It’s so Detroit: Lions’ first Super Bowl was in sight before a meltdown for the ages

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Poor Detroit.

It’s one thing to lose a game, even a championship tilt that had so much promise.

But to lose like the Detroit Lions crumbled at Levi’s Stadium on Sunday? Now that’s just cruel. The Lions built a 17-point halftime lead against the San Francisco 49ers and still lost.

What a gigantic tease and … epic collapse.

And as the Lions fell, 34-31, in a wild NFC title game, there were no kneecaps to bite.

Instead, the 49ers stormed back to match the biggest comeback victory in NFC championship game history and claimed a berth in Super Bowl 58 for a Super rematch against the Kansas City Chiefs. Whew.

Grit, meanwhile, took a serious punch to the gut.

“You feel like you got your heart ripped out,” Lions coach Dan Campbell lamented.

Campbell knows. As much as the top-seeded 49ers demonstrated tremendous resilience to finally claim a Super Bowl berth after losing in the previous two NFC title games — and a week after barely surviving against the Green Bay Packers in the NFC divisional playoffs — this one felt more like a big, fat, ugly Lions loss.

I mean, how does a team rush for 148 yards in the first half — more than the Kyle Shanahan-coached 49ers have allowed in an entire game — and still lose?

How does a team with all of those weapons get shut out for all but the final minute of the second half when a Super Bowl berth is at stake?

In many ways, it was so Detroit. For all that has changed with the culture under Campbell, the Lions reverted back to the disappointing team that longtime followers had hoped was a thing of the past.

Campbell insisted otherwise.

“That’s not like us,” he said. “We had plays to be made that we just didn’t make (like) we normally do.”