Lions vs 49ers Prediction, Picks, Odds | NFC Championship Game

Lions vs 49ers Prediction, Picks, Odds | NFC Championship Game

Here's everything you need to know about the Lions vs 49ers Picks, Prediction, and Odds for this year’s NFC Championship Game.

The Conference Round of the NFL Playoffs concludes Sunday evening with the NFC Championship Game between the Detroit Lions and San Francisco 49ers. Coverage begins from Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara at 6:30 p.m. ET on FOX.

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Lions vs 49ers Betting Prediction & Odds for NFC Championship Game

Matchup Spread Total Moneyline

For the first 15 weeks of the season, San Francisco seemed like an unstoppable force when healthy. The 49ers opened their campaign with an 11-3 run and 10 of those victories coming by a double-digit margin – with SF’s only losses during that span coming in the absence of top offensive lineman Trent Williams and WR Deebo Samuel.

In Week 16, however, San Francisco showed a brief moment of vulnerability as Brock Purdy threw four interceptions in a double-digit home loss to the Ravens on Christmas Night – and it seems like the 49ers have been rattled ever since. 

The following week, the 49ers had a chance to lock up the one-seed in the conference in a matchup against Washington and they let the Commanders hang around way too long, as SF went to halftime with a narrow 13-10 lead before finally managing to pull away in the second half.

Granted, Week 18 doesn’t really count after clinching the one-seed. But it’s also worth noting that SF lost a meaningless game to the Rams that saw both teams start backup QBs – and while the game literally meant nothing to Niners, losing to Carson Wentz in their season finale certainly didn’t boost their ego coming off a rough two-week stretch.

Which leads us to the result of last week’s matchup: the Niners’ narrow come-from-behind win over Green Bay, a contest in which they were 10.5-point favorites in – and rightfully so, as they drew a rainy home matchup with an extra week of rest against a Packers defensive front that ranked 24th in yards allowed per rush attempt. This is a SF team that scored 27-plus points in 11-of-14 games to open the season – and prior to their blowout loss to Baltimore on Christmas, I truly believe we would’ve seen them light up the scoreboard in this matchup.

But if there’s anything we can learn from the catastrophic collapses of the Cowboys and Eagles, or the swift resurgence of the Chiefs – our takeaway should be: confidence and momentum are critical factors in these high-stakes playoffs, and quite frankly, those variables appear to be leaning toward Detroit at this particular point and time.

Aside from his four-interception performance against Baltimore, Purdy arguably had his worst outing of the season in a home playoff matchup against Green Bay in the Divisional Round, as he completed just 59% of his 39 pass attempts for 252 yards to go along with one TD and zero interceptions. However, it felt a lot worse than that. Purdy threw numerous balls over the middle of the field with no receivers in the area, with several of them nearly getting picked off.

While on the flip side, Jared Goff is playing some of the best ball of his career for Detroit right now. Goff completed 81% of his passes for 277 yards and one TD in a win over the Rams on Wild Card Weekend, and then completed 70% of his pass attempts for 287 yards and a pair of TDs in a win over the Bucs in the Divisional Round – while turning the ball over zero times in those two contests.

The Lions defense is certainly nothing to write home about. They finished the regular season ranked 23rd in scoring and 22nd in total yardage allowed. However, I still believe SF is laying way too many points in this spot. The Niners have looked like a completely different team ever since their loss to Baltimore on Christmas Night – and the spread for this contest does not reflect that.

Score Prediction: 49ers 27, Lions 24
Best Bet: Lions +7 (-110)

DET @ SF Odds

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Lions vs 49ers Betting Resources

Date: Sunday, January 28
Matchup: NFC North vs NFC West
Venue: Levi's Stadium
Location: Santa Clara, CA
Time-TV: FOX, 6:30 p.m. ET

Click here for Vegas Insider senior reporter Patrick Everson's full NFL Conference Playoffs Odds Report containing spreads, lines, and trends for every NFL matchup.

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Detroit Lions Betting Analysis

Generally speaking, Goff gets a bad rap for making the occasional boneheaded play. However, all things considered, he’s done a pretty good job of protecting the football this season. Goff threw an interception in just 8-of-16 regular season contests for a total of 12 on the year – and as I previously noted, he also managed to keep a clean sheet with zero interceptions in the Lions’ two playoff games thus far.

Check out our Super Bowl odds for a preview of the teams likely to be in the big game.

San Francisco 49ers Betting Analysis

Apparently I’m not the only one that was put off by the Niners’ frustrating offensive performance against Green Bay. According to VegasInsider’s Patrick Everson, the spread for this matchup has held strong since opening in the ballpark of San Francisco -7 to -6.5 at most shops – despite BetMGM reporting that they were taking 2.5-to-1 ticket and money counts on Detroit as of Wednesday afternoon.

Lions vs 49ers Betting Trends

  • The Lions are 5-1 ATS in their last six games.
  • The total has gone OVER in eight of Detroit's last 11 games.
  • The 49ers are 2-4 ATS in their last six games.
  • The 49ers are 8-2 SU in their last 10 games.
  • The 49ers are 0-6 ATS in their last six home games.
  • The Lions are 5-1 SU in their last six games.

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