A trip to Las Vegas booked, and the Lombardi Trophy within reach.

The dichotomy between winner and loser, there on the field as the events of the night concluded, was a sight to behold. “We felt like we were in a rhythm and we were really rolling,” center Frank Ragnow said. There were some costly drops, some questionable decisions by Campbell on fourth down and an inability on defense to stop quarterback Brock Purdy from extending plays with his legs.īut the reason the Lions lost this game was because their offense went from dominant to dormant. The Lions gave up 27 straight points, and for some reason, ran the ball only eight times for 34 yards in the second half. … We just couldn’t quite get over the hump.” We’ve always been able to get our momentum back.

… And that’s very uncharacteristic of us. “You have to be able to answer back and we weren’t able to do that. “They’re a heavyweight team that’s done it, that’s lived it … with too many good guys, you knew they were going to make a play,” Campbell said. He just never imagined that his team would fold and lose 34-31. In the back of his mind, Lions coach Dan Campbell knew the 49ers would stand up. The Lions ran for 148 yards in the first half, at 7 yards a pop, to take a 24-7 lead at halftime. Johnson, the offensive coordinator who may soon be a head coach elsewhere, got San Francisco’s defense off balance with motion, and then smashed the 49ers with running plays. Ben Johnson and his Detroit Lions offensive linemen and running backs were having the time of the their lives in the first half of Sunday’s NFC Championship Game. He was unbelievable there in the second half.” “He made some big plays with his legs, getting out of the pocket, moving the chains on some first downs, some explosives. “I thought it was the difference between winning and losing,” head coach Kyle Shanahan said of Purdy’s scrambling. His 49 rushing yards was the best evidence he wasn’t merely a passenger in this historic comeback. In the second half, he was 13-for-16 passing for 174 yards and a touchdown. Purdy became who they needed him to be: a playmaker, a difference maker. Their championship hopes were slipping away. The game manager label is basically a pejorative in modern quarterback discourse.īut Sunday, the 49ers needed something more. A loss preventer more than a victory retriever. But 49ers tight end George Kittle recovered the loose football and San Francisco ran out the clock.īrock Purdy has been typecast by many as the prototypical game manager. San Francisco immediately drove for a touchdown that extended its lead to 10 points.īy the time the Lions scored in the second half, it was to cut the deficit to 34-31 with 56 seconds left, leaving time only for an onside kick. The Lions failed on two fourth-down attempts - passing up a field-goal attempt that would have tied the game at 27 with 7:32 to play. Gibbs, the rookie running back, lost a fumble that helped set up San Francisco’s game-tying touchdown late in the third quarter. The final two quarters of Detroit’s season were marked by a series of mishaps. Brock Purdy passed for 267 yards and ran for 48, and Christian McCaffrey rushed for 90 yards and two touchdowns. Detroit played a nearly perfect first half, taking a 24-7 lead behind a strong ground game (touchdowns by Jameson Williams, David Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs) and a Malcolm Rodriguez interception.īut San Francisco scored on its first five possessions of the second half, flipping the game on its head. The 49ers are looking for their first Vince Lombardi Trophy since 1995.įor two quarters, it looked like it would be the Lions advancing to their first Super Bowl. San Francisco will face the Kansas City Chiefs in Las Vegas on Feb. The San Francisco 49ers scored 27 consecutive points in the second half, storming back from a three-possession halftime deficit to defeat the Detroit Lions 34-31 and advance to the Super Bowl.

49ers scores