The Detroit Lions ended their magical postseason run on Sunday, with a heartbreaking, devastating loss to the San Francisco 49ers, who have now clenched a rematch with the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LVIII.
The San Francisco 49ers dealt the season ending blow to the Detroit Lions, in a game where their experience shone above all else, and ultimately decided the game in its final hours.
Photo Via Pride of Detroit
Storming out of the 1st quarter, Williams had a 42-yard touchdown run to get the Lions 7-0. After the 49ers missed an early 48-yard field goal attempt, Detroit proceeded to go up 14-0 on a Montgomery touchdown run. Responding to the early deficit, Purdy threw the ball to McCaffrey to get on the board at 14. Nonetheless, the Lions responded, and picked off Purdy, scoring another touchdown by Gibbs to go up 21-7. Continuing their momentum, the Lions scored a 21-yard field goal to up 17 at halftime, to end the first half 24-7.
After halftime, the 49ers would begin mounting their comeback, and the Lions did little to prevent it. Early in 3rd, a 43-yard field goal from Moody cut the lead to 14, at 24-10, in favor of the Lions. Proceeding to go for it on 4th down, rather than attempting the field goal, the ball was dropped, and the Lions failed to seize the opportunity. With all the momentum on their side, Aiyuk caught a pass from Purdy, after it bounced off a defenders helmet for 51-yards, at 24-17. A Gibbs fumble was recovered by the 49ers and led to a 1-yard touchdown drive from McCaffrey, his second of the game to tie the game at 24-24. The 49ers took their first lead of the game at 24-27, following a 33-yard field goal from Moody. On Detroit’s next possession at the 49ers 30-yard line, Campbell again opted to go for it instead of a field goal, leading to an incomplete pass to St. Brown. The 49ers put the game out of reach with a 3-yard Mitchell touchdown, and three minutes left there was scarcely anything the Lions could do to put the game back in reach. After the 49ers had scored 27 unanswered points, the Lions finally responded with a 3-yard touchdown drive from Goff to Williams in garbage time, to make the contest the deficit at 31-34, but the Lions failed the onside kick and the game ended there.
