The defenses of the Lions and 49ers are headed different ways recently
The San Francisco 49ers are not going to be an easy team for the Detroit Lions this Sunday when both teams face off for a chance to go to Super Bowl LVIII. The 49ers have been terrifying for most of the season on offense. The Lions have too. Both units are at the top of […]
The San Francisco 49ers are not going to be an easy team for the Detroit Lions this Sunday when both teams face off for a chance to go to Super Bowl LVIII. The 49ers have been terrifying for most of the season on offense. The Lions have too. Both units are at the top of the league in every category. It's the defense that's been wildly different this season.
The difference is pretty vast. The Lions have their things that they can be successful at the and the 49ers have been successful at everything pretty much all year long. But as we know with all stories, there's often a tale of two halves.
The Lions have really started to figure things out on defense since their game against the Broncos. They've largely been a completely different unit. While the problem with passing is still there, the Lions have been keeping teams off the board and have been filling up the stat sheet in areas they just weren't doing it in before.
The 49ers, on the other hand, are starting to slow down on the things they were really good at. They've struggled against the run in the last six games, their pass rush has been down and turnovers have been too. They're also allowing more points to get on the board.
Here's a comparison of both teams over the course of their last six games. The playoffs are included in those six games by the way.
| Stat | Lions | 49ers |
|---|---|---|
Total yards allowed | 2,342 | 1,916 |
Total points allowed | 127 | 130 |
Pass yards allowed | 1,935 | 1,203 |
Pass TD’s allowed | 12 | 10 |
Rush yards allowed | 407 | 713 |
Rush TD’s allowed | 2 | 4 |
Turnovers | 11 | 9 |
Sacks | 19 | 12 |
Things just look so much closer lately. Like I said, the Lions are allowing the pass yards to build up, but they aren't allowing points to build up. Especially in the red zone. They went from allowing scores on 64% of trips to 53% in the last six games. Even better than that, they're allowing 42.8% in their last three.
The 49ers are at 55% in their last six. They were at 53% for the entire season. So their number is headed in the wrong direction. They've allowed scores on 60% of red zone trips in the last three. Even more alarming for the 49ers is that they've allowed teams to get to the red zone 20 times in the last six games. The Lions have allowed it 15 times. You expect that from Detroit, not from one of the leagues best defenses in San Francisco though.
We'll see where things go on Sunday, but the 49ers and Lions look a bit more matched going into this game than they would have in November.
Get ready to see the Lions in primetime a lot in 2024
There was a time, not a long ago, when the Detroit Lions seemed like they were allergic to playing in primetime or in a nationally televised game. Sure they've always had Thanksgiving, but Monday night's, Thursday nights, Sunday night's and 4:05 slots were pretty hard to come by. Then that Week 18 game against the […]
