The 49ers and Lions have quite different backgrounds in the… 

The 49ers and Lions have quite different backgrounds in the…

The two teams competing for this year’s NFC Championship have extremely different records over their lengthy careers.

The Detroit Lions, a team with a devoted fanbase but one that has been the target of jokes for decades after so much failure, and the San Francisco 49ers, one of the most successful teams in all of North American sports and home to legends like Joe Montana and Jerry Rice, will square off on Sunday for a spot in Super Bowl LVIII in Las Vegas.

On Sunday at 6:30 p.m. ET/3:30 p.m. PT, you can watch the Lions and 49ers fight in San Francisco on TSN 1/5. You can also stream the game on TSN.ca or the TSN App.

View the all-time records for these two illustrious teams below.

With a 7-11 overall record, the 49ers will be playing for their third straight and 19th overall NFL Championship, while the Lions will be playing for just their second in franchise history.

The 49ers have not won a Super Bowl since 1995, when Steve Young led San Francisco to a 49-26 thumping of the San Diego Chargers, despite having a sizable advantage in overall success. Throughout the 1980s Niners dynasty, Montana won four Super Bowls.

San Francisco has a 2-5 record in the game since 1995 and has lost its last two conference titles to the Philadelphia Eagles in 2022 and the Los Angeles Rams in 2021.

The 1990s saw the Lions have their greatest run of success during the Super Bowl era, winning two division crowns and making six postseason trips. They lost six of seven postseason games, though, so their success during the regular season did not carry over.

Before they upset the Rams earlier this month in the Wild Card round, their 1991 triumph against the Dallas Cowboys would stand as their final postseason victory for more than 30 years. Since defeating the same 49ers at San Francisco’s Kezar Stadium in 1957, the Lions have dropped their previous 11 road playoff games.

The only teams without a Super Bowl appearance are the Jacksonville Jaguars, Cleveland Browns, Houston Texans, and Lions.

San Francisco has a 39-28-1 record in 68 all-time meetings between the 49ers and Lions, dating back to 1950. They have won 11 of the last 12 meetings.

In terms of postseason games, San Francisco defeated Detroit in the divisional round in 1983, while the Lions defeated the Niners in the 1957 Conference Playoffs.

For the Chiefs and 49ers, conference title games are routine, but for Baltimore and the Lions, they are a new experience.

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On Sunday, January 21, 2024, in Orchard Park, New York, during the fourth quarter of an NFL AFC division playoff football game, Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen (17) slips past of the Kansas City Chiefs defence. (Image by Jeffrey T. Barnes/AP)

The 49ers want to overcome their past losses in successive seasons to get to the NFC title game.

California’s Santa Clara (AP) — Perhaps the most exhausting aspect of reaching the brink of the Super Bowl and losing is the lengthy travel back to take another shot.

Offseason exercises, followed by training camp, a 17-game season and finally the early rounds of the playoffs.

After suffering heartbreaking losses in their previous two seasons, the San Francisco 49ers once again made it through all of that and earned a second opportunity to win the NFC title game.

“You want to click your fingers and go back there after losing the NFC title. But you can’t,” All-Pro fullback Kyle Juszczyk remarked following Saturday night’s 24-21 victory against Green Bay to get back to this point.

Between that most recent setback and returning there, a lot needs to happen. You don’t take it for granted to be back there at last. You are aware of the difficulty and the significance it holds for the men gathered here who have experienced it. When I think about it, I become emotional. Now that we are back, it is necessary to attend to business. Now is the moment.

When the 49ers (13-5) play the Detroit Lions (14-5) on Sunday in hopes of securing a Super Bowl berth, they will have that chance.

San Francisco has lost at this exact point in the playoffs the previous two years. In 2021, they lost to the Los Angeles Rams on the road after blowing a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter. The previous year, they lost again in Philadelphia when the Niners had to play a large portion of the game without a quarterback.

During San Francisco’s first drive, Brock Purdy, the starter, took a hard hit that tore a ligament in his throwing elbow. Josh Johnson, a late-season addition to the club, was pressed into action as a result, and he attempted to maintain the game’s competitiveness.

However, the Niners trailed by two touchdowns when Johnson departed the game early in the third quarter due to a concussion, which forced Purdy to play with his inability to throw the ball more than a few yards.

They are back, this time with a healthy Purdy and the assurance that it won’t be the sixth team in history to lose in the conference final game in three straight years.

The quarterback injuries in that game made us feel like we didn’t have a true chance to accomplish it, but we’ve been thinking about it and it’s been kind of in the back of our thoughts, Purdy said. Thus, I believe we’re rather eager for it.

With 61 regular season victories and three playoff appearances, the Niners rank third in the league during the last five seasons, making them one of the best teams in the league. They are on the verge of a three-decade hiatus for their sixth championship, though, as a team that won five crowns in a 14-year stretch from 1981 to 1994 doesn’t have a championship to show for it.

But with a league-high five first-team All-Pros and two more players chosen for the second team, they have the roster to succeed.

The 49ers are aware that these opportunities are difficult to come by, and some of its players are aware that they may not have many more chances to win the title that they so much desire.

The difficulty of simply defeating the seventh-seeded Green Bay Packers in the divisional round last weekend demonstrated that.

For the first time this season, San Francisco required a late-game comeback to overcome a deficit in the second half and secure a three-point victory.

“I’m 0-2 in NFC championship games personally,” All-Pro left tackle Trent Williams, 35, stated. This is the one that we must have. I’m not growing any younger, that much is certain. I therefore firmly want to reach the summit of the mountain. This game is really necessary. Although we have another chance, we must play considerably better than we did on Saturday. All we can ask for is that.