NFL NFC Championship Detroit at San Francisco FREE PICK

The second of two conference title games is in Santa Clara Sunday evening, a pair of (regular- season) 12-5 teams in the NFC North champion Detroit Lions and NFC West-best San Francisco 49ers. Detroit hasn’t played in a Super Bowl in the game’s 57-year history. 

Detroit ended a long (since 1991) playoff win drought this season, doubling their pleasure by downing the Los Angeles Rams (24-23) and Tampa Bay Buccaneers (31-23) at home. Now, the Lions hit the road, where they were 6-3 during the season.

The San Francisco 49ers were proficient when it counted in their postseason opener, 10 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to defeat the visiting Green Bay Packers, 24-21.

San Francisco is a touchdown favorite (total at 51), according to NFL odds.

Moneyline is 49ers -315, Lions at +260.

San Francisco is leading the all-time series,39-28-1 (18-3 in last 21).  

Lions Quite Offensive

The Detroit Lions have averaged 27½ points during the playoffs, with both games/wins at Ford Field. There’s no mystery as to the desire of Detroit…air it out. 

Quarterback Jared Goff (564 postseason yards, three touchdowns) has again found wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown (187 postseason yards), while Josh Reynolds has added 107 receiving yards. To its credit, Detroit ended with 193 rushing yards in the two games. 

Detroit surrendered 23 points to both the Los Angeles Rams (425 yards) and Tampa Bay Buccaneers (408 yards), defensive deficiencies that obviously need to be addressed. 

‘Mining’ Their Business 

The San Francisco 49ers were one of the best defensive teams in the league this season, struggling a bit against the Green Bay Packers in the divisional round last week, San Francisco yielded 130 rushing yards versus the Pack. Whether that emboldens the Lions to try and run the ball more than usual remains to be seen. 

While the 49ers usually set the tone on defense (see Dre Greenlaw’s two interceptions last Sunday), there was an offense which nearly didn’t get the memo. Quarterback Brock Purdy (262 yards, one touchdown) and running back Christian McCaffrey (98 yards, two touchdowns) led a final-quarter comeback.

There’s concern about wide receiver Deebo Samuel, who injured his shoulder against Green Bay and may be unable to go in this game. 

San Francisco has much playoff experience on its roster, eying its first Super Bowl in four years.  

Public Action and Sharp Action Report

The betting public has had three days to shots at this line and this gives us a good snapshot of what they are thinking. There have been about 60,000 bets tracked so far. The tickets are just about even on both sides but the money is lopsided toward the 49ers direction to the tune of 70%.

We have tracked no “sharp action” on this game.

Niners vs Lions Free Pick

The Final Four in the NFL has San Francisco as the 3-2 (+150) favorite to win the title, Detroit the 15-2 (+750) longshot, as per Super Bowl LVIII odds.

The San Francisco 49ers were among the favorites to take it all, looking the part more often than not during the season. Detroit has been a terrific story to this point, but this is going to be a difficult assignment. 

The Lions can score in a hurry, but Jared Goff is going to be under siege. Detroit may need to rely on its run game more than usual to slow the defense of the Niners. 

The Niners are without (possibly) all-purpose threat Deebo Samuel and that may affect their ability to get this win. We are backing the Lions in this one and are even putting a bit on them to win straight up. Bet these picks now at BetUS.com and get a large signup bonus of 100% for the sportsbook and 25% to play around in the casino. Use promo code SBA125 when depositing.