Dan Campbell knows that the Detroit Lions will have a challenge in stopping the San Francisco 49ers on offense this weekend — and will have some tough decisions to make.
The 49ers have rolled to the No. 1 overall seed in the NFC behind a balanced attack, and this week Campbell spoke about what the team must do to stop running back Christian McCaffrey in Sunday’s conference championship game. The Lions have faced challenges on defense at times during the regular season, and Campbell said they will need to be at their best if they want to reach the Super Bowl.
Lions Worried About Christian McCaffrey
The 27-year-old McCaffrey had a career-best season for the 49ers, rushing for a league-leading 1,459 yards with 14 touchdowns and adding 564 receiving yards with seven touchdowns. His 2,023 all-purpose yards and 21 total touchdowns also led the NFL.
Campbell said his team will need to focus on stopping the All-Pro running back, but knows that the 49ers and coach Kyle Shanahan can find other ways to burn their defense.
“Stop the run. Still the run,” Campbell said, via SI.com. “You got to stop the run, because if you don’t, they’ll rush for 250 on you and then they won’t even worry about passing.”
Christian McCaffrey on if there's extra juice in the 49ers' locker room for the playoffs:
"I feel juice in this locker room every week…
Whether it's four, week 10 or the Divisional Round, I love this team, it's like we're ready to go. Wednesday practice, Thursday, whatever… pic.twitter.com/hKXlQD0BmK
— 95.7 The Game (@957thegame) January 17, 2024
“Everything has to start there. And yes, that’s what Shanahan does an unbelievable job of — he’s going to work one side and make you overreact. And then he counters off of it and then play passes off of it and it works the middle of the field,” Campbell continued. “So, you got your hands full in both regards, you know?”
The Lions will be facing McCaffrey at full health. Though some concerns were raised when the broadcast of San Francisco’s divisional-round win over the Green Bay Packers showed McCaffrey having his quad worked on by trainers, Shanahan said this week that there are no injury concerns.
“No, I heard about that on the TV [broadcast] because some of my family members asked me about it,” Shanahan said, via Pro Football Talk. “But that’s just what Christian to me always does. He’s always working on his body and stuff. I was told nothing about his quad.”
Kyle Shanahan Prepared for Disruptive Defense
Shanahan shared some praise for the Lions’ defense this week, saying they play better than their ranking might imply.
“They play with their defense. They make some plays,” Shanahan said, via SI.com. “Their whole defense, you see in numbers, and you see 31st I think in the pass game. But then when you watch the tape you kind of realize how they are. They’re aggressive in what they do. They mix everything up, which makes them susceptible to big plays.”
The 49ers coach added that Detroit’s aggressive style often leads to turnovers and negative plays for their opponents.
“I think they’re leading the league in the last five games in turnovers… They’re a team that really is very aggressive in what they do, which is going to make you hit or miss,” Shanahan said. “But they cause more negative plays than I think anyone in the NFL. I want to say it was fourth on the whole year. They tie right into that.”
