Kyle Shanahan Reveals Halftime Message to 49ers in NFC Championship

The San Francisco 49ers made a thrilling comeback after being down 24-7 at halftime to beat the Detroit Lions 34-31.

The San Francisco 49ers found themselves in a tough spot at halftime, trailing the Detroit Lions 24-7. But head coach Kyle Shanahan knew just what to say to motivate his team on Sunday.

Shanahan revealed to the media that he told his players, "guys, it's only 17 points" and "it's plenty of time to come back". Despite a successful season with a 12-5 record, NFC West title, and No. 1 seed, Shanahan stressed that "we're not going out like this".

The 49ers responded with a 17-point third quarter to tie the NFC Championship Game and ultimately beat the Lions 34-31, securing their spot in the Super Bowl. Shanahan had called for the team to become "a lot more aggressive".

"The guys didn't want to go home today," Shanahan continued, "they played like it in the second half, and we're able to get the ball to bounce the right way, and we made up for what we didn't in the first half."

In the first half, Detroit dominated the middle of the field and scored with wide receiver Jameson Williams' 42-yard touchdown run. The Lions then extended their lead with touchdowns by running backs David Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs, as well as a field goal by kicker Michael Badgley.

"We knew they were a good running team going in," Shanahan said. "But we had a couple of missed tackles, a couple of guys out of gaps, and it's hard to win like that. But the guys timed it up there in the second half, and got it done."

San Francisco's defense shut down the Lions in the second half, not allowing any points until the final minute when Williams caught a 3-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Jared Goff. The 49ers secured the victory when tight end George Kittle recovered the onside kick.

After the Niners' first stop of the Lions on fourth down in the second half, wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk's 51-yard catch from quarterback Brock Purdy turned the game around for the 49ers. It set up Purdy to Aiyuk for a 6-yard touchdown, bringing the Niners within seven points.

"We thought if we could get it going and make a game of it on both sides, it would be a matter of time before we could score some points, but they way their offense was going, their defense was doing a couple of things to get us off the field, but once B.A. made the play, it kind of unlocked it with such an explosive and kind of unlocked the whole team," Shanahan said. "That was huge."

"And right after that, you could feel the whole momentum with our players on our sideline, and the stadium kind of flipped, and we thought it was on after that," Shanahan added.

The 49ers capitalized on a Lions fumble, leading to the game-tying score by running back Christian McCaffrey. His 1-yard touchdown made it a 24-24 tie in the third quarter.

In the fourth quarter, the 49ers pulled away with another field goal and a touchdown run by running back Elijah Mitchell. This sealed the 49ers' first trip to the Super Bowl since 2020 and ended the Lions' storybook season.