The San Francisco 49ers are heading to the Super Bowl, setting the stage for a rematch of the 2020 NFL championship game in which the Kansas City Chiefs bested the 49ers for the win.
The San Francisco 49ers clinched their Super Bowl berth Sunday night after defeating the Detroit Lions 34-31 to win the NFC championship game at home. This will mark the 49ers first trip to the Super Bowl since they were defeated 31-20 by the Chiefs in 2020.
The NFL’s big game is set for Feb. 11 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. The last time San Francisco won the Lombardi trophy was in 1995 when they beat the San Diego Chargers 49-26. The 49ers also went to the Super Bowl in 2013 but lost 34-31 to the Baltimore Ravens.
The Lions’ had enjoyed a strong turnaround this season. Lions’ coach Dan Campbell, a former player for the team, emerged as a media star for his rousing locker-room speeches and his success in making the team competitive this season. The NFC championship game loss hit Lions fans hard as Detroit dominated the first half of the game at the 49ers Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., but the 49ers came back hard in the second half.
The Chiefs secured their fourth trip to the Super Bowl since 2020 earlier on Sundayby beating the Ravens in the AFC championship game in Baltimore.
The Chiefs defeated the Baltimore Ravens 17-10, nabbing securing the team’s fourth Super Bowl berth since 2020.
The Chiefs’ march to Super Bowl LVIII this year received heightened attention in pop culture after it emerged last fall that the team’s veteran tight end Travis Kelce is dating megastar Taylor Swift. Swift’s presence as a spectator at Chiefs games this season has generated enormous buzz for the league and promises to bring even more viewers to the Super Bowl — assuming Swift attends the big game at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. The Super Bowl, to air on CBS and its sibling streamer Paramount+, is reliably the most-watched telecast of the year in the U.S.
The Chiefs are hoping to score back-to-back Super Bowl wins after taking the NFL’s top prize in 2023, as well as in 2020. A repeat victory for the team would mark the first such feat since the New England Patriots pulled it off in 2004 (beating the Carolina Panthers) and 2005 (beating the Philadelphia Eagles). In 2021, the Chiefs lost the championship bout 31-9 to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. At last year’s Super Bowl, the Chiefs defeated the Eagles 38-35; in 2020, the Chiefs toppled the 49ers 31-20.
Sunday’s AFC victory bolsters the future Hall-of-Famer reputation of Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, who has transformed the team’s fortunes since joining the squad in 2018.
Playing at home, the Ravens had been angling to clinch the team’s first Super Bowl berth since 2013. That year, Baltimore beat the San Francisco 49ers 34-41.
(Pictured top: San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey at the NFC championship game at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif.)
