An inside look at Sunday night’s NFC Championship game between the 49ers and Lions at Levi’s Stadium.
Marquee Matchup
Lions DE Aidan Hutchinson vs. 49ers RT Colton McKivitz
The Lions second-year pass rusher has eight sacks in the past four games and is on a mission to lead his hometown team to its first Super Bowl.
He will be a handful for McKivitz, who has struggled at times against top edge rushers and has allowed nine sacks, tied for the fourth-most in the NFL in the regular season, according to Pro Football Focus.
Cannizzaro’s Call
The Lions have a special mojo entering this game, while the 49ers enter the having played inconsistently.
A former NFL head coach and Super Bowl winner told The Post this week that the 49ers’ motioning, shifting offense is built to front-run in games but is vulnerable to having to play catch-up.
Look for the Lions to get up on the 49ers early and put Purdy in passing situations, which is not his strength.
Lions 33, 49ers 30
Four downs
Run for glory: The 49ers and Lions were tied for the NFL lead with 27 rushing touchdowns during the regular season. San Francisco’s Christian McCaffrey had 14 rushing TDs.
Detroit’s David Montgomery scored 13 and rookie speedster Jahmyr Gibbs scored 10.
McCaffrey (league-leading 1,459 rushing yards and 67 receptions for 564 yards for 2,023 yards from scrimmage) is the NFL’s most versatile back.
The Lions’ tandem of Montgomery (1,015 rushing yards) and Gibbs (945) are excellent complements to each other with their divergent skill sets.
Tight spot: The tight ends could be the difference, with both teams featuring stars at the position. For the 49ers, George Kittle is a beast — having caught 65 passes for 1,020 yards, a 15.7-yards average and six TDs. Kittle may be fed the ball more with the status and effectiveness of receiver Deebo Samuel in question.
The Lions are led by rookie Sam LaPorta, who had 86 catches for 889 yards and 10 TDs.
Something to watch here is that one of the few cracks in the 49ers’ defensive armor is defending tight ends.
They allowed 88 receptions to opposing tight ends in the regular season. LaPorta caught nine passes on 11 targets in the divisional round win over the Buccaneers, who were one of four teams to allow more than 100 receptions to opposing tight ends in the regular season.
Playing catch-up: The Lions defense has been vulnerable to chunk plays in the passing game, which may have 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy licking his chops.
Detroit has allowed a wideout at least 140 receiving yards in five consecutive games.
For perspective on this, 30 NFL teams didn’t allow five 140-yard performances by a wide receiver during the 17-game regular season.
Look for Purdy to go after Detroit corners Cameron Sutton and Kindle Vildor.
Sutton has allowed a 112.3 passer rating when targeted this season.
Vildor, who’s started Detroit’s past four games after replacing benched starter Jerry Jacobs, is yielding 21.2 yards per reception, according to Pro Football Focus.
Not so special: Neither the Niners nor the Lions have excelled at special teams, and a close game could come down to a gaffe here.
Both teams rank in the lower third among NFL teams in specials.
Both have had issues in the kicking game, with the Lions recently replacing kicker Riley Patterson with veteran Michael Badgley.
San Francisco has paid the price at times this season for replacing Robbie Gould, one of the most clutch postseason kickers in history, with rookie Jake Moody, who had a field goal blocked at the end of the first half last week.
The 49ers’ kick coverage unit surrendered a 73-yard return that set up a Green Bay TD.
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