What 49ers said after beating Lions, advancing to Super Bowl

The 49ers are heading back to the Super Bowl after beating the Lions 34-31 in the NFC Championship Game Sunday at Levi’s Stadium.

Brock Purdy went 20-for-31 passing for 267 yards to help engineer a massive second-half comeback from a 24-7 halftime deficit. He completed one touchdown pass to Brandon Aiyuk and threw and interception.

Christian McCaffrey ran 20 times for 90 yards and two short touchdowns. Deebo Samuel led the 49ers with eight catches for 89 yards.

The defense came up big, stopping the Lions twice on fourth downs in the second half and scored touchdowns on both ensuing drives.

Here is what the 49ers’ leaders said after the game.

Kyle Shanahan

To Michael Strahan of Fox

On the turnaround:

We just seized the opportunities. We played as bad of a first half as we could, but we were still within 17. There was plenty of points there you can make up. We had to score on the first drive. We got a field goal, not a touchdown, which hurt. But then our guys got those turnovers, man, kept us rolling.

On unfinished business:

There’s been unfinished business for a while, man. Our team was set out for this for a long time to get to this point, and we got it done today. It was hard at the beginning but the character we have in our team, the type of guys we have… Can’t wait to get to Vegas, man.

Brock Purdy

To Michael Strahan of Fox

On the comeback:

It’s a team sport. We knew we had a half left, defense did their job. The boys on offense took care of business, Coach called a great game and we had the Faithful behind us the whole way.

Brandon Aiyuk

To Erin Andrews of Fox

On the comeback:

We just wanted to play our ball, play how we knew how. In the first half, we didn’t do that at all. Defense came out here in the second half, stood tall and they just played great. They just did a great job.

On his catch:

Before the game, a ladybug landed on my shoe, and y’all know what that means. That’s all I can say.

Christian McCaffrey