India, Sept. 29 -- Detroit Lions vs the 49ers match player stats tell a story of two very different games that still carried the same weight. One was a regular-season track meet in Santa Clara that Detroit stole with precision throws and explosive gains. The other was the NFC Championship, decided by a furious second half and a quarterback who found enough angles when it mattered. Read together, the numbers sketch the outline of a rivalry that is beginning to define the NFC hierarchy, and a checklist for what each side must fix before the next meeting. The tape shows speed. The stat lines show leverage.

Why these two box scores matter now When Detroit beat San Francisco 40-34 on December 30, 2024, the result underlined a late-season blue...