By JOSH DUBOW AP Pro Football Writer
SANTA CLARA — 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 championship 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 the top 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.
Campbell said he considered resting some starters but decided it would be unfair to the backups who hadn’t prepared and the starters who still would have had to play. It all worked out, with the Lions getting the win and coming out healthy.
“I ended up settling on the right thing to do was playing those guys,” he said. “We owed it to the team. … That was tough. I think the biggest thing is there was things we wanted to do better than we did last week, and we did.”
Goff threw a go-ahead touchdown pass to Amon-Ra St. Brown (USC, Mater Dei High) in the final minute of the third quarter following the first of Kerby Joseph’s two second-half interceptions against Brock Purdy.
That proved to be enough for the Lions (14-2) to complete a perfect regular season away from home, beat the 49ers (6-10) on the road for the first time since 1975 and get a small bit of revenge for last season’s playoff loss.
“I still had that chip on my shoulder from last year,” Joseph said. “We were so close and we just came up short.”
Jahymr Gibbs put the game away with a 30-yard touchdown run with less than three minutes left following Purdy’s second interception, giving him 117 yards on the night.
The offenses dominated for much of the night, with the teams scoring touchdowns on the first five possessions and Purdy and Goff combining to complete the first 17 passes of the game – including a perfectly executed hook-and-ladder play that led to a 42-yard touchdown for Goff.
He threw a short pass to St. Brown, who immediately pitched the ball to Jameson Williams, who streaked down the sideline for the final 41 yards and his second touchdown of the first half.
The only stops of the half came when Renardo Green broke up a pass in the end zone from Goff to Sam LaPorta and when Jake Moody missed a 51-yard field goal attempt in the closing seconds for San Francisco.
Purdy threw a 5-yard pop pass for a TD on San Francisco’s opening drive of the second half before Detroit’s defense finally managed a stop when Joseph intercepted an overthrown pass by Purdy.
Goff turned that into a 4-yard touchdown pass to St. Brown on fourth-and-goal to give the Lions their first lead at 31-28 late in the third quarter.
Moody missed a 58-yard field goal attempt that could have tied the score early in the fourth quarter for his ninth missed field goal try of the season. Moody also missed an extra-point attempt after Joshua Dobbs scored on a TD run in the final minute.
“We weren’t able to slow them down enough on defense,” 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan said. “That’s a real good offense, but we still have to slow them down a little bit more. That was the difference in the game. We had to win in it in a shootout. I thought the difference was our two turnovers.”
Lions right tackle Penei Sewell went to the locker room early at the end of the first half to get a thumb injury checked out, but there is no concern about his status. … Purdy left late in the fourth quarter after hurting his throwing elbow on a sack. Purdy said his elbow “doesn’t feel the best” but initial testing showed his surgically repaired ligament from an injury sustained in the January 2023 NFC title game against Philadelphia is fine.
The Lions (14-2) host Minnesota (14-2) on Sunday night in a game that will decide the NFC North title and the top seed in the NFC playoffs.
The 49ers (6-10) visit Arizona (7-9) in a regular-season finale on Sunday afternoon.
