49ers 34, Lions 31: NFC Championship Grades
SANTA CLARA -- The 49ers just beat the Detroit Lions 34-31 in the NFC Championship and now will advance to face the Kansas City Chiefs yet again in the Super Bowl. Here are the 49ers' grades for this performance.
BROCK PURDY: B
He was solid. His quarterback rating was 89 -- nothing special. He threw a touchdown pass and an interception, and the interception was forced into triple coverage. His best throw of the game was a 51-yard completion that bounced off cornerback Kindle Vildor's facemask and landed in the arms of Brandon Aiyuk. Purdy also threw another pass that nearly got picked off but was dropped. Which means he was extremely lucky. Purdy seems to get lucky quite frequently, but it's better to be lucky than good and Purdy is good, too. His best plays of the game were scrambles -- he rushed 5 times for a whopping 48 yards. He still hasn't played particularly well in the playoffs this season, but he has a chance to win the Super Bowl in a couple weeks and that's all that matters.
RUNNING BACKS: A
The Lions sold out to stop Christian McCaffrey and he still finished the game with 138 yards from scrimmage and two touchdowns. Elijah Mitchell also scored a touchdown, and Kyle Jusczyk had 33 receiving yards.
WIDE RECEIVERS: A-MINUS
Deebo Samuel had 8 catches for 89 yards. He seemed completely healthy -- you couldn't tell that he left last week's win over the Packers with a shoulder injury. Brandon Aiyuk had just three catches on eight targets, but he also caught the 51-yard pass that hit a defender in the face. That was the play of the game.
TIGHT ENDS: B-MINUS
George Kittle had just two catches for 27 yards but wasn't featured much in the passing game.
OFFENSIVE LINEMEN: B-MINUS
They gave up only two sacks, but Brock Purdy avoided lots of pressure by scrambling.
DEFENSIVE LINEMEN: D
They gave up 182 yards on the ground and couldn't set an edge to save their lives. Any time the Lions tossed the ball for an outside run, they picked up big yardage.
LINEBACKERS: C
Fred Warner and Dre Greenlaw combined to record 20 tackles, but both struggled to stop the run.
DEFENSIVE BACKS: B
Ji'Ayir Brown returned to the starting lineup and recorded 10 tackles. Collectively, this group gave up no long catches and limited Jared Goff to a passer rating of just 88.8 despite Goff having lots of time to throw.
SPECIAL TEAMS: C
Jake Moody missed a field goal for the third game in a row. Will he miss one in the Super Bowl?
COACHES: B
Kyle Shanahan's offense was outstanding as usual -- the only blip was Purdy's pick. The defense was the main problem. Steve Wilks almost lost the game. Everyone knows the Lions commit to running the ball, and yet Wilks didn't load the box until the third quarter. By then, the Lions were up by 17 points and had rushed for nearly 150 yards -- the 49ers were on the ropes. Fortunately for Wilks, he made the correct adjustment at halftime, and the 49ers came all the way back to win the game. Had they lost, he'd be on the hot seat right now. He'l have to do much better in a couple weeks when he faces Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid.
QUALITY CONTROL: A-PLUS
The season was slipping away until one man reminded the 49ers to load the box on defense to stop forcing passes into the intermediate area of the field on offense. Once the 49ers got the message, they never looked back. Credit the organization for their unwavering commitment to quality control, an overlooked yet essential part of any coaching staff. Fortunately for the 49ers, they have the best quality control coach in the NFL, which is why they're returning to the Super Bowl. If only the Lions had invested in quality control, they wouldn't have tried to convert two fourth downs while in field goal range and might have won this game by three points. But their quality was not controlled, and that was the difference in this game.
