49ers come from behind to win NFC championship
San Francisco advances to Super Bowl by rallying from 24-7 halftime deficit, beating Detroit
SANTA CLARA >> The 49ers parlayed one of the most dramatic comebacks in NFL history into an NFC Championship crown Sunday, thus sending them on a road trip to Las Vegas, site of Super Bowl LVIII.
Their 34-31 triumph over the Detroit Lions required a comeback from, of all scores, a 24-7 halftime deficit.
Ironically, the 1957 Lions trailed 24-7 at halftime to the 49ers before rallying for a 31-27, NFC-winning win at Kezar Stadium before Detroit went on to claim the NFL's championship at home.
Sunday's comeback matched the biggest in NFC Championship Game history, which, you may recall, also was came from the 49ers, when their 2012 team rallied from 17 points in Atlanta and advanced to the Super Bowl.
Waiting for the 49ers on Feb. 11 in Las Vegas will be the AFC champion Kansas City Chiefs, who advanced to their fourth Super Bowl in five years via a 17-10 upset at Baltimore.
The Chiefs are who ruined the 49ers' last Super Bowl appearance four years ago, when a 10-point fourth-quarter lead wasn't enough to secure the 49ers' sixth Lombardi Trophy.
“There's been unfinished business for a while. Our team was set up for this for a while,” coach Kyle Shanahan said. ” … I can't wait to get to Vegas.”
The 49ers set up a rematch by emerging from halftime and going on a 27-point scoring spree. The Lions finally answered with a touchdown, but that came with just 56 seconds remaining on Jared Goff's scoring strike to Jameson Williams. George Kittle recovered the ensuing onside kick, and the air at Levi's Stadium soon filled with championship fireworks.
What made this comeback so astonishing were, well, a barrage of unlikely plays.
Brock Purdy, a year removed from his infamous elbow injury in a NFC title game defeat at Philadelphia, mixed 267 passing yards with 51 yards worth of astonishing scrambles into the open field.
Actually, the more astonishing 51 yards came on Purdy's completion to Brandon Aiyuk that really sent the comeback into overdrive. Aiyuk caught the ball once it bounced off the facemask of a Lions cornerback, then Purdy delivered a thirdand-goal touchdown pass to Aiyuk for a 24-17 deficit.
The 49ers' defense immediately forced a turnover on the Lions' ensuing series: Tashaun Gipson stripped Jahmyr Gibbs of the ball and Arik Armstead pounced on it at Detroit's 24yard line.
Christian McCaffrey converted that turnover into the second of his two touchdown runs (1 yard). Leading up to that was a 21-yard scramble by Purdy to the 4-yard line. Not to be overlooked was Jake Moody making the game-tying, pointafter kick; Moody missed a 48yard field-goal attempt on the 49ers' opening possession.
Just like that, the 49ers scored 17 unanswered points in an 8-minute span. They weren't done.
The 49ers' lead swelled to 34-24 via a 70-yard touchdown drive three minutes before the George Halas Trophy was secure. Elijah Mitchell vultured the score on a 3-yard run, after McCaffrey had a 25-yard run and Purdy made a 21-yard scramble.
The 49ers quickly scored on their first possession after halftime, but Jake Moody's 43yard field goal only pulled them within 24-10, after some quality receptions by Deebo Samuel and Jauan Jennings.
More momentum ensued once the 49ers defense forced a Jared Goff incompletion on fourth-and-2, with 6:58 left in the third quarter and the Lions sill comfortably ahead 24-10. So what happened in a horrendous half to open the 49ers' NFC title hunt? A lot of bad defense, especially against the run, typically in a four-man front with little resistance and too many missed tackles.
“We played as bad as a first half as we could but we were still within 17,” Shanahan said.
After McCaffrey's swiped it back, literally, by intercepting a Brock Purdy pass and converting that turnover into their third touchdown, which came on Jahmyr Gibbs' 15-yard run past Tashaun Gipson, Javon Kinlaw and Fred Warner, for a 21-7 lead 5:54 before halftime.
The 49ers' defensive deficiencies were illuminated on thirdand-long plays just before halftime. On third-and-12, they allowed a 13-yard run. On thirdand-18, Goff threaded a 23-yard completion to Amon-Ra St. Brown. On third-and-7, Goff hit Brown for a 9-yard strike past Deommodore Lenoir, setting up first-and-goal and, eventually, a merciful field goal for the 24-7 halftime lead.
McCaffrey seemed to wake the 49ers and the home crowd from a first-quarter funk. He opened the second quarter with a 28-yard, catch-and-run to the 5-yard line, enhanced by a fierce stiff-arm into C.J. Garner Johnson and a tackle-breaking grit. Two snaps later, McCaffrey scored on a 2-yard run,
then Jake Moody made the point-after attempt, and the 49ers were within 14-7.
The 49ers found themselves in a 14-0, first-quarter hole after yielding touchdowns on the Lions' first two drives: a 42-yard, end-around run by speedster Jameson Williams and a 1-yard plunge by David Montgomery.
How dire was that deficit? The 49ers were 2-29 previously under Shanahan when down at least 14 points, including home losses this season to the Bengals and the Ravens, as well as last year's NFC finale at Philly. Their only such comebacks, according to the Associated Press' Josh Dubow, were a 2019 win over the Cardinals and a 2021 victory over the Rams, both at Levi's Stadium.
The 49ers fell behind 7-0 only four defensive snaps into the game — a dark reminder of first-series woes a year ago, when they allowed an openingdrive touchdown at Philadlephia, before even more first-series trouble in terms of Purdy's elbow getting injured.
This startling starter came when Williams took an end-around run 42 yards up the middle for a touchdown. Nick Bosa and Ambry Thomas over-ran their angles and allowed Williams to zip past safety Ji'Ayir Brown and then break away from Dre Greenlaw's last-gasp grab of Williams' jersey. Only 2:42 into the action, the 49ers were down 7-0, on a four-play, 75yard drive.
The 49ers' response from that immediate 7-0 deficit saw Purdy complete some daring passes to Brandon Aiyuk (11 yards) and Deebo Samuel (15 yards) to breach midfield. McCaffrey delivered a 7-yard run on thirdand-3 to the Lions' 34. Aidan Hutchinson's second pass breakup of the drive — against Trent Williams' blocking — helped stall things and force the 49ers to settle for a 48-yard fieldgoal attempt, which Moody missed wide right.
“We've got one more,” McCaffrey said of the 49ers' goal.