Brock Purdy – Lions Lowdown

Five reasons the Lions were able to fight back to defeat the 49ers

It did not seem like a ‘meaningless’ game

Another Lions win, more franchise records.

With the 40-34 victory at the San Francisco 49ers on Monday night, the Lions have won 14 games in a season for the first time in history and finished with an 8-0 road record, another first.

While Monday night’s game technically didn’t mean a thing for the playoff standings, coach Dan Campbell had said they were going out to win it, no holding back. Like always, he was a man of his word.

He said it was a tough decision but the right thing was to play the guys, saying he owed it to the team. “You cross your fingers and hope nobody gets hurt,’’ Campbell said. “We were fortunate.”

Sunday night’s game against the Vikings at Ford Field is for the NFC No. 1 seed and a bye. The loser will be the No. 5 seed. Huge difference. Campbell called it a “fairy tale” scenario with two 14-win teams battling it out.

On Monday night, Detroit’s defense tightened up, holding San Francisco to just 14 points (one touchdown with 43 seconds left) in the second half, after allowing three touchdowns in the first half. The 49ers were up 21-13 at the half.

Prior to the game, the Lions downplayed the revenge factor. They lost to the 49ers, 34-31, in the same location in the NFC Championship game last January.

“It was good to get this one, good to come to the scene of the crime and get it done,’’ Campbell said.

Five reasons the Lions won:

ONE: Jared Goff had the Lions offense rolling, throwing three touchdown passes – to Jameson Williams, Amon-Ra St. Brown and Sam LaPorta. “Goff played lights out,’’ Campbell said. Goff said he thinks the whole offense has been playing at an elevated level. He completed 26 of 34 attempts for 303 yards. He’s completed at least 70 percent of his passes for 11 straight games. The Lions set a single-season franchise record by producing 20-plus points in 14-straight games. He’s the only quarterback to pass for three or more touchdowns in four straight games in franchise history.

TWO: Safety Kerby Joseph intercepted Brock Purdy twice in the second half to give him a league-leading nine picks. The Lions took advantage of both turnovers, scoring a touchdown on a pass to Amon-Ra St. Brown and then a touchdown scamper by Jahmyr Gibbs. “When we needed it the most, he came up in a big way,’’ Campbell said, noting it wasn’t just his picks but he also made critical tackles. The Lions defense, which is missing so many key guys, did not have its best game. They could get linebacker Alex Anzalone back either for the Vikings or first playoff game.

THREE: While the Lions defense limited Purdy in the second half, they will have to play much better to beat Sam Darnold and the Vikings on Sunday night. Too often 49ers receivers were wide open and they had no answer for the play-action. Defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn has his work cut out although the Lions did beat the Vikings 31-29 on Oct 20 in Minnesota. “For me, do you want to play a little bit better? Yeah, you do in areas. We calmed some things down in the second half, A.G. and those guys did a good job. We talked about disruption and takeaways and we got those,’’ Campbell said of the defense. “I feel good because I know the most important thing is we do complement each other.’’

FOUR: The run game flourished again without the injured David Montgomery. Jahmyr Gibbs had a stellar showing with 161 yards from scrimmage — 18 carries for 117 yards and a touchdown, along with four catches for 46 yards. Running back Craig Reynolds pitched in with seven carries for 41 yards and two catches for 35 yards.

FIVE: Wide receiver Jameson Williams scored the Lions first two touchdowns – one rushing for 3 yards and one receiving on a 42-yarder from Goff. He became the fourth Lion with more than 1,000 scrimmage yards this season. He joins Amon-Ra St. Brown, Jahmyr Gibbs and Sam LaPorta. “We’ve got a good group, an unselfish group,’’ Goff said.

UP NEXT: Lions (14-2) host the Vikings (14-2) at 8:15 p.m. on Sunday at Ford Field for the NFC North title and the NFC No. 1 seed.

Detroit Lions fall apart in second half, lose to 49ers in NFC Championship game

‘It’s like getting your heart ripped out’

A trip to the Super Bowl was there for the taking. The Lions jumped out aggressively on offense and defense in the first half at San Francisco on Sunday and took a 17-point lead into halftime.

All was good.

Then in the second half, everything fell apart.

“It’s like getting your heart ripped out, that’s hard,’’ an emotional coach Dan Campbell said afterward.

The San Francisco 49ers came back after a 24-7 halftime deficit and earned a trip to the Super Bowl with a 34-31 win. They will face the Kansas City Chiefs who beat the Baltimore Ravens in the earlier game.

Campbell said at halftime they weren’t doing backflips. They knew the 49ers would make a second-half run.

“We knew we were going to have to weather a storm in the second half. so when they started to make a push we weren’t surprised,’’ Campbell said. “We just couldn’t counter back and we’ve always been able to counterback we just couldn’t do it in this one.’’

One eight-minute stretch in the third quarter was the killer.

On a fourth-and-2 at the Niners’ 28, the Lions’ Jared Goff could not connect with Josh Reynolds so they turned the ball over on downs.

In the 49ers’ ensuing possession, Brock Purdy completed a 51-yard pass to Brandon Aiuyuk after it bounced off the helmet of Lions’ Kindle Vildor and into the hands of Aiyuk. San Francisco scored three plays later on the 6-yard touchdown pass to Aiyuk to close the gap, with Detroit then up 24-17.

Then when the Lions got the ball back Jahmyr Gibbs fumbled on first down and the Niners recovered at Detroit’s 24.Christian McCaffrey scored a touchdown four plays later to tie the game at 24-24.

Nothing worked for the Lions, allowing the Niners to score another touchdown and kick a field goal before Jameson Williams caught a touchdown pass with less than a minute left.

“We’ve been there before, so fourth quarter you feel like you’re going to get it back, we just couldn’t quite get over the hump,’’ Campbell said. “That hasn’t been us all year and it showed up today at the worst time.’’

Two key plays in the game were fourth downs that the Lions didn’t convert in the second half. On both they were in field goal range but Campbell chose to try for the first down instead,

“I just felt really good about us converting and getting our momentum and not letting them play long ball,’’ Campbell said. “They were bleeding the clock out and I wanted to get the upper hand back. It’s easy, hindsight, I get it, but I don’t regret those decisions. It’s hard, it didn’t come through. I understand the scrutiny I’ll get, that’s part of the gig, it just didn’t work out.’’

This was exactly how Campbell has coached all season and most of the time his gambles worked. It wasn’t a surprise he went for it on both.

In the first half the Lions rushed for 148 yards. In fact Gibbs (42 yards), David Montgomery (60) and Jameson Williams (42) each had more rushing yards than Christian McCaffrey (29). But in the second half the Lions only managed 34 rushing yards and could not stop the 49ers – McCaffrey finished with 90 rushing and 42 receiving yards.

Campbell couldn’t exactly put his finger on the difference. It’s a young team without much playoff experience, but he didn’t really use that as an excuse.

“One of the things we always tell everybody who’s never been here, particularly the young players, you don’t know which play is going to make the difference … You can only say so much you’ve got to live it, unfortunately you’ve got to get your heart ripped out which we did,’’ Campbell said.

“It’s a lesson learned. I told those guys this might be our only shot.. Do I think that? No. Do I believe that? No. However, I know how hard it is to get here,’’ the coach said. “I’m well aware it’s going to be twice as hard to get back to this point next year. … It’s going to be tough, you’re not hiding from anybody anymore everybody wants a piece of you which is fine. … We had an opportunity and we just didn’t close it out. It stings.’’

The Lions accomplished much this season. They won the NFC North with a 12-5 record and then won the franchise’s first playoff game in 32 years in the wildcard round over the Rams. They followed it up with a divisional win over the Bucs.

Lions finally get chance at NFC Championship; 5 things to watch as Detroit faces 49ers

ALLEN PARK — It’s not that it’s been 32 years since the Lions have been to an NFC Championship game. That doesn’t really play into the preparation for Sunday’s matchup at San Francisco.

The 49ers have been to the NFC Championship game four of the last five years. It’s all new territory for most of the Lions.

Coach Dan Campbell will not try to calm them down if they’re too emotional at kickoff.

“I’m not pulling them back, we’re going. They’ll adjust on the fly. We’re going in, they’ll be ready,’’ Campbell said.

Throughout the week, the media attention has been more intense with more national and local coverage and more expected of Campbell and the players, per the NFL guidelines.

In the meantime, Campbell has tried to treat this as another preparation week for just another game.

“The football stuff is no different than it was getting ready for Kansas City in Week One. It’s identical,’’ Campbell said on Friday. “I feel like we’ve handled it well. That’s the whole of it. I feel like we’re handling that well, that portion of it.’’

The Lions beat the Rams and the Bucs in the first two rounds of the playoffs to reach this point. So it’s not like it’s the first go-around for all these guys. It’s just that a win on Sunday will earn them a trip to the Super Bowl.

Still first things first and Campbell knows that.

“This is the next game and they’ve done this all year. Our guys have done it all year. We’ve done things right, we understand what it’s going to take, we respect the opponent, know what they’re capable of. We know exactly what we’re capable of,’’ Campbell said.

Five things to watch:

1. Jared Goff and the offense will have to break through linebackers Dre Greenlaw and Fred Warner to find success moving the ball. “Both those guys are really dang good. And I’ve been fortunate, or unfortunate, to be on the other side of the ball from them quite sometimes. And they’re really good. They’re both very smart. They’re both very fast,’’ Goff said. “They both play sideline to sideline. They’re both involved in the run game and the pass game. And yeah, lot of respect for both those guys.”

2. The Lions have excelled at stopping the run – they’re rated second in the NFL – and they can’t let up against Christian McCaffery and the 49ers offense. It is key to their plan. “You’ve got to stop the run because if you don’t, they’ll rush for 250 on you and then they won’t even worry about passing. Everything has to start there,’’ Campbell said. “Look, (coach Kyle) Shanahan does an unbelievable job of – he’s going to work one side and make you overreact and then he counters off of it and then he play-passes off of it and works the middle of the field. So, look, you’ve got your hands full in both regards. And (QB Brock) Purdy does a hell of a job. They throw a lot of daggers middle of the field, and he does a hell of a job with touch, timing, rhythm, but we have to stop this run game. It just has to start there.’’

3. While tight end Sam LaPorta has been golden for the Lions, tight end George Kittle has done it for years for the 49ers at a high level. Trying to contain him is key. Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn said it’s all about matchups “Because for a linebacker to cover him, that’s where the speed and agility come into play. And when a safety has to cover him, that’s when a size factor comes into play. So, the thing is we have versatile players on our end too, alright, that can do a good job of covering that player. But listen, that doesn’t mean it’s going to be easy,’’ Glenn said. “They just know they’ve got to be on their P’s and Q’s to get ready to cover that player, so he’s one of the best in the League. He’s an elite player. What he does that’s different from most tight ends is his ability to block. I think he’s tough, he’s gritty, he’s physical and he has the receiving skills to beat you in a number of different ways..”

4. The Lions’ multi-dimensional offense can be a headache for defenses. Amon-Ra St. Brown and LaPorta top the list along with rookie running back Jahmyr Gibbs who has scored a touchdown in each of the first two playoff games. “He’s improved in everything. I mean, I think you can see that. His protection has improved and that’s not something that – you say, ‘Well, we got him in here to protect.’ No. But he’s got to be able to do it and he’s grown leaps and bounds in that regard,’’ Campbell said. “I think you see he’s getting better in the pass game out of the backfield. That was somewhere we felt like there was a ton of room to grow. And it’s getting better, and better, and better. And he’s still got so much room to go there. But his running ability, his vision, he’s just, to me, he really is a complete back that’s continued to develop. But really I felt like the – we played the Ravens early in the year and that’s when you felt like, ‘Alright, here come – the light’s coming on.’ And he’s just, every week, gotten better, and better, and better. So, he’s playing at a high level right now.”

5. Campbell and GM Brad Holmes built this team to play anywhere at any time. They’ve found success on the road this season with a 6-3 record. It may help that Goff is familiar with the 49ers Levi’s Stadium from his time with the Rams. It won’t be as loud as it was at Ford Field – not a chance – but it will be a hostile environment. It’s a long way for Lions’ fans to travel but it’s expected about 20 percent of the crowd will be wearing Honolulu blue. While the weather will be the same for both teams, the Lions are not used to playing in outdoor stadiums.

INJURY UPDATE: WR Kalif Raymond (knee) and G Jonah Jackson (knee) are out; CB Chase Lucas (illness) and QB Hendon Hooker (tooth) are questionable. Also, TE Zach Ertz was not elevated from the practice squad so will not be active.

PREDICTION: Lions 27, Niners 24. This is likely to come down to the wire. Campbell says the Lions were built for this, now they have a chance to prove it.