The Detroit Lions were already sniffing a Super Bowl appearance at the end of the first half of Sunday's NFC title game against the San Francisco 49ers. But what was looking like a win for Detroit turned into a heartbreak the team will not soon recover from, as the Lions suffered a colossal meltdown in the second half, allowing the Niners to get away with a 34-31 victory.
After the game, Lions head coach Dan Campbell opened up about his true feelings on his team's loss.
“It’s like getting your heart ripped out,” Campbell told reporters during the postgame press conference.
Article Continues BelowThe Lions entered the tunnel at the end of the first half with a commanding 17-point lead. Even then, they still knew that San Francisco was very much capable of coming back from such a deficit. That scenario turned into reality in the second half, as the 49ers inched closer and closer to Detroit before eventually taking the lead off of a Jake Moody field goal with a little under 10 minutes remaining in regulation.
There were perhaps a few decisions in the game that Campbell made and wanted to take back after, though, he already said that he does not regret calling for his team to go for it on a couple of fourth downs instead of going for field-goal attempts.
Despite the loss to San Francisco, Campbell and the Lions can still hold their head high. Campbell just steered the Lions to the franchise's first playoff appearance since 2016 and its first win in the playoffs since the 1991 campaign.