Goff and Lions see off 49ers 40-34 in tune-up for Week 18 showdown
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The big prizes for the Detroit Lions remain on the horizon, with the team seeking a division title, the top seed in the NFC playoffs and the franchise’s first Super Bowl trip. With almost nothing at stake in a rematch of last season’s NFC title game that Detroit lost to San Francisco, coach Dan Campbell and the Lions approached it with the same sort of ferocity that has defined his tenure.
Jared Goff threw three touchdown passes and the Lions tuned up for their Week 18 division showdown against Minnesota by beating the 49ers 40-34 on Monday night. “That’s the only way we know. It’s just go and find a way to win,” Goff said. “This is what ended our season last year. There’s a lot of guys on this team that were there last year that wanted to get one back on them even though in a lot of ways it was meaningless for them and it was meaningless for us.”.
The stakes for this game were miniscule compared to the last meeting between the teams when a berth in the Super Bowl was on the line last January. San Francisco was eliminated from playoff contention last week and Detroit plays Minnesota in the regular-season finale next week, with the winner earning the NFC North title and top seed in the NFC playoffs, and the loser relegated to being the first 14-win wild-card team in NFL history.
“This is just fairytale stuff,” Campbell said. Had the Vikings lost on Sunday, Detroit could have clinched the division and No 1 seed on Monday night. But now the win against the 49ers would only matter if Detroit and Minnesota tie in Week 18, with the Lions now set to earn the No 1 seed in that unlikely scenario.
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