Surreal comeback gets Niners to Super Bowl

It was a comeback that seemed as much surreal as successful, one that equaled the greatest in NFL postseason history and no less meaningful elevated them into the Super Bowl.

The 49ers were being overrun and overwhelmed in the NFC Championship Sunday by the Detroit Lions, seemingly destined to be left in the dust as well as the distance in their quest for the championship game.

They couldn’t stop the Lions on defense and couldn’t score against them on offense, behind almost from the opening moments and trailing by two touchdowns and a field goal as late as the third quarter.

But it changed so quickly, and for the home team, so magnificently. And there after key stops and against-the-grain maneuvers by nonconformist Detroit coach Dan Campell who defied basic football logic, going for it twice on fourth down and short—and failing—the Niners were 34-31 winners. 

They advance to Super Bowl LVIII on February 12 in Las Vegas against the Kansas City Chiefs, whose victory over the favored Baltimore Ravens earlier in the afternoon appeared to preview a Niners defeat.  

Not so fast. 

The defense started making tackles and quarterback Brock Purdy engineered a rally that would have made Joe Montana—a spectator at Levi’s Stadium—almost envious. San Francisco came out aggressively and determinedly after halftime—“We had no other choice,” said a weary head coach, Kyle Shanahan.

Campbell, the Lions’ third-year coach, had choices on fourth down—his reputation is that of a man who takes chances—and decided even with the lead to go for the first down instead of kicking a field goal.

The first time was with some seven minutes remaining in the third quarter. The Lions, in front 24-10, had a fourth and two on the Niners 28. Does a field goal give Detroit an insurmountable margin? An incomplete pass from Jared Goff gave San Francisco the life it seemed to lack.

The Niners kicked a field goal, and—which, yes, the Lions could have done—and now it was all different.

Early on, Goff, the kid from Marin County and Cal, the No. 1 overall draft pick in 2016, was outperforming the Niners’ Brock Purdy, who as we know was the last pick in the 2022 draft.  

Purdy has been criticized—unfairly perhaps—for being a “game manager”, however that’s defined, and never bringing the Niners from behind to a victory.

That belief was erased emphatically as he produced the win. ”Brock was great,” said Shanahan. “He did it as much with his legs as with his arm.”

Purdy scrambled away from tacklers several times and completed 20 of 31 passes for 267 yards.

Still attempting to remain the low-key guy he’s been, Purdy talked about the blocking and the defense. Not until pressed, did he comment on going where so few get the opportunity, the Super Bowl.

“Yeah,” he said. “I’m looking forward to it.”

So certainly is Shanahan. Five seasons ago, he coached the Niners to a Super Bowl against, yes, Kansas City. San Francisco then was unable to hold a second-half lead in that game.

Shanahan, however, preferred to talk about what happened against the Lions.

“I’ve never been in a game like this,” he said.

He’s not alone.