Published 09:06 IST, January 29th 2024

Brock Purdy, 49ers rally from 17 points down, beat Lions 34-31 to advance to Super Bowl

Brock Purdy threw for 267 yards and a touchdown as the San Francisco 49ers recovered from a 17-point deficit at halftime to defeat the Detroit Lions 34-31 on Sunday and advance to the Super Bowl.

Follow: Google News Icon
  • share
Brock Purdy and offensive tackle Trent Williams celebrate after a touchdown run by Elijah Mitchell during the second half of the NFC Championship NFL football game against the Detroit Lions | Image: AP
Advertisement

Brock Purdy threw for 267 yards and a touchdown, and the San Francisco 49ers rallied from 17 points down at halftime to beat the Detroit Lions 34-31 on Sunday and reach the Super Bowl.

The 49ers (14-5) scored 17 points in an eight-minute span of the third quarter to tie the NFC championship game and then pulled away in the fourth quarter to earn a rematch against Kansas City after losing to the Chiefs in the Super Bowl four years ago.

Advertisement

San Francisco mounted the fourth comeback ever from 17 points down or more in a conference title game thanks to some big plays by Purdy and bad mistakes from the Lions (14-6), including two failed fourth downs in field-goal range. Detroit fell short of reaching the first Super Bowl in franchise history.

After being questioned about whether he could lead a comeback, Purdy has now done it twice in as many weeks. He engineered a game-winning drive in the fourth quarter to beat Green Bay last week and then had an even bigger comeback against the Lions.

Advertisement

Christian McCaffrey had two TD runs and little-used backup Elijah Mitchell scored on a 3-yard run to make it 34-24 with 3:02 to play as the Niners got over the conference title game hump after losing the past two seasons.

09:06 IST, January 29th 2024