by The San Francisco 49ers overturned a 17-point halftime deficit to book a Super Bowl clash with the defending champions, the Kansas City Chiefs.
The 49ers scored 27 unanswered points to beat the Detroit Lions 34-31 in the NFC Championship game to book a trip to Las Vegas.
This is their second Super Bowl appearance in five seasons after losing to the Chiefs four years ago.
Victory – and the chance to win a Super Bowl for the first time in 29 years – looked far away when Jameson Williams capped off the opening drive with a 42-yard touchdown run and David Montgomery went in from close range. give to the Lions. 14-0 lead in the first quarter.
Christian McCaffrey cut the gap to two yards early in the second quarter, but Jahmyr Gibbs ran in from 15 yards out and Michael Badgley added a field goal to extend the Lions’ lead.
The game took off after the break as the 49ers scored 17 points in eight minutes.
Jake Moody landed a field goal before Brandon Aiyuk caught a six-yard touchdown pass from Brock Purdy — after the pair connected on a 51-yard throw through the Lions’ Kindle Vildor’s facemask — and McCaffrey went in again to tie. scores.
Moody put them ahead for the first time before Elijah Mitchell’s three-yard run extended the advantage, Williams’ late score leaving the Lions too little time to create another chance and 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 it was done today.
“It was tough at the beginning, but the character we have in our team, the type of guys we have, we can’t wait to get to Vegas, man.”
The Chiefs will defend their Super Bowl title after beating 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 the Chiefs defense was largely responsible for securing a fourth Super Bowl appearance in five years.
The Ravens were limited to just 10 points at home when quarterback Lamar Jackson was intercepted in the end zone in the fourth quarter as he tried to end a 99-yard drive.
Mahomes told CBS: “God put a lot of adversity in our direction this year and we took the challenge and we’re better for it.
“It’s been a heck of a year, we’re not done yet, but this is the way to get there.”
The Chiefs reached the AFC Finals for the sixth straight season, but did so by winning on the road for the first time with a win at the Buffalo Bills last week.
“We’ve been the underdogs the last few games but we never feel like underdogs,” Mahomes said.
“There are a lot of guys in this team who know how to win and when the playoffs came I knew we were going to do it.
“We’re in the Super Bowl now and the job isn’t done. We’ve got to go out there to Vegas and play a great team and see if we can get the Super Bowl.”
Kansas City, who will try to become the first back-to-back NFL champions since the New England Patriots in the 2003 and 2004 seasons, showed their intent to attack from the outside against the Ravens, refusing to punt on fourth down. and two when they opened. drive.
That allowed Mahomes to keep the drive alive with a 13-yard completion to Travis Kelce – who girlfriend Taylor Swift once again watched from the stands – and the same pair combined for a couple of 19 yards to give an early 7 the Chiefs. -0 lead.
The Ravens responded in kind as Jackson ran for 21 yards on fourth and one from their own 34 and three plays later Jackson hit Zay Flowers from 30 yards to level the scores, but for the Chiefs compiled a 16-play, 75-yard drive. Completed by a two-yard touchdown run from Isiah Pacheco.
A frenetic start also saw Jackson record a 13-yard completion of his own after a quick reaction to catch his own pass after being hit at the line of scrimmage, but the only other score in the first half – a 52- field goal yards from Harrison. Butker – gave the Chiefs a 17-7 lead.
The contest was arguably decided on two key plays at the end of the third quarter and the start of the fourth, with Flowers wasting momentum on a 54-yard reception mocking cornerback L’Jarius Sneed and incurring a 15-yard penalty .
Sneed had the last laugh on the first play of the fourth quarter, knocking the ball loose as Flowers dived for the end zone, and when Deon Bush intercepted Jackson on the Ravens’ next drive, the game was effectively over.
