The 2021 NFL season is finally here.
Healthy and ready to compete with the best teams the NFL has to offer, the 49ers' first test is a Week 1 trip to Detroit to face the Lions.
Detroit made waves this offseason by naming Dan Campbell its new coach, trading away veteran quarterback Matthew Stafford and acquiring former Los Angeles Rams QB Jared Goff.
Stay in the game with the latest updates on your beloved Bay Area and California sports teams! Sign up here for our All Access Daily newsletter.
The new-look Lions are not expected to be very good this season, even with all of the exciting changes within the organization. The 49ers, however, are expected to be one of the better teams in the league following a disappointing, injury-plagued season in 2020.
Coach Kyle Shanahan and starting quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo provided their scouting reports of the new-look Lions.
“You can see the personality of their team," Shanahan said. "They're playing hard in all three of those games. They didn't play their starters much, just like a lot of teams didn't, but whoever was out there, they were playing very tough. So, you know they're a team that's committed to playing the right way. I know they'll be a huge challenge this week, but there's always unknown in the first regular season game for everybody."
RELATED: 'It's official, I guess': Jimmy G confirms he'll start Week 1
San Francisco 49ers
Find the latest San Francisco 49ers news, highlights, analysis and more with NBC Sports Bay Area and California.
“A very talented group," Garoppolo said. "New head coach and everything so new D-coordinator. I'm sure they'll have a couple of things for us that we haven't seen, but a fast group, played against a couple of these guys before, [Detroit Lions LB] Jamie Collins. They're a fast group and pretty instinctive. So we'll have to be on our game.”
The 49ers currently are 7.5-point favorites over the Lions in Week 1. Having terrorized Goff in the past, the 49ers' defensive line will look to do more of the same Sunday, while the offense does what it does best: run the football.