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, the 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.
It was the 1957 Lions who trailed 24-7 at halftime to the 49ers in the conference finals, before Detroit rallied for a 31-27 win at Kezar Stadium, then advanced to claim the NFL’s championship at home.
Sunday’s comeback matched the biggest in NFC Championship Game history, which also came from the 49ers when their 2012 team rallied from 17 points down in Atlanta and advanced to Super Bowl XLVII.
“To pull a comeback like that in the NFC Championship, it was special for me,” 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy said. “We’ve still got one more to go. But to have a performance like we did as a team, that was huge. You’re always going to remember that.”
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 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.
“We’ve been trying really hard to get back to that moment,” coach Kyle Shanahan said. “We’ve been close a number of times. This time we got it done. We’ll spend two weeks now to prepare and make sure it’s a heck of a game.”
After losing the past two NFC Championship Games on the road to the Los Angeles Rams and the Philadelphia Eagles, the 49ers regrouped at halftime knowing a 17-point deficit could have been worse.
“Guys were extremely pissed. It wasn’t just 17. It was the way we were down,” Shanahan said. “They were having their way in the run game, and we weren’t getting much in the run. We didn’t want to go out like that.”
The 49ers set up a rematch by emerging from halftime and going on a 27-point scoring spree with three touchdowns and two field goals. Meanwhile, the Lions recoiled, by twice failing to convert on fourth down, fumbling, and punting on a three-and-out series. Detroitfinally 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.
The 49ers had themselves their second comeback in as many games of these playoffs, having opened up with a 24-21 divisional-round win over the Green Bay Packers, who led 21-14 entering the fourth quarter. “That’s back-to-back weeks with wins we weren’t supposed to have, apparently,” wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk said. “That’s two gutty wins that show you the type of team we have, the mindset and the heart everybody has.”
What made this comeback so astonishing was the barrage of unlikely plays.
“No one was rah-rah. No one was freaking out. It was football,” Purdy said. “There’s enough veterans on this team been in crazy situations and it was, ‘We have to do our job. Straight up.’ There wasn’t much said. Kyle said some things, Fred (Warner) said some things, but we kept it simple.
“We played really good, complementary team football from there.”
Purdy, a year removed from his infamous elbow injury in an NFC title game defeat at Philadelphia, mixed 267 passing yards with 51 yards worth of eye-opening scrambles into the open field. (His total rushing yards decreased to 48 with three kneel-downs on the final possession.)
“It’s amazing. I don’t think too many people know how fast and elusive Brock is when he’s running,” Deebo Samuel said.
“I thought it was the difference between winning and losing,” Shanahan said. “He made big plays with his legs.”
Actually, the more outlandish 51 yards came on Purdy’s completion to Aiyuk which sent the comeback into overdrive. Aiyuk caught the ball once it bounced off the facemask of cornerback Kindle Vildor, then Purdy delivered a third-and-goal touchdown pass to Aiyuk for a 24-17 deficit.
“It unlocked the whole team,” Shanahan said of the 51-yard catch. “You could feel the whole momentum — with our players, the stadium, the sideline — kind of flip.”
“It’s just bang-bang,” Aiyuk said of the play’s sudden nature. “You don’t really realize (the magnitude) until afterward. Even now, I finally just got to my phone, but in the moment, it’s football, playing whistle to whistle.”
Upon replay review on his phone at his locker, Aiyuk said: “Yeah, that was lit.”
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 24-yard 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 extra point; Moody missed a 48-yard field-goal attempt on the 49ers’ opening possession.
McCaffrey ran for 90 yards on 20 carries and added 42 yards on four receptions. Deebo Samuel had a team-high 89 receiving yards (eight catches), Aiyuk had 68 yards, Kyle Juszczyk had 33 yards on two key catches, and Kittle snuck in 27 yards amid his blocking duties.
The 49ers’ lead swelled to 34-24 via a 70-yard touchdown drive three minutes before the George Halas Trophy was secured. Elijah Mitchell vultured the score on a 3-yard run after McCaffrey had a 25-yard run and Purdy made a 21-yard scramble.
McCaffrey yielded to Mitchell after experiencing what Shanahan termed a nerve stinger in the shoulder area. McCaffrey said an hour after the game he felt fine, but immediately after his long run, his shoulder felt “a little weird” and he did not want to risk a fumble at such a crucial time.
Goff, the Marin County native, was 25-of-41 for 273 yards without a turnover. He was sacked twice by Nick Bosa in the first half, and Bosa said the 49ers defense was thrilled to finally face a quarterback who would often stay in the pocket, which paid off on those fourth-down incompletions.
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. Bosa said “it was one guy each time” on the first-half breakdowns and they simply needed each of the 11 men to do their job.
The Lions ran for 182 yards, but 148 of that came in the first half.
The 49ers quickly scored on their first possession after halftime, but Moody’s 43-yard field goal only pulled them within 24-10, after some quality receptions by Samuel and Jauan Jennings.
More momentum ensued once the 49ers defense forced a Goff incompletion on fourth-and-2, with 6:58 left in the third quarter and the Lions sill comfortably ahead 24-10.
That defense was in stark contrast to deficiencies on third-and-long plays just before halftime.
On third-and-12, they allowed a 13-yard run. On third-and-18, Goff threaded a 23-yard completion to Amon-Ra St. Brown. On third-and-7, Goff hit St. 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. Before that, the Lions intercepted Purdy and converted that into their third touchdown, which came on Gibbs’ 15-yard run past Gipson, Javon Kinlaw and Fred Warner for a 21-7 lead 5:54 before halftime.
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. Gardner-Johnson and tackle-breaking grit. Two snaps later, McCaffrey scored on a 2-yard run, then 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 by 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.
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 opening-drive touchdown to Philadelphia before Purdy’s elbow bent backward.
But they overcame that opening-drive bolt from Williams and the halftime deficit to return to the game’s biggest stage.
“We’ve got one more,” McCaffrey said of the 49ers’ goal.
“What a challenge,” Purdy said of the Super Bowl matchup. “You have (Patrick) Mahomes and what he does. They’re special. They’re winners. They’ve proven that over however many years he’s been there. To go back and play them, it’s going to be sweet. It’s going to be special for all of us.
“I wasn’t here in ’19, but you could just tell the guys that have been here, if anybody, it’d be special to play these guys. I’m excited to be part of it.”
Bosa was a rookie — the NFL’s Defensive Player of the Year — in 2019, and he sobbed into a towel after the 49ers lost to the Chiefs.
At halftime Sunday, Bosa said he was embarrassed. So, in the locker room, he lay on the ground with a heating pad on his back, and he screamed “random things” and demanded that defenders take away Goff’s first potential target to allow the pass rush.
Now Bosa and the defense must stop Mahomes. Again.
“It’s perfect. It’s perfect. And they’re as great as an organization, a coach and a quarterback as there is,” Bosa said. “They were down and not looking great this year, either, and they’re playing their best ball now. It’s going to be a big challenge.”
