Bears reason to be happy about Goff's signing.

Chicago Bears' divisional rival locks down Jared Goff on massive deal

Again, Jared Goff isn't a bad quarterback. In fact, he's a pretty good quarterback. But, in a game where hundreds of millions of dollars get invested into players, Jared Goff becoming one of the highest-paid quarterbacks in the league is more of a win for the Bears than the Lions.

Not to compare Justin Fields and Jared Goff since they're vastly different, but the reason the Bears moved on from Fields was to avoid getting caught up in paying a quarterback far more money than they're worth.

Now, with the team surrounding Goff, paying him is more worth it to the Lions than re-signing Fields was to Chicago, but the principle remains the same: The Detroit Lions have a bigger chance of regretting this move than not.

But, with the NFC North bolstering up as one of the more competitive divisions in the league, Detroit now knows they have a level of consistency at one of the most important positions on the field.

That is, except for when he faces off against the Chicago Bears.