Detroit Lions 31-34 San Francisco 49ers: Brock Purdy and Christian McCaffrey inspire their team to a remarkable second-half comeback as they set up a Super Bowl rematch with the Kansas City Chiefs in Las Vegas

Move Taylor Swift aside. Mr. Irrelevant and its own group of superstars are headed to the Super Bowl following a remarkable comeback by the San Francisco 49ers to defeat the Detroit Lions.

Christian McCaffrey, Deebo Samuel, Brandon Aiyuk, George Kittle and Nick Bosa all played their roles, but it was a pair of Brock Purdy passes within minutes of each other that changed the course of this game in the third quarter.

Yes, the 49ers got another big scare here from Dan Campbell’s team – a week after they also squeezed past the Green Bay Packers – but it’s the mark of champions to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.

Kyle Shanahan’s team was completely lifeless on both sides of the ball for two and a half quarters. The atmosphere in Levi’s Stadium was flat.

But Purdy exorcised his demons from that night in Philadelphia 12 months ago, where an elbow injury sidelined him, turning things around for the ages and winning the NFC Championship.

Now they’re heading to Las Vegas to right another wrong. The Kansas City Chiefs defeated them in a 51-point spectacle in the Super Bowl in 2020 and this year promises to be another epic.

As for the Lions, they played the first half with the grit Campbell demands. They dominated the 49ers at home and while it may be hard to see now, the future looks bright and their momentum as a franchise is scary.

Some felt the intensity of playing in the Lions’ first NFC Championship game in 32 years would weigh too much on them. But within 100 seconds, and backed by thousands of Lions fans in California, they blew that idea away.

It took them just four plays and 75 yards to stun Levi’s Stadium. Jameson Williams capped off a clinical first drive from Jared Goff, punching through the holes opened for him by Detroit’s supposedly broken offensive line.

Desperate 49ers defenders nearly knocked him to the ground, but Williams stayed upright and sprinted into the end zone. If that didn’t deflate the home crowd, what came next certainly did.

After 49ers kicker Jake Moody pushed his first field goal attempt wide of the goal from 48 yards, Goff and the Lions picked up where they left off.

He meticulously guided them across the field in twelve plays in just over five minutes. The 49ers simply had no answer to Detroit’s run game and David Montgomery made it 14-0.

McCaffrey didn’t want the 49ers to lose to the Packers last week. He wanted them to victory single-handedly and he got them going again here.

He collected a pass from Purdy and turned it into a 28-yard gain thanks to cheeky handoffs and a refusal to go down.

The running back then knocked one in from two yards out to get his team on the scoreboard. There was life in the stands again. At least for a minute or so.

Montgomery knocked the stuffing out of it almost immediately with a 14-yard run before St. Brown caught a pass on 3rd-and-11 to break the deafening noise.

It wasn’t until Dre Greenlaw suffered a sting after a huge hit on Sam LaPorta – which briefly kept him in the blue tent – that the 49ers managed to get the Lions offense off the field.

But they were soon at it again when a Purdy pass intended for Samuel was tipped into the grateful arms of Malcolm Rodriguez. Goff punished Purdy with an inch-perfect pass through the eye of a needle to St. Brown, leaving them 15 yards short.

From there, Jahmyr Gibbs took full advantage of more lackluster 49ers converts to convert and put the Lions ahead 21-7. A Michael Badgley field goal made the score 24-7 for the Lions at halftime. They could smell Vegas.

The 49ers were so poor that the atmosphere was stunned and accepting for much of the third quarter. Moody converted a field goal, but hope seemed lost and defeat inevitable. But then the game had one major stroke of luck.

Purdy lunged for the fences and threw long to Aiyuk. He couldn’t reach it, but the ball deflected off defender Kindle Vildor and into the receiver’s arms. The 49ers fans were suddenly awake.

Purdy then threw a pass to Aiyuk for the touchdown and suddenly there was hope again. The momentum changed in an instant and from then on it looked like there would only be one winner.

After regaining possession, Purdy showed off his run game with a 21-yard gain that put his team back in scoring position. As reliable as ever, McCaffrey converted from a yard out to level things up at 24-24.

From pure control to pure chaos: the Lions never recovered. Where Goff was composed and the run game was working, they couldn’t get anything going.

The 49ers took the lead for the first time with just under 10 minutes to play when Moody converted a field goal from 33 yards out.

Campbell is never afraid to go for it on big plays. With 7:32 left in the fourth quarter and his team down three, he went for it on 4th-and-3 from about 32 yards out.

Goff had to scramble out of the pocket and his pass was too short. Who knows what would have happened if he had taken the field goal and taken things to the next level.

The decision to go for it was made worse by the fact that the 49ers closed out the game on their next drive.

Once again, Purdy scrambled his legs and made a huge ground to put his team in scoring position. Once again, McCaffrey made a powerful run to move the 49ers within yards of the goalie.

And then fellow running back Elijah Mitchell converted to seal his team’s place in the Super Bowl.

Williams grabbed his second touchdown of the night for the Lions to make it a three-point game, but the 49ers held on and punched their ticket to the Super Bowl.

More to follow.