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USA Today Sports Media Group
USA Today Sports Media Group
Sport
Jeff Risdon

Lions vs 49ers: Last-minute thoughts and final score prediction

We’ve reached the penultimate Detroit Lions game of the season on the penultimate day of 2024. It’s the final Monday Night Football game of the season, a road trip to the site where last year’s postseason run ended for Detroit.

Yet, strangely, tonight’s game in San Francisco feels largely anticlimactic. Unless the game ends in a tie, the outcome doesn’t impact the Lions and their chase for the No. 1 seed in the NFC, home-field advantage throughout the postseason and a coveted bye week to get more rest and recovery time for the walking wounded. Next Sunday night’s game in Detroit against the Minnesota Vikings is for all the marbles. This one against the 49ers is more like putting a tired old nemesis out of its malaiseful misery.

Why I think the Lions will win

The Lions have the better offense in this game. Better quarterback in Jared Goff. Better running back in Jahmyr Gibbs. Better wide receivers in Amon-Ra St. Brown, Jameson Williams and Tim Patrick. Better line at all five positions across the offensive front. Give the Niners the slight edge at tight end with George Kittle nudging past Sam LaPorta on career accomplishment, but it’s probably closer than most would realize. Put Deebo Samuel between St. Brown and Jamo in the wideout pantheon.

Now, let’s go to the defensive side of the ball. The 49ers have the best EDGE in Nick Bosa and the best off-ball LB in Fred Warner, though that’s a fairly close battle with Jack Campbell. Leonard Floyd is a light push over Detroit’s top EDGE, Za’Darius Smith.

Therein lies the list of positions where the 49ers are better than the Lions. Yes, even after all the injuries in Detroit and the relentless summer hype about San Francisco’s greatness, they will trot out five total players on Monday night who would start this game for Detroit. That list might nudge to six for nickel CB Deommodore Lenoir, but that’s only because Amik Robertson (a better slot than Lenoir) is playing outside for Detroit in place of injured Carlton Davis.

Detroit’s advantages even extend to the specialists, where Jack Fox surpasses Pat O’Donnell and young Jake Bates has proven more reliable than San Francisco’s Jake Moody, who is a 75 percent placekicker and barely a 50/50 proposition beyond 40 yards this year (he’s 9-for-16 beyond 40).

All that superior talent across the board, with Dan Campbell repeatedly stressing how important this game is to his team. Yeah, no. Don’t overthink this one. You might not agree with playing starters deep into the game, but Dan Campbell doesn’t care. That’s why he’s great–he respects his opponent and knows he must keep his team sharp against all comers.

What concerns me about the 49ers

Maybe it’s the extra saltiness of the Monday morning bagel, but the only way I see the 49ers prevailing tonight is if the Lions let them. They do have some remaining assets that could at least keep the game competitive, however.

Brock Purdy remains one of the best deep-ball throwers in the league. As an overall quarterback, Purdy is still somewhere in the NFL’s very shrinking middle class, but the man throws a sharp, accurate deep ball with uncanny regularity. To his credit, he will throw it to any of his receivers, too; even without Brandon Aiyuk, the man who tortured the Lions in the NFC Championship game, the over-the-top throws still come.

Kittle and Deebo Samuel remain noble warriors. Unlike former teammate De’Vondre Campbell, who walked off mid-game two weeks ago, the healthy remaining 49ers stars are still playing like their playoff lives depend on every snap. The heart of a champion dies hard, and those two keep beating whatever life can be breathed into the 49ers’ injury-devastated offense.

I suppose fear of the unknown probably merits a mention. Thanks to injuries, the Niners themselves might not even know who the starting offensive tackles or running backs are in this game. Could Patrick Taylor, Austen Pleasants or Eric Saubert explode for a career-best outing? It’s unlikely but not completely implausible.

(You get bonus points for knowing what position any of those guys play without looking it up!)

Final score prediction

What could have been an epic playoff preview, a high-stakes rematch of last year’s NFC title game, fizzled away with the Niners’ 6-9 start. Both teams suffered far too many critical injuries. One team adapted, the other wilted. That will be reflected in the scoreboard tonight.

Lions 34, 49ers 15

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