![\"\"](\"https:\/\/newssoccer.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/download-3-4.jpeg\")
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The Detroit Lions are expected to play their starters on Monday Night Football against the San Francisco 49ers, despite the game being a dud. The result is essentially meaningless.<\/p>\n
We\u2019re going out to play and win this game, out on the West Coast,” Lions coach Dan Campbell said last week.<\/p>\n
The Lions, no matter what happens tonight against the Niners to conclude the NFL’s Week 17, must not lose Sunday in Week 18 against the Minnesota Vikings at Ford Field or else they would fall to the NFC’s No. 5 seed with a date at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers or Atlanta Falcons or Los Angeles Rams in the wild-card round in two weeks.<\/p>\n
The one benefit to a Lions (13-2) win against San Francisco (6-9): In the rare scenario where the Lions and Vikings go to overtime in Week 18, a tie would be just as good as a win for the Lions, since they would win the tiebreak with both teams at 14-2-1, having won the first head-to-head matchup at Minnesota.<\/p>\n
Now, back to Monday’s Lions vs. 49ers game. Here are Free Press sports writer Dave Birkett’s two matchups to watch that will go a long way to deciding the outcome. \u2014Marlowe Alter<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/newssoccer.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/download-2-4.jpeg\")
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Lions RT Penei Sewell vs 49ers DE Nick Bosa<\/p>\n
Sewell made his NFL debut against Bosa and the 49ers on Sept. 12, 2021. He played left tackle (in place of an injured Taylor Decker) and allowed one sack and two other quarterback hits (all by Bosa), but played well enough that Bosa told reporters after the game, He\u2019s going to be good.<\/p>\n
Detroit Lions offensive tackle Penei Sewell (58) celebrates 34-17 win over Chicago Bears as he exits the field at Soldier Field in Chicago, Ill. on Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024.<\/p>\n
Bosa was right. Sewell has turned into one of the best tackles in football and he\u2019ll draw the primary assignment blocking San Francisco\u2019s top pass rusher on Monday. Sewell told the Free Press that Bosa is one of the best\u201d defensive ends in football, and Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson reflected this week on how far Sewell has come since his debut.<\/p>\n
From rookie year till now, all he’s done is polish up his game in terms of technique, in terms of fundamentals and honestly, I think it\u2019s the leadership portion that stands out more to me than any,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cHe really is the tone-setter for us on offense. You know what we\u2019re going to get each and every week. He\u2019s going to drive guys off the ball. He\u2019s looking to take souls out there.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/newssoccer.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/download-4-2.jpeg\")
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49ers TE George Kittle vs Lions LB Jack Campbell<\/p>\n
The 49ers are playing without their best running back, best wide receiver and best offensive lineman, but they still feature a tight end in Kittle who Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn called \u201cthe best tight end in the game.<\/p>\n
Jan 28, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle (85) reacts after a play against the Detroit Lions during the second half of the NFC Championship football game at Levi’s Stadium.<\/p>\n
He is a weapon and when you watch him on tape he looks even faster than he\u2019s been in his years,\u201d Glenn said. Man, he\u2019s going up and getting the ball, he\u2019s blocking. They\u2019re getting the ball to him at the point of attack.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/newssoccer.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/download-1-6.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Kittle has 68 catches for 967 yards and eight touchdowns this season. He\u2019s the NFL\u2019s most well-rounded tight end, even if he\u2019s not the best. Campbell, meanwhile, is the leader of the Lions defense with 116 tackles and 1\u00bd sacks. He hasn\u2019t been great in pass defense this year \u2014 he has allowed a 120 passer rating against, according to Pro Football Reference \u2014 and while he won\u2019t cover Kittle all the time, he\u2019s the only Lions linebacker who won\u2019t leave the field.<\/p>\n
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The Detroit Lions are expected to play their starters on Monday Night Football against the San Francisco 49ers, despite the game being a dud. The result is essentially meaningless. We\u2019re going out to play and win this game, out on the West Coast,” Lions coach Dan Campbell said last week. The Lions, no matter what […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6239,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[165,153,44,158],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6237","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-american-football","category-detroit-lions","category-more-sport","category-rugby"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/newssoccer.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/download-3-4.jpeg",300,168,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/newssoccer.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/download-3-4-150x150.jpeg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/newssoccer.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/download-3-4.jpeg",300,168,false],"medium_large":["https:\/\/newssoccer.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/download-3-4.jpeg",300,168,false],"large":["https:\/\/newssoccer.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/download-3-4.jpeg",300,168,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/newssoccer.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/download-3-4.jpeg",300,168,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/newssoccer.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/download-3-4.jpeg",300,168,false],"jnews-360x180":["https:\/\/newssoccer.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/download-3-4.jpeg",300,168,false],"jnews-750x375":["https:\/\/newssoccer.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/download-3-4.jpeg",300,168,false],"jnews-1140x570":["https:\/\/newssoccer.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/download-3-4.jpeg",300,168,false],"jnews-120x86":["https:\/\/newssoccer.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/download-3-4-120x86.jpeg",120,86,true],"jnews-350x250":["https:\/\/newssoccer.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/download-3-4.jpeg",300,168,false],"jnews-750x536":["https:\/\/newssoccer.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/download-3-4.jpeg",300,168,false],"jnews-1140x815":["https:\/\/newssoccer.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/download-3-4.jpeg",300,168,false],"jnews-360x504":["https:\/\/newssoccer.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/download-3-4.jpeg",300,168,false],"jnews-75x75":["https:\/\/newssoccer.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/download-3-4-75x75.jpeg",75,75,true],"jnews-350x350":["https:\/\/newssoccer.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/download-3-4.jpeg",300,168,false],"jnews-featured-750":["https:\/\/newssoccer.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/download-3-4.jpeg",300,168,false],"jnews-featured-1140":["https:\/\/newssoccer.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/download-3-4.jpeg",300,168,false]},"author_info":{"display_name":"Newssoccer","author_link":"https:\/\/newssoccer.uk\/?author=1"},"category_info":"American football<\/a> Detroit Lions<\/a> MORE SPORT<\/a> Rugby<\/a>","tag_info":"Rugby","comment_count":"0","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/newssoccer.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/download-3-4.jpeg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newssoccer.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newssoccer.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newssoccer.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newssoccer.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newssoccer.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6237"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/newssoccer.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6237\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6242,"href":"https:\/\/newssoccer.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6237\/revisions\/6242"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newssoccer.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6239"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newssoccer.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newssoccer.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newssoccer.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}