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The San Francisco 49ers are headed back to the Super Bowl, as they defeated the Detroit Lions, 34-31. Trailing 24-7 at halftime, Brock Purdy and Co. engineered an incredible comeback to escape the championship round. The 17-point deficit San Francisco overcame tied the third-largest comeback in a conference championship game, and was the largest halftime deficit overcome in a conference championship game.
The Lions dominated the first half of action, but everything seemingly went wrong in the final two quarters. How did this happen? Let’s take a look.
Turnover on downs on the first possession of the second half
The 49ers got the ball to start the second half, and they went 50 yards on nine plays, while Jake Moody hit a 43-yard field goal to trim the deficit to 14 points. The Lions offense then went all the way from its own 25-yard line to the 49ers’ 28-yard line. In field goal range, Dan Campbell was faced with a fourth-and-2. He elected to go for it, but Jared Goff could not connect with Josh Reynolds. That provided momentum for the 49ers.
An amazing catch and a missed opportunity
On the 49ers’ next possession, Purdy relied on star wideout Brandon Aiyuk to move the chains. An overthrow turned into a huge pickup of 51 yards, as the ball bounced off Kindle Vildor’s facemask, and into the hands of Aiyuk.
This probably should have been an interception, but Aiyuk took advantage of the defensive back’s miscue.
Three plays later, Aiyuk finished the drive with a touchdown, trimming the deficit to just seven points with a little over five minutes remaining in the third quarter.
In the blink of an eye, we had ourselves a game. And in another blink of an eye, the 49ers had the ball again.
On the Lions’ first play from scrimmage following the Aiyuk touchdown, Gibbs coughed up the rock, and San Francisco recovered at Detroit’s 24-yard line.
Four plays later, Christian McCaffrey’s…
Source link : https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/lions-historic-collapse-heres-how-detroit-let-a-17-point-lead-slip-away-in-nfc-championship-loss-to-49ers/
Author : Jordan Dajani
Publish date : 2024-01-29 05:08:59
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