This is going to be a tough pill to swallow for the 12th Man. After losing in the NFC Championship in each of the last two seasons, the third time was apparently the charm for the San Francisco 49ers who prevailed 34-31 over the Detroit Lions. It was a particularly frustrating and crushing Sunday evening for Seahawks fans presumably rooting hard for the Lions. But alas, being forced to watch the 49ers in their second Super Bowl since 2019 will be the regrettable reality.
Detroit started the game blisteringly hot, as the Lions’ high-octane offense exploded for an early 14-0 lead, then a 24-7 margin at halftime. Detroit was in full control and looked like they were well on their way to finally breaking through to their first Super Bowl appearance ever.
Unfortunately, clock struck midnight for the Lions and they turned back into a pumpkin right before our very eyes. The 17 point lead quickly evaporated thanks to a San Francisco field goal, a drop from Lions receiver Josh Reynolds on 4th down (instead of kicking a field goal), the flukiest non-interception you’ll ever see, and a fumble from rookie Jahmyr Gibbs quickly had the game knotted up at 24-24.
After another 49ers field goal and touchdown from Elijah Mitchell, the game was decidedly in San Francisco’s hands with a 34-24 lead and barely over three minutes left in the game.
Detroit tried to make things interesting with a late touchdown to make it 34-31, but once they failed to recover the onside kick it was all over. Yet again, an NFC Championship eludes the Lions. Now we have a rematch of Super Bowl LIV, which the 49ers squandered in hilarious fashion to the Kansas City Chiefs in a 31-20 game.
Unless you’re from the Bay Area or Missouri, it is hard to imagine people around the country getting too excited to watch this Super Bowl. The Chiefs are no longer the flashy young upstarts. Instead, they have indisputably taken the place of the New England Patriots as the perennial Super Bowl participants. The consistent trips to the big game and the media’s obsession to overexpose Taylor Swift (which is not her fault!) at every game has led to a general fatigue for Kansas City.
But it’s not as if the 49ers are an easy-to-root-for underdog either. Yes, I know that opinion is slightly biased coming from me, but I doubt there are large swaths of folks outside of their “faithful” fandom who are too invested in seeing San Francisco take home a sixth Lombardi. Especially when those of us who watch the game are already pre-nauseated from the Brock Purdy media hype train that is sure to suffocate us for the next two weeks.
