49ers make key halftime adjustments to shut down Lions’ rushing attack

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Sunday night’s NFC Championship at Levi’s Stadium was a tale of two halves. In the first, the San Francisco 49ers had no answer for the Detroit Lions’ rushing attack. The Lions totaled 148 yards on the ground, scoring three touchdowns in the process.

That wasn’t the case in the second half.

San Francisco shut down Detroit’s dynamic backfield of David Montgomery and rookie Jahmyr Gibbs, staging a 34-31 comeback to advance to Super Bowl LIII to face the Kansas City Chiefs. Detroit’s rushers was limited to 34 yards in the second half and zero touchdowns, averaging 4.3 yards per carry. The lone second half score came off a Jameson Williams touchdown grab with a minute left in the game.

“We knew they were a good running team going in,” 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan said after the game. “It only takes a couple of guys. We had a couple of eight-man fronts. Definitely two. I saw we got one guy out of a gap. When that happens, you get to that middle third player, that’s 15 at best.”

“They had a really good call on the reverse. That was probably the best look they got us in. We had a couple of missed tackles, a couple of guys out of gaps. It’s hard to win like that. But the guys tightened it up in the second half and got it done.”

The reverse play that Shanahan referenced was the game’s opening score, where Lions wide receiver took an end around for a 42-yard touchdown, giving the Lions a 7-0 lead. Gibbs, who was sensational in the first half with 43 yards on the ground and one touchdown, was held to -1 yards in the second half, including a pivotal fumble with 5:15 left in the third quarter that came off a big hit from San Francisco’s Tashaun Gipson Jr.

When asked what was going through his mind after causing the fumble, Gipson said he was so thrilled that he didn’t even think about it. From there, however, he praised Gibbs’ overall play.

“Like I said, heck of a player. He’s going to have a great career, especially the way that they use him,” Gipson said. Tough dynamic running. It’s tough to tackle him in open space. Obviously, he got the best of me, but when you go run a tape, I’m two for one. Now, y’all go back and watch that, but shout out to those guys. They played a heck of a game.”

With the 49ers taking the Lions’ rushing attack away, the onus of Detroit’s offense was left in Jared Goff’s hands. While Goff finished 12-for-21 for 128 yards and one touchdown in the second half, it was the dropped passes that ultimately caused the Lions’ demise, with Josh Reynolds being one of the main culprits.

“I thought we switched up a little bit more, tightened up some things with some pressure, some man coverage,” Shanahan said. “The guys didn’t want today to be the last day. We put ourselves in a hole, but they played like it in the second half and we were able to get the ball to bounce the right way and made up for what we did in the first half.”

The 49ers scored 27 consecutive points in the second half.