Many people were taken aback by the Detroit Lions’ 2023 NFL season surge to the NFC Championship Game.

The Lions have defeated their first two playoff opponents under the direction of third-year coach Dan Campbell and a plethora of young, upstart talent, setting up a matchup with the formidable San Francisco 49ers.

Although many have been caught off guard by the Lions’ rapid surge to the Super Bowl, their opponents are not. Specifically, 49ers tight end George Kittle clarified why it is not shocking that Detroit is playing in the NFC championship game.

No, I’m not shocked in the slightest. Indeed, not at all. Kittle stated on The Pat McAfee Show on Tuesday, “You can just tell by the way they play that the team embodies everything that Dan Campbell preaches.” It’s not phony, there’s that much. They are tenacious, determined, and will put everything on film in order to outwork and outeffort you. Being tight ends means that one of our weekly objectives is to out-try your try-hards. “We’re just going to out-try you and we’re going to put more effort on tape than anyone else” seems to be their mentality as well. You can see that, and they have talented players to match it.”

Kittle and Lions rookie Sam LaPorta have a common bond as tight ends who attended Iowa for their college careers. Despite that link, he also called out multiple Detroit offensive players who he found intriguing during his early film analysis.

“I was looking really just at their offense, and I’m a huge — I think Frank (Ragnow), their center, is a phenomenal player,” Kittle said. Indeed, whole dog. Big fan of Frank; great guy I met at the Pro Bowl last year. I also enjoy observing their offensive. LaPorta and (Amon-Ra) St. Brown are both excellent. Jared Goff is performing at a very good level. They are breaking the law by carrying out all necessary tasks. Not to mention, their running backs are excellent as well.”

The Green Bay Packers, like the Lions, were riding high going into their divisional playoff matchup with the 49ers. Nevertheless, the Packers lost because they were unable to stop San Francisco.