The Detroit Lions have been through a lot, but Sunday's blowout loss in the NFC Championship Game after leading at halftime 24-7 was the worst.
After the reigning champion Chiefs defeated the Baltimore Ravens in Sunday's AFC Championship Game, their nemesis, the San Francisco 49ers, will face them in Super Bowl XLV.
The Lions, who were aiming for their first Super Bowl appearance, raced out to an early 14-0 lead against the 49ers, a club notorious for giving up big scores.
The 49ers' third-quarter advantage ballooned to 17 points, but a spectacular reception by Brandon Aiyuk ignited a comeback that will stay with Lions fans forever.
They were still within seventeen after our terrible first half performance. According to Niners coach Kyle Shanahan, there are many points that can be recovered. Quarterback Brock Purdy, who is sitting next to me, was the one who made it happen, and the defense shut them out in the second half.
Thanks to several huge plays by Purdy and some poor decision-making by the Lions, including two missed fourth-down opportunities, San Francisco staged the fourth-ever comeback from a deficit of 17 points or more in a conference championship game. Despite having a chance to play in their first Super Bowl, Detroit was unable to do it.
Purdy has led a comeback not once, but twice in as many weeks, answering the question of whether he could. He oversaw a fourth-quarter drive that won last week's game against Green Bay and an even more impressive comeback performance against the Lions.
After losing in the conference title game the previous two seasons, the Niners finally broke through with a 34-24 lead with 3:02 to go, thanks to two touchdown runs by Christian McCaffrey and a three-yard run by backup quarterback Elijah Mitchell, who saw little action.
STAY TURNED FOR DEVELOPMENT