Lions’ St. Brown shares unfortunate NFC title game proclamation originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
Amon-Ra St. Brown clearly remembers when his Detroit Lions had the 49ers on the ropes in last season’s NFC Championship Game.
San Francisco, of course, entered the Levi’s Stadium locker room trailing Detroit 24-7 at halftime. But the 49ers would flip the script over the last 30 minutes to earn a 34-31 victory and advance to Super Bowl LVIII.
The Lions wide receiver was confident Detroit would make its first Super Bowl appearance in franchise history. St. Brown appeared on “Cleats and Convos with Deebo Samuel” on Tuesday and told the 49ers widely what he animatedly said to his Lions teammates during the title game halftime break.
“I go into the locker room and say, ‘Bro, we’re about to go to the Super Bowl,’” St. Brown told Samuel and co-host Liv Moods. “We need two more good quarters and we got that.” And after I said that, everything went downhill.
“Bro, we’re about to go to the Super Bowl. Two more good quarters and we’ll have this.”
Amon-Ra St. Brown said after saying this in the locker room at halftime of the NFC Championship…it all went downhill 😅
(via Cleats and Convos with Deebo Samuel)pic.twitter.com/q89Jkrnes1
— B/R Gridiron (@brgridiron) October 1, 2024
That was the lions right there. Even Eminem, the legendary Detroit rapper, was in attendance, telling 49ers icon Steve Young how to “taste” victory.
However, San Francisco would go on a 27-7 run to win. The 49ers ultimately “tasted” victory, but all the luck — including a lucky ladybug on Brandon Aiyuk’s cleat — was on their side.
St. Brown couldn’t believe what he saw. Not many people could do that on the evening of January 28.
“We had a pretty good first drive after the second half,” St. Brown recalled. “But [wide receiver Brandon] Aiyuk had the crazy catch. I think since that capture happened, I feel like the energy completely shifted to you and never came back to us.
Aiyuk’s 51-yard reception through quarterback Brock Purdy was a game-changer. The play brought San Francisco within yards of the end zone, and Aiyuk and Purdy would reconnect for six points right afterward.
St. Brown and the Lions were understandably devastated after the loss. A trip to the franchise’s first Super Bowl was within their grasp, and they passed it up.
“That was probably one of the worst matches I’ve ever been in,” St. Brown said. “It’s different when you’re ahead so much and end up losing, compared to being tight the whole game. We had the game, we just sold it.
That 49ers-Lions rendition became an instant classic.
Perhaps the rematch on ESPN’s “Monday Night Football” in Week 17 of the 2024 NFL season will have the same fireworks.
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