How the 49ers pulled off their massive comeback: The key second-half plays that made the difference (2024)

"What can you say?" Williams said with a huge smile. "There's no amount of coaching, no amount of film watching that can prepare him to make a catch like that. That's just talent and will."

The Niners scored a touchdown three plays later, Purdy to Aiyuk appropriately enough. The stadium was pulsing. A 17-point halftime deficit was down to seven. The Niners kicked off, and on the very first play of the Lions' possession, running back Jahmyr Gibbs fumbled and Armstead recovered.

"Why do people in analytics say momentum isn't real?" Kittle asked the assembled media in his postgame news conference. "That's the biggest load of horse crap I've ever heard in my life."

It was impossible to be at Levi's Stadium at that point and not feel like something had shifted. The Niners had the ball at the Detroit 24. Purdy threw one to Kittle on first down that lost a yard. Then on second down, the pocket broke down, and Purdy took off, scrambling for 21 yards to the Lions' 4-yard line. It was the first of two 21-yard scrambles for Purdy -- he had another on third-and-4 in the fourth quarter on the drive that ended up putting the 49ers up by 10 points with three minutes to go. He had not had a run of 20 yards all season prior to Sunday.

"Brock is an athlete," Williams said. "Obviously, his athleticism is underrated. People don't look at him and think he might be tucking the ball and running with it like that. But he can do it. We see it in practice. He can run. So we needed him to run, and he ran. He's been making plays for us all year, and he's the reason we're in the Super Bowl."

Sunday's third quarter might be an even bigger reason. After allowing 148 rushing yards, 18 first downs and 24 points in the first half, the 49ers hit the halftime locker room still feeling OK about their situation. Shanahan said the feeling at halftime was, "We're not going out like this," and the players believed things would turn around.

Entering the postseason, the Niners were 0-30 under Shanahan when trailing by seven or more points entering the fourth quarter, per ESPN Stats & Information. They snapped that streak last week against the Green Bay Packers, scoring 10 points in the fourth quarter in the divisional round win. They were also 0-19 under Shanahan when trailing by 17 or more points in the second half. They snapped that one this week. Per Elias Sports Bureau, the Niners joined the 1994 Chargers as the only teams with multiple seven-point second-half comebacks in the playoffs prior to reaching the Super Bowl. (That Chargers team lost to San Francisco in the Super Bowl.)

"We were confident, actually," Williams said. "Knowing we were going to get the ball first, especially. The plays were there, we just weren't making them. We have Aiyuk, Deebo, we know they're eventually going to put their stamp on a game like this. Plus, [the Lions] threw their best punches in the first half. Trick plays, flea-flickers, all that. You knew eventually all that stuff would slow down and we'd be OK."

They were right. The Niners outscored the Lions 17-0 and outgained them 170 yards to 42 in the third quarter. But the Lions also fumbled and dropped key passes on third and fourth downs.

"Just got to wait it out," Williams said. "You play long enough, you stick to your plan, you do it the right way, things eventually turn your way."

And then, in the 21st week of the season, after everything you've done to put yourself in position to get to the Super Bowl, a ball bounces off the defender and into your receiver's hands, and that's what it took to cash in a year's worth of work. The 49ers are back in the Super Bowl for the second time in five seasons, and it took a little bit of everything in an epic, unforgettable third quarter to get them there.