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"Unfinished business for a while, man," 49ers
coach Kyle Shanahan told FOX during a postgame interview. "This
team has been set up for this point. Today was hard at the start
but this team got it done."
The 49ers scored on their first five possessions of the second
half, taking the lead for good when Jake Moody drilled a 33-yard
field goal with 9:52 left in the game to make it 27-24.
After Detroit eschewed a 47-yard field goal and failed on a
fourth-and-3 gamble from the San Francisco 30, the 49ers
clinched the win with Elijah Mitchell's 3-yard touchdown run
with 3:02 left.
Jared Goff fired a 3-yard scoring strike to Jameson Williams
with 56 seconds remaining, but a Detroit penalty on the onside
kick sealed the outcome.
"It's hard when you lose that way. It's hard," Lions coach Dan
Campbell said. "You feel like you get your heart ripped out. But
I'm proud of that group, and I'll go anywhere with that group."
Brock Purdy completed 20 of 31 passes for 267 yards with a
touchdown and an interception for San Francisco. Goff was 25 of
41 for 273 yards with a score for the Lions, who were aiming to
make their first Super Bowl.
The 49ers' Brandon Aiyuk corralled an improbable 51-yard
reception in the third quarter after Purdy's deep pass bounced
off a Detroit defender's facemask. Aiyuk caught a 6-yard
touchdown three plays later to cut the margin to 24-17.
Jahmyr Gibbs fumbled on Detroit's next play from scrimmage, and
San Francisco soon tied the game on McCaffrey's 1-yard plunge.
Detroit wasted little time putting its stamp on the first half.
The Lions led 7-0 less than two minutes into the game on a
42-yard touchdown run by Williams. Then after Moody missed a
48-yard field goal attempt, the Lions made the score 14-0 on a
1-yard run by David Montgomery at the 2:34 mark of the first
quarter.
McCaffrey put San Francisco on the board with a 2-yard scoring
jaunt 71 seconds into the second quarter. However, the Lions
responded with Gibbs' 15-yard touchdown burst with 5:54 left in
the first half, five plays after Purdy tossed an ugly
interception over the middle to Malcolm Rodriguez.
Detroit capped a near-flawless half with its fourth score in
five possessions, a 21-yard field goal by Michael Badgley with
seven seconds remaining that gave it a 24-7 lead at the break.
Badgley's kick capped a 17-play, 68-yard drive.
Despite the daunting deficit and the fact that the Lions marched
up and down the field at will, 49ers players felt confident that
they could rally.
"We just wanted to play our ball, the ball that we know how,"
Aiyuk said. "In the first half, we didn't do that at all."
--Field Level Media
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