By Wes Long | Published | No Comments
The Detroit Lions have had a magical season. They won the NFC North for the first time in franchise history and won their first division title since 1993. The Lions haven’t been this far in the playoffs, since 1991, when they lost in the NFC Championship round to Washington.
The Lions have never been to the Super Bowl, but could cross that off their list with a win on Sunday – over the San Francisco 49ers.
The 49ers are back in the NFC Championship game for the second season in a row. Last year, on the road facing the Eagles for a birth in the Super Bowl, 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy saw his night end early with an injury to his throwing shoulder that would require off-season surgery.
Purdy has faced his share of ups and downs this season, but has his team just one win away from their first Super Bowl appearance since the 2019 season – when they lost to the Kansas City Chiefs.
For the Detroit Lions, they have relied on a mix of veteran experience in their quarterback Jared Goff, and a collection of young players on both sides of the ball to propel them into the NFC Championship game.
Lions wide receiver Amon Ra St. Brown and running back David Montgomery have had stellar campaigns this season. St. Brown led the team with 119 receptions, 1.515 receiving yards and ten touchdowns.
Montgomery led the team in rushing with 219 carries, 1,015 yards and 13 touchdowns. Rookie running back Jahmyr Gibbs was also key for the Lions down the stretch, as he had a very impressive first season in the league, compiling 182 carries, 945 yards and ten touchdowns. Gibbs also caught 52 passes, for 316-yards and one touchdown.
The Lions defense played just as important of a role in the team reaching this point in the season as their offense. Lions defensive end Aidan Hutchinson followed up his impressive rookie campaign from last season, with an even better sophomore season. Hutchinson led the team with 11.5 sacks and was a major disruptor for opposing quarterbacks this season.
Rookie safety Brian Branch impressed as well. Branch was fifth on the team in total tackles and tied for third on the team in interceptions (three).
Both Branch and Hutchinson will beed to play big for the Lions defense if they hope to pull the upset on Sunday against the 49ers.
That’s because San Francisco had the leagues most balanced offense this season. In the run game, elite running back Christian McCaffrey once again proved to be almost unstoppable. McCaffrey led the league in rushing yards with 1,459 and his 14 touchdowns were second only to Dolphins running back Raheem Mostert.
Even more impressive for McCaffrey, was his contributions in the passing game. He hauled in 67 receptions, for 564 yards and seven touchdowns. That gave McCaffrey over 2,000 yards from scrimmage during the regular season, which was also tops in the league.
Just as dangerous on offense for the 49ers, was wide receiver Debo Samuel. Samuel finished the regular season with 60 receptions, for 892 yards and seven touchdowns. If those two weapons are not hard enough to contain, tight end George Kittle hauled in 65 receptions, for 1,020 yards and six touchdowns.
But as daunting as the 49ers offense was this season, their real strength lies on the defensive side of the ball. The 49ers allowed just 17.5 points per game this season (3rd best in the league). The 49ers allowed the fewest yards per game through the air in the NFC and fourth fewest in the league; while their rushing defense had not allowed a single running back to gain more than 100-yards all season, until last week when Packers running back Aaron Jones went over 100-yards.
If the Lions are to have success with their double headed rushing attack of Montgomery and Gibbs, they will have to contend with first team All Pro Fred Warner and pro bowler Chase Young.
It’s a tall order for sure for the Lions. Then again, few expected that they would get this far, so an upset on Sunday over the 49ers wouldn’t surprise too many.
The NFC Championship game kickoff at 6:30 PM/E on FOX.
