SANTA CLARA — The 49ers turned their play and their fortune around in the second half of their 34-31 win over the Detroit Lions on Sunday at Levi's Stadium to punch their ticket to Super Bowl LVIII.
Down 24-7 at the half, Nick Bosa knew the defense needed to play better. The Lions were having their way on the field with explosive plays, both through the air and on the ground. The All-Pro defensive end described the scene in the locker room at halftime after the game.
“I was on the ground with a heat pack on my back, just screaming random things trying to get people -- ” Bosa said, stopping short to let out a sigh. “Not that random but, like, there’s so much football left. We made a couple of adjustments. I said just take that first read away, and we are getting home. And our guys did it.”
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In the first half, Detroit quarterback Jared Goff completed 13 of his 20 attempts for 145 yards while a trio of Lions running backs amassed 148 yards combined on the ground.
Bosa and the defense knew they had the potential to play more soundly, but it just wasn’t happening.
“I was just trying to galvanize the group, and there’s so much football left,” Bosa said. “We could score really quick on offense, we just needed to get off the field so we could get our offense rolling.”
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Kyle Shanahan could feel the dissatisfaction in the locker room as well. The 49ers coach’s message was very similar to his All-Pro edge rusher.
“I was talking about how to start playing right,” Shanahan said. “We got too much respect for our team. That would have been a real rough way to end it if we couldn't have played better with our group.”
It came down to playing their style of football. Bosa shared with his teammates that trusting each other, and each one of them doing their part was what was missing in the first half.
“Just trying to tell everybody to do their job,” Bosa said. “That’s all we need to do. Just do your one-11. In that first half, there were break downs. One guy each time. Obviously it’s hard for me to know exactly what’s going on, but you just got to do you job.”
Bosa and the defense came onto the field for the second half with a different mentality and attitude. They held Goff and the Lions' offense to only seven points by managing two fourth-down stops, a turnover and forcing a punt through five drives.
“I was so proud of the guys,” Shanahan said. "They didn't really care about anything but finding a way to win. You could see it on their faces, you could see it at halftime, you could see it in the third quarter, you could see it all the way to the end of the game.”
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