The San Francisco 49ers overturned a 17-point lead at halftime and advanced to the Super Bowl match against the defending champions, Kansas City Chiefs.
The 49ers scored 27 unanswered points to beat the Detroit Lions 34-31 in the NFC Championship game, booking a trip to Las Vegas.
This was their second Super Bowl appearance in five seasons, as they lost to the Chiefs four years ago.
Victory and a chance to win the Super Bowl for the first time in 29 years seemed a long way off as Jameson Williams capped the opening drive with a 42-yard touchdown run and David Montgomery gave the Lions a chance from close range. We took a 14-0 lead in the first quarter.
Christian McCaffrey closed the gap to two yards early in the second quarter, but Jahmyr Gibbs ran for 15 yards and Michael Badgley added a field goal to extend the Lions’ lead.
The game shook out after the break as the 49ers scored 17 points in eight minutes.
Jake Moody kicked a field goal before Brandon Aiyuk caught a six-yard touchdown pass from Brock Purdy — after the duo connected on a 51-yard field goal through the facemask of the Lions’ Kindle Vildor — and McCaffrey entered the game again to tie the score. points.
Moody put them ahead for the first time before Elijah Mitchell’s three-yard run extended the advantage, with Williams’ late score leaving the Lions little time to create another chance and ruining two failed fourth down attempts in kickable range.
“We played as bad as we could in the first half,” coach Kyle Shanahan told Fox. “It’s been a long year to get to this point and we’ve done it today.
“It was tough at the beginning, but with the character and type of guys we have on our team, we can’t wait to get to Vegas, man.”
The Chiefs will defend their Super Bowl title by defeating the Baltimore Ravens 17-10 in the AFC Championship game.
Quarterback Patrick Mahomes completed his first 11 pass attempts and threw for 241 yards and a touchdown, but it was largely the Chiefs defense that secured their fourth Super Bowl appearance in five years.
The Ravens were limited to just 10 points at home and quarterback Lamar Jackson was stopped in the end zone while trying to complete a 99-yard drive in the fourth quarter.
“God put a lot of challenges in front of us this year and we accepted that challenge and we’re better for it,” Mahomes told CBS.
“It’s been a great year, we’re not done yet, but this is the way to get there.”
The Chiefs had reached the AFC Championship game for the sixth straight season, but did so by winning on the road for the first time last week at the Buffalo Bills.
“We were underdogs the last few games, but we never felt like underdogs,” Mahomes added.
“We have a lot of players on this team who know how to win, and when the playoffs came I knew we could do it.
“We’re in the Super Bowl right now and it’s not over yet. “We’ve got to go to Vegas, play a great team and see if we can win the Super Bowl.”
Kansas City, which will be making a bid to become the NFL’s first back-to-back champions since the New England Patriots in the 2003 and 2004 seasons, signaled its offensive intent against the Ravens by refusing to play fourth-and-2 on the opener. to spread.
This allowed Mahomes to keep the drive alive with a 13-yard completion to Travis Kelce, who was once again watched from the stands by his girlfriend, Taylor Swift, and the same duo followed with a 19-yard touchdown pass to give the Chiefs an early 7-up lead. -0 ahead.
The Ravens responded in kind, with Jackson running for 21 yards on fourth down and one from his own 34, and three plays later Jackson hit Zay Flowers from 30 yards to tie the scores, only for the Chiefs to compile a 16-play, 75-yard drive. It was capped by a two-yard touchdown run by Isiah Pacheco.
A wild start also included Jackson recording a 13-yard completion after reacting quickest to catch his own pass coming toward the line of scrimmage, but the only other score in the first half was Harrison’s 52-yard field goal. Butker – gave the Chiefs a 17-7 lead.
The contest was allegedly decided on two key plays at the end of the third quarter and the beginning of the fourth quarter; Flowers squandered the momentum of a 54-yard reception by taunting cornerback L’Jarius Sneed and incurring a 15-yard penalty.
Sneed had the last laugh on the first play of the fourth quarter, releasing the ball as Flowers dived into the end zone, effectively ending the game when Deon Bush intercepted Jackson on the Ravens’ next drive.