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Mike Florio Says the Lions are Better than the 49ers

Florio doesn't exactly give analysis, so I will for him.

Grant Cohn

Detroit Lions coach Dan Campbell celebrates a touchdown scored by running back Jahmyr Gibbs during the first half of the NFC championship game vs. the San Francisco 49ers at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California, on Sunday, Jan. 28, 2024.
Detroit Lions coach Dan Campbell celebrates a touchdown scored by running back Jahmyr Gibbs during the first half of the NFC championship game vs. the San Francisco 49ers at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California, on Sunday, Jan. 28, 2024. / Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK
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The 49ers might not be the top team in the NFC anymore.

After squeaking through the NFC playoffs and doing relatively little to improve their team this offseason, the 49ers may have fallen behind the Detroit Lions, according to Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio.

“It feels like it’s the Lions this year," said Florio. "Last year, the Lions were kind of in that mode with the 49ers. It feels like it’s the Lions, and then maybe the 49ers this year. That’s just visceral from my perspective, that’s not based on betting odds or anything like that. I feel like this is it for the Lions. This is the peak, and the next logical step is for them to get to the Super Bowl, but who knows?”

Florio doesn't exactly give analysis, so I will for him.

You could argue that the Lions should have beaten the 49ers in the NFC Championship Game last season. At halftime, the Lions were winning 24-7 and had rushed for 148 yards and 3 touchdowns on 21 carries. Then they abandoned their run game in the second half and let the 49ers back in the game. And it still took a miracle catch by Brandon Aiyuk for the 49ers to pull off the comeback.

This offseason, the Lions improved their biggest weakness -- their pass defense -- by signing defensive end Marcus Davenport and cornerback Carlton Davis then drafted cornerbacks Terrion Arnold and Ennis Rakestraw Jr. The Lions also retained offensive coordinator Ben Johnson, who most likely will become a head coach elsewhere next year. So they have tremendous urgency to win now while they still have Johnson.

It's not outrageous to say the Lions will be better than the 49ers this season. In fact, I expect the Lions will win the NFC, and then lose in the Super Bowl to the Chiefs.

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Grant Cohn
GRANT COHN

Grant Cohn has covered the San Francisco 49ers daily since 2011. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat where he wrote the Inside the 49ers blog and covered famous coaches and athletes such as Jim Harbaugh, Colin Kaepernick and Patrick Willis. In 2012, Inside the 49ers won Sports Blog of the Year from the Peninsula Press Club. In 2020, Cohn joined FanNation and began writing All49ers. In addition, he created a YouTube channel which has become the go-to place on YouTube to consume 49ers content. Cohn's channel typically generates roughly 3.5 million viewers per month, while the 49ers' official YouTube channel generates roughly 1.5 million viewers per month. Cohn live streams almost every day and posts videos hourly during the football season. Cohn is committed to asking the questions that 49ers fans want answered, and providing the most honest and interactive coverage in the country. His loyalty is to the reader and the viewer, not the team or any player or coach. Cohn is a new-age multimedia journalist with an old-school mentality, because his father is Lowell Cohn, the legendary sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1979 to 1993. The two have a live podcast every Tuesday. Grant Cohn grew up in Oakland and studied English Literature at UCLA from 2006 to 2010. He currently lives in Oakland with his wife.

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