Detroit Lions’ path to Super Bowl will go through San Francisco
On Sunday, September 12, 2021, at Ford Field in Detroit, quarterback Jared Goff (16) of the Detroit Lions attempts a pass during the third quarter of an NFL game against the San Francisco 49ers. The game was won 41–33 by the 49ers. (Mulholland, Mike | MLive.com)Mulholland, Mike | MLive.comThe top-seeded 49ers secured their place in the NFC championship game on Saturday night by dominating the seventh-seeded Green Bay Packers 24-21. On Sunday afternoon at Ford Field, they will welcome the winner of the divisional match between Detroit and Tampa Bay.
This season, the Lions have advanced remarkably on home soil, and last weekend’s wild-card victory over the Los Angeles Rams set record levels of noise. If Green Bay had won on Saturday night—and they had led for the whole of the game—they would have also been the hosts of the NFC championship game. But in the fourth quarter, rookie kicker Anders Carlson missed a 41-yard field goal wide left. The 49ers then answered with a 12-play, 69-yard drive that ended with Christian McCaffrey scoring a 6-yard touchdown with 1:07 left in the game.
With that, the Lions are ready to host Tampa for their season finale. They will go to San Francisco for a Super Bowl play-in game if they win that match.
The Lions haven’t played the 49ers since giving them everything they had in the inaugural game of Dan Campbell’s tenure in 2021. In the game’s final two minutes, the team rallied from a 41-17 deficit to tie the score at 41-33 before Jared Goff’s fourth-and-9 misplay at San Francisco’s 24-yard line ultimately proved to be the game’s end.
Naturally, a great deal has transpired since then. The 53-man roster today consists of just 18 players that played a snap for Detroit in that game; the team has undergone a complete rebuild, which has helped the Lions win their first postseason game in thirty-two years. For the first time since 1957, Detroit will advance to San Francisco in the playoffs, with a trip to Las Vegas up for grabs if they win two straight games.
