New-look Detroit Lions steamrolled, then rally late in entertaining 41-33 loss to 49ers

Dave Birkett
Detroit Free Press

If the Dan Campbell era is anything like his first game as Detroit Lions coach Sunday, the organization is in for quite the ride. 

The Lions scored two touchdowns in a 46-second span in the fourth quarter, but could not complete a rally from 28 points down and lost to the San Francisco 49ers, 41-33, at Ford Field. 

Jamaal WIlliams and Quintez Cephus accounted for the late touchdowns, the second coming after the Lions recovered an onside kick.

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The 49ers nearly converted a third-and-13 to clinch the victory on their next possession, but Trey Flowers forced a fumble on a short pass to Deebo Samuel that Ifeatu Melifonwu recovered to give the Lions one final chance to tie.

Starting at his own 30-yard line, Jared Goff led the Lions into 49ers territory, but threw incomplete on his final three passes.

"State the obvious here: We didn’t do enough to win," Campbell said. "We dug ourselves in a really big ditch, early, against a very good team. Everything that we said that we needed to do to win this game we really didn’t do. We were better in the second half. We gave ourselves a chance, but it wasn’t good enough."

Campbell joins Matt Patricia, Jim Schwartz, Rod Marinelli and Marty Mornhinweg as Lions coaches to lose their debut games with the franchise in the past 20 years. He is the second one of those to lose his first game by fewer than 10 points. (Marinelli lost his opener, 9-6, in 2006.)

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The 49ers had their way Sunday with the Lions defense that finished last in the league in points and yards allowed last season, averaging 8 yards per play and passing and running at will the first three quarters.

The Lions squandered scoring chances on their first two possessions. Williams was stopped for a 1-yard loss on fourth-and-1 at the San Francisco 35 on the game’s opening drive, and Austin Seibert missed a 51-yard field goal seven plays later, after Jimmy Garoppolo fumbled the opening snap for the 49ers. 

Garoppolo completed eight straight passes after his fumble as the 49ers built a comfortable 31-10 lead at halftime. 

"We just didn’t capitalize offensively," Campbell said. "When we had our opportunities, you go for it on fourth, you have to make them count. And if you’re willing to do that, then your defense has to come back on the field and get a stop. When you dig yourselves in a 31-10 hole at halftime, and you feel like you’re built on run and play-action pass and some of those things, it makes it difficult."

The 49ers scored touchdowns on three straight possessions in the first half and added a fourth score on a 39-yard interception return by Dre Greenlaw.

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Rookie Trey Lance, the No. 3 pick of the draft, opened the scoring with a 5-yard touchdown pass to Trent Sherfield, and backup running backs Elijah Mitchell and JaMycal Hasty ran for touchdowns of 38 and 3 yards, respectively, in the first half after starter Raheem Mostert left with a knee injury. 

Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff is hit by San Francisco 49ers linebacker Dee Ford causing him to throw an interception returned for a touchdown Sunday, September 12, 2021 at Ford Field.

The 49ers rolled up 232 yards of offense on 25 plays in the first half, and added to their lead early in the third quarter when second-year cornerback Jeff Okudah got beat for a 79-yard touchdown pass by Samuel.  

Okudah, who struggled as the No. 3 overall pick last season, had good coverage on Samuel, but failed to adjust to an underthrown ball and tripped after Samuel made the catch. 

Okudah suffered a foot injury in the fourth quarter and went to the locker room. 

As helpless as the Lions looked on defense, they weren’t much better on offense. 

Williams keyed an effective rushing attack with 54 yards and a touchdown on nine carries, D’Andre Swift scored on a 43-yard screen pass from Goff and T.J. Hockenson had eight catches for 97 yards and a touchdown. 

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But Goff, acquired in the offseason trade of longtime Lions starter Matthew Stafford, was ineffective early. He forced a pass into triple coverage on his interception, and was errant on several early passes to his receivers.

"There's going to be a lot of games this year that are going our way and games that aren’t going our way," Goff said. "This one certainly was not early on. I think you find out who you are as a team and we found out a little bit about some guys today which is a good thing. With that being said, we can’t put ourselves in that position. We can’t go down that much early and expect to have a high percentage of victory very often. Specifically, to myself, can’t throw a pick on the two-minute drill, specifically a pick-6 and give them that momentum, all that right before the half."

Goff completed only three passes to Lions receivers in the first three quarters, two to Tyrell Williams and one to Amon-Ra St. Brown, and finished 38-for-57 passing for 338 yards and three touchdowns.

Garoppolo was 17-for-25 passing for 314 yards, Samuel had nine catches for 189 yards and a touchdown, and Mitchell ran for 104 yards on 19 carries.

Campbell said he was pleased with his team's fight, especially given the hole it was in, but disappointed with the end result.

"We don’t have the luxury of making some of the mistakes we made and being able to win," he said. "So we got to clean that up, and we will clean that up.”

Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.