49ers rally to beat Lions, set up Super Bowl face-off with Chiefs
THE KANSAS City Chiefs beat the Baltimore Ravens to claim the American Football Conference (AFC) Championship on Sunday and earn a fourth trip to the Super Bowl in five years where they will face the San Francisco 49ers, who brought the Detroit Lions’ storybook playoff run to an end.
The Lions had appeared headed to their first Super Bowl appearance after building a 24-7 half-time lead in the National Football Conference (NFC) title clash in San Francisco.
But the 49ers needed just eight minutes in a stunning third-quarter comeback to erase a 17-point deficit before grinding out a 34-31 win.
Earlier in Baltimore, reigning Super Bowl champion Kansas City scored all its points in the first half and then held off the Ravens 17-10. The Chiefs head to the Feb. 11 Super Bowl in Las Vegas where they will bid to become the first team to hoist backto-back Lombardi trophies since Tom Brady led the New England Patriots in 2004 and 2005.
The AFC Championship game was highlighted by a marquee matchup at quarterback between the Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes, the twice, and reigning, NFL Most Valuable Player, and the Ravens’ Lamar Jackson, who claimed the honor in 2019 and is favored to add another for his work this season.
Mr. Mahomes completed 30 passes for 241 yards and one touchdown, that to Travis Kelce in the first quarter that had pop star girlfriend Taylor Swift jumping up and down in jubilation in a private box at Baltimore’s M&T Bank Stadium.
The first Super Bowl to be held in Las Vegas is already expected to be one of the splashiest ever but the buzz around America’s biggest football party is sure to be dialled up a few notches with Ms. Swift and her legion of fans known as ‘Swifties’ onboard. “It’s been a heck of a year, we’re not done yet,” said Mahomes. “We’ve been underdogs the last few games but we never feel like underdogs.
“We’ve got a lot of guys on this team that know how to win.
“When the playoffs came around we were going to make it happen and now we’re in the Super Bowl the job’s not done.”
‘UNFINISHED BUSINESS’
Detroit had looked poised to run the Niners out of their own stadium when, on just the fourth play from scrimmage, Jameson Williams slashed his way to a 42-yard touchdown and David Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs rushed for two more as the Lions charged ahead 24-7.
But a refocused Niners stormed out after the break to wipe out Detroit’s advantage on a 43-yard Jake Moody field goal, a six-yard touchdown pass from Brock Purdy to Brandon Alyuk, before the NFL’s leading rusher Christian McCaffrey ploughed over from the one-yard line for his second score of the game.
A 33-yard Moody field goal in the fourth quarter gave the 49ers their first lead of the game at 2724 before Elijah Mitchell added a three-yard touchdown to extend their advantage.
Detroit did not go down without a fight, Mr. Williams hauling in a touchdown pass from Jared Goff with 56 seconds left to play but the Lions could not recover the onside kick, ending the late rally.
“We played as bad as we could in the first half,” said 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan. “There’s been unfinished business for a while our team has been set up for this for a long time it’s been a long year to get to this point and we got it done today.
“It was hard at the beginning but the character we have on our team, the type of guys we have, can’t wait to get to Vegas.” —