The San Francisco 49ers are headed to their third consecutive NFC Championship Game this weekend when they face the Detroit Lions. It's also their fourth in five years, with only in 2019 did they come out with a ticket punched to the Super Bowl.
The 49ers, of course, hope to avenge their latest conference tragedies and make their long-awaited return back to the big game, and even do one better and win this year's unlike when they lost to the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LIV.
But to do that, the first order of business is a Lions team that is fighting way more than just the 49ers on Sunday but a lifetime worth of critics and bad fortune, if not just straight up bad football. This is a Lions group that is not like all those others that preceded them. This team is not just talented but hungry—a no-nonsense, blue-collar attitude squad on a mission that refuses to let anyone tell them they're not good enough to overcome decades worth of losing.
That's dangerous for a 49ers team that is often being told they're the best team in the league, even if it is for good reason. Since 2021, the 49ers have the third-most wins in the NFL (51-35), with this season holding the second-best record in the league (12-5) behind the Baltimore Ravens. This year's record is important, however, because it gained them the top seed in the NFC, earning home-field advantage throughout the NFL playoffs, which historically, has boded well for the 49ers and will be one reason why they return to the Super Bowl.
The 49ers have never lost at home during the postseason at Levi's Stadium
With playoff appearances in 2019, 2021, 2022 and now 2023, the 49ers have hosted five games at Levi's Stadium, and are 5-0, which includes the 2019 NFC Championship Game. Both the 2021 and 2022 conference title games were on the road, facing the Los Angeles Rams and the Philadelphia Eagles.
But not only are the 49ers undefeated in the postseason at Levi's Stadium, they have the best home playoff record in NFL history, dating back to their days in Candlestick Park. They're 28-10 lifetime, which is better than the New England Patriots (25-9), Pittsburgh Steelers (24-13), and Green Bay Packers (23-7), per StatMuse.
Homefield matters, as is clearly evident by the 49ers and their success at home. It was certainly good enough for them to overcome the Packers in the Divisional Round, scoring late to take the lead and eventually the game.
The 49ers have a wealth of talent on both sides
If there's a team that perhaps matches up best with the 49ers in the NFC, it's the Lions. Which makes for a very intriguing matchup on Sunday for the NFC Championship. However, it's extremely hard to go toe-to-toe with the 49ers for four quarters with all the talent they have spread around on both offense and defense.
As an offense, they have Christian McCaffrey, who led the league in rushing yards (1,459), yards per carry (5.4), and total touchdowns (21). They also have wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk, who had seven 100-yard receiving games. Then there's tight end George Kittle, who led the league at the position in receiving yards (1,020). But who can forget the defense that has guys like Fred Warner, Nick Bosa, and Dre Greenlaw, who made two pivotal interceptions in last week's Divisional Round.
The 49ers have now learned to come from behind and win a close game
Lots will point toward last weekend's game against the Packers and say how they almost fell to a much younger, lesser talented team. But excuse or not, the 49ers are coming off basically two weeks' worth of rest going back to Week 18 where they sat most of their starters, and then went into the bye week last week. They were clearly rusty, as was evident early on and really up until McCaffrey scored the go-ahead touchdown.
That win and the way it went down were needed from this 49ers group. Sometimes, as good as teams are, they don't truly know how good they really are until they're hit in the mouth and are shown some adversity that they have to overcome. These Shanahan-led teams have the stigma of not being able to hold onto leads late, faltering in big games. But the last lead the 49ers held last weekend against the Packers was early in the third quarter when they were up 14-13. Green Bay then scored on their ensuing drive and held the lead until 1:07 was left in the game. This wasn't the usual squandering of a lead the 49ers have been known for, they were just being flat-out beaten.
“It does check the box. Whatever that means,” 49ers left tackle Trent Williams said, per CBS News. “I really do think being able to grind it out and being able to go and get a touchdown against a really good defense and put the game in our hands, I think that is important. We do need that. In a lot of our wins, I was off in the fourth quarter. It doesn't help us for next week, but it does give us a little token of confidence that hey, we can get it done.”
In their 12 wins this season, the 49ers blew away their opponents by an average score of 33.4 to 14.3. That's nearly a three-touchdown difference. In their five losses, they were outscored by just over a touchdown (7.2). Saturday's win over the Packers was their closest margin of victory all season, and it couldn't have come at a better time.
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