Step aside Taylor Swift. Mr. Irrelevant and his own band of superstars are heading to the Super Bowl after a remarkable comeback by the San Francisco 49ers saw them beat the Detroit Lions.
Christian McCaffrey, Deebo Samuel, Brandon Aiyuk, George Kittle and Nick Bosa all played their part but it was a pair of Brock Purdy passes within minutes of each other that changed the course of this game in the third quarter.
Yes, the 49ers were given another almighty scare here by Dan Campbell’s team – a week after they also squeezed past the Green Bay Packers – but it is the hallmark of champions to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.
Kyle Shanahan’s team were completely lifeless for two and a half quarters on both sides of the ball. The atmosphere at Levi’s Stadium was flat.
But Purdy exorcised his demons from that night in Philadelphia 12 months ago where an elbow injury sidelined him to spark a turnaround for the ages and win the NFC Championship.
The San Francisco 49ers are going to the Super Bowl after beating the Detroit Lions on Sunday
Brandon Aiyuk catches the ball after it rebounded off Kindle Vildor for a huge 49ers gain
Christian McCaffrey scored two touchdowns to turn the game in favor of San Francisco
Brock Purdy celebrates after handing the ball to McCaffrey for his second score of the game
Devastated Detroit fans watched their team miss out on the Super Bowl after leading by 17
Now they go to Las Vegas aiming to right another wrong. The Kansas City Chiefs beat them in a 51-point spectacular in the Super Bowl in 2020 and this year’s promises to be another epic.
As for the Lions, they played the first half with the ‘grit’ that Campbell demands. They dominated the 49ers on their own patch and, while it may be hard to see now, the future is bright and their momentum as a franchise is frightening.
Some thought the intensity of playing in the Lions’ first NFC Championship game for 32 years would weigh too heavily on them. But within 100 seconds, and buoyed by thousands of Lions fans in California, they blew that notion away.
It took them just four plays and 75 yards to stun Levi’s Stadium. Jameson Williams finished off a clinical first drive from Jared Goff, smashing through the gaps opened up for him by Detroit’s supposedly banged-up offensive line.
Desperate 49ers defenders almost knocked him to the floor but Williams stayed upright and sprinted into the end zone. If that didn’t deflate the home crowd, what came next definitely did.
After 49ers kicker Jake Moody pushed his first field goal attempt wide from 48 yards, Goff and the Lions picked up exactly where they left off.
Meticulously, he led them down the field in 12 plays over more than five minutes. The 49ers just had no answer for Detroit’s run game and David Montgomery powered over to make it 14-0.
Jameson Williams scored the opening touchdown inside 100 seconds, stumbling over the line
Williams’ score prompted wild celebrations among the thousands of Lions fans in Santa Clara
Things got even better for the Lions when David Montgomery powered over from close range
McCaffrey would not let the 49ers lose against the Packers last week. He singled-handedly willed them to victory then and he got them going again here.
He caught a pass from Purdy and turned it into a 28-yard gain thanks to brutal handoffs and a refusal to go down.
The running back then punched one in from two yards out to get his team on the scoreboard. There was life back in the stands. For a minute or so, anyway.
Montgomery knocked the stuffing back out of them almost immediately with a 14-yard run before St. Brown caught a pass on 3rd & 11 to cut through the deafening noise.
It was only when Dre Greenlaw suffered a stinger after a huge hit on Sam LaPorta – that left him briefly in the blue tent – that the 49ers managed to get the Lions offense off the field.
But they were soon back on it when a Purdy pass intended for Samuel was tipped into the grateful arms of Malcolm Rodriguez. Goff punished Purdy with an inch-perfect pass through the eye of a needle to St. Brown, leaving them 15 yards short.
From there, Jahmyr Gibbs made the most of more lackluster 49ers tackling to convert and put the Lions 21-7 up. A field goal from Michael Badgley made it 24-7 to the Lions at half-time. They could smell Vegas.
So poor were the 49ers, the atmosphere for large parts of the third quarter was stunned and acceptant. Moody converted a field goal but hope looked lost and defeat inevitable. But then the game turned on one huge stroke of luck.
Desperately needing a spark, McCaffrey burst into life with a powerful run for a huge gain
The running back then scored the home team’s first touchdown to close the gap to seven
Jahmyr Gibbs continued Detroit’s dominance with the run game, scoring his own touchdown
Dan Campbell’s side dominated the first half but didn’t have an answer for the 49ers late on
Kyle Shanahan masterminded a huge comeback for his team, who will play the Chiefs in Vegas
Purdy took a swing for the fences, throwing long to Aiyuk. He couldn’t reach it but the ball cannoned off defender Kindle Vildor and landed in the receiver’s arms. The 49ers fans were suddenly awake.
Purdy then threw a pass to Aiyuk for the touchdown and all of a sudden there was hope again. Momentum shifted in an instant and from there it looked like there was only going to be one winner.
After retaking possession again, Purdy showed off his run game with a 21-yard gain that put his team back in scoring position. As reliable as ever, McCaffrey converted from a yard out to level things up at 24-24.
From pure control to sheer chaos: the Lions never recovered. Where Goff was composed and the run game was working, they could not longer get anything going.
The 49ers took the lead for the first time with just under 10 minutes to play when Moody converted a field goal from 33 yards.
Campbell is never afraid to go for it on big plays. With 7:32 left in the fourth quarter and his team down by three, he went for it on 4th & 3 from around 32 yards out.
Goff had to scramble from the pocket and his pass was short. Who knows what might have happened if he’d taken the field goal and leveled things up.
The decision to go for it was compounded by the fact the 49ers wrapped up the game on their next drive.
Again, Purdy scrambled with his legs and made huge ground to put his team into a scoring position. Again, McCaffrey pulled off a powerful run to take the 49ers to yards of the goaline.
And then fellow running back Elijah Mitchell converted to seal his team’s place in the Super Bowl.
Williams grabbed his second touchdown of the night for the Lions to make it a three-point game but the 49ers held on to punch their ticket to the Super Bowl.
More to follow.