After allowing Green Bay Packers running back Aaron Jones to rush for 108 yards on 18 carries in the divisional round, the 49ers must have a better defensive showing up front against the Detroit Lions in the NFC Championship Game on Sunday at Levi's Stadium.
Throughout the 2023 NFL regular season, San Francisco allowed the league's third-fewest rushing yards (1,525).
Comparatively, the Lions lead the NFL in rushing touchdowns (27) during the regular season, also ranking fifth in rushing yards (2,311).
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“We got to be better against the run,” 49ers general manager John Lynch told KNBR’s “Murph & Mac" show Thursday. “Detroit is a team who very much believes in the run. Our guys are not happy with the way that kind of went down [against the Packers]. They’re happy we found a way to win. Prideful defenses, really good defenses usually fix things like that.
"I know that’s our challenge, I know that Detroit will [have] pride and try to find the same thing."
Like Lynch, 49ers defensive coordinator Steve Wilks wants to keep Detroit’s run game at bay, recognizing what concerns come against a successful run game.
“I think it’s not so much [the Lions’] protection, I think it’s really their run game, which, in turn, affects their protection,” Wilks told reporters Thursday. “So, when their run game is going, it allows them to be able to slow us down a little bit with the play-action. So, we got to do a great job trying to stop and take this run game away and make these guys one-dimensional. And that’s still not going to be an easy task, [Jared] Goff is a real good quarterback.”
San Francisco 49ers
Detroit’s offense is star-studded and versatile, featuring Amon-Ra St. Brown, David Montgomery, Jahmyr Gibbs, Sam LaPorta and Bay Area local Goff.
If the Lions’ run game takes off, the 49ers must stay disciplined against play fakes and misdirection.
While any good offense’s run game complements its passing game, 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan isn’t too concerned about rattling Goff -- even with San Francisco’s defensive line struggling to earn sacks.
“I don’t go in there and say, ‘Look at these millions, look at the zero sacks, this isn’t acceptable," Shanahan explained to reporters Thursday. “I go in there and look at how we won, how it came. If you got a four-man rush and people are chipping every time, and the back’s staying in to help, you know, which means you have eight guys in protection, there’s one quarterback, there’s two guys out on a route and seven guys in coverage. Probably not going to get many sacks, but I don’t think they’re going to get many points either.
“There’s a balance to it. Yeah, we want more sacks, definitely, but how a guy’s going to play us, how we’re going to do it, I like how our [defensive] line plays.”
The Lions scored 58 touchdowns over 17 regular-season games and have scored 55 total points in their two NFL playoff wins this January.
If the 49ers want to reach Super Bowl LVIII, San Francisco must beat Detroit in the trenches.