Ahead of the 49ers’ NFC Championship Game against the Detroit Lions on Sunday at Levi’s Stadium, the family of San Francisco rookie kicker Jake Moody is in a bind.
Jake’s parents Chad and Lisa -- Michigan natives -- both are big-time Lions fans, while Jake, at the 2023 NFL Scouting Combine, also admitted his Detroit fandom.
In a recent interview with Detroit’s Local 4 News, the Moody parents explained who they’ll be rooting for on Sunday.
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“Well, I’ve been a Lions fan basically since birth,” Chad explained to Local 4. “It’s tough, but we’re going to root for the 49ers. Our son’s on the team, so of course, we’ll root for our son’s team.”
Jake’s parents aren’t exaggerating their love for the Lions. Next to their son’s plaques, awards and prized Michigan Wolverines helmet, Chad has an autographed Jason Hanson Lions helmet in their home office, honoring the team and legendary kicker.
Lisa, however, reiterated that the couple’s Lions fandom is on pause for the NFC Championship Game. After all, she is a Michigan State alumna who supported Jake while he was a kicker at Michigan, so she’s familiar with the unique scenario.
“The second a team plays against my son, I’m going to root for my son, of course,” Lisa said. “I had to do the same thing with Michigan versus Michigan State, and I did OK with that.”
San Francisco 49ers
While teaching in the Livonia school district in the Detroit area, Lisa also shared how she is willing to balance her roles as a Lions fan and the 49ers kicker’s mother, dealing with students rooting against Jake and San Francisco this week.
“The boys are veteran football players and want my son to lose so I kind of said to them, 'How about you can root for the Lions but not for Jake to miss his kicks?' They said that was fair,” Lisa said.
Regardless of their allegiance to Detroit, the Moodys are thrilled their son has the opportunity to play for a Super Bowl with San Francisco.
Since Jake became a member of the 49ers, Chad knew his son facing their home team was inevitable.
“You know what’s going to happen?" Chad Moody recalled from last summer. "It’s going to end up [being] the 49ers versus Lions to go to the Super Bowl, you just wait and see, it’s just going to happen.”
While Chad and Lisa will pull for Jake and the 49ers this weekend, this is a win-win scenario for the Moody parents -- at least for Chad.
“If the 49ers do happen to lose, I’ll be breaking out my Lions gear for the Super Bowl, of course,” Chad said. “But we’ll see what happens.”
Sunday's showdown kicks off at 3:30 p.m. PT in Santa Clara.