It has been a wild ride for the laid-back kid from Marin County.

Eighteen months ago, Jared Goff was considered a total bust. A failed No. 1 draft pick. Yep. Everyone knew it.

On Sunday, he’ll be starting in the NFC Championship Game.

“The outside noise doesn’t bother him,” said Jerry Goff, Jared’s father and a former big-league catcher who raised his family in his native Marin. “He’s a different cat.”

Goff has been a different cat from the start, at least in the context of Marin-bred athletes. The first time I saw him, he was a 15-year-old sophomore at Marin Catholic-Kentfield, crushing an opponent and looking like Tom Brady taking on a grade-school team in the process. It was the only time that I — a Marin native and current resident — have looked at a kid from the north side of the Golden Gate Bridge and thought, “I’m going to cover that one in the pros.”

But it hasn’t always been an easy path. Goff grew up wanting to follow in his dad’s footsteps and go to Cal, but when he got there, he went 1-11 and has said of that start, “It couldn’t get any worse.” But by the time he left, after three seasons, Goff held 26 Cal records and had helped the team to a winning record and a bowl victory. He was a well-liked QB, as evidenced by his teammates’ joyful celebration when he was drafted in 2016.

He went No. 1 overall to the Rams, who had just moved back to Los Angeles and traded up to get the top pick and grab Goff. He seemed a perfect match for the relocated team, with his surfer-boy looks that were often compared to young Ryan Gosling in “Remember the Titans.”

But, with Jeff Fisher as his head coach, Goff first sat for nine games behind Case Keenum, then went 0-7 as a starter. The “B” word was being tossed around frequently.

“Anyone who said that is not very bright — you can’t judge someone on seven games,” Jerry Goff said. “Maybe I’m sensitive because I’m his parent, but you’ve got to give kids some time. This is the hardest position in sports to play: to lead a franchise, learn everything, execute it at top speed.”

Fisher would be fired after 13 games. Some Rams were wondering if the move west was a great idea. It wasn’t a great atmosphere.

“There were so many things going on that first year,” Jerry said. “Fisher’s firing, guys who weren’t interested.”

The Rams hired Sean McVay, an innovative offensive mind who looked at Goff and saw all of the strengths he could work with instead of weaknesses he wanted to change. Goff now is a two-time Pro Bowler, is in the playoffs for the second straight year and is one step away from the Super Bowl.

“He believes in the people in that building,” Jerry Goff said. “Nobody else knows what the deal is, what the reality is. There are so many intangibles.”

Goff, 24, has grown physically and mentally. He’s not the skinny kid who took 26 sacks his rookie year and had his mother Nancy cringing.

“He’s always been a relatively mature kid,” Jerry said, “and you have to mature fast in the NFL. He came in as a 21-year-old, playing with adult guys who have three or four kids.”

Goff’s cool, confident manner also might come, in part, because he’s the child of a professional athlete. We’ve seen that sense of perspective and inner confidence in other athletes, like Warriors guards Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson.

And speaking of the Warriors, Goff might have gained some perspective from his close association with the team. Steve Kerr’s daughter, Maddy, was his Cal classmate and a close friend. In the offseason — during playoff runs — Goff has been a frequent visitor to Oracle Arena.

“I know that it never hurts to be around winners,” Jerry said. “He does pay attention to success. How you prepare and work ethic.”

Despite his status as a star in the L.A. sports scene, Goff is still Northern California at heart. He often wears Warriors T-shirts when doing television interviews. His jersey number is No. 16, for Joe Montana, who was no longer even playing for the 49ers by the time Goff was born. His L.A. pad is full of Warriors and Giants and 49ers memorabilia.

His parents know they’ve been blessed. They’ve watched their son go from Marin County across the bay to Cal, then down I-5 to Los Angeles. Their daughter Lauren also lives in L.A., so home-game weekends are a family affair.

This weekend, they’ll all be in New Orleans. It’s the same place where Goff had his first NFL road start in 2016, when he still found it hard to believe he was playing against his childhood heroes.

When his team was on defense, he stood on the sideline to watch Drew Brees at work (Brees threw for 310 yards and four touchdowns in the Saints’ 49-21 win).

“In my third year,” Goff said recently, “it’s not quite as surreal anymore.”

But, it’s still part of a wild ride for the young man from Marin.

Ann Killion is a San Francisco Chronicle columnist. Email: akillion@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @annkillion