Amon-Ra St. Brown has been a winner his whole life, drawing motivation from wherever he can find it. This week, it’s unsurprising that he’s ready to see the San Francisco 49ers again.
Last January in the NFC Championship Game, the Lions’ dream season ended in a nightmare when the 49ers rallied for a 34-31 win after Detroit led 24-7 at halftime. That still leaves a bad taste in the mouth of St. Brown as a notable bad loss in his football career.
“I played a few. In college, not really many big games but in high school, when you think those are the biggest games of your life, I lost in the CIF when I was in my junior year. That one hurt, but I would say (the NFC Championship) game was probably up there with one of the worst losses that I’ve had in my life in my football career. Just the way everything played out was like a horror movie but we’re back, (it’s a) new year. We got a chance to redeem ourselves so I think we’re pretty excited.”
The 49ers have been eliminated from playoff contention this year, so the Lions will not have a shot to get them back in the postseason. This makes Week 17 the only time the Lions will have a chance to settle any lingering scores. St. Brown is obviously one of the players looking forward to it.
Dan Campbell not worried about Lions’ motivation vs. 49ers
While St. Brown always draws inspiration from any source, Campbell doesn’t believe the team needs to hear a motivational speech about what happened the last time they played the 49ers.
“Honestly, I don’t think you have to tap into that. I think we know exactly where we’re at and we also know the team we’re getting ready to face. I haven’t done a deep dive yet. I know they’ve had injuries, but I also know the head coach over there is outstanding. They’ve been running their system offensively and defensively for a long time. This defense is top-notch. They always have been. It doesn’t matter where they’re at, they can get after the quarterback. They can get after your offensive line. They run. They hit. They cause takeaways.
“Offensively, the scheme in this system is going to find your weaknesses and try to exploit them and they’ll just keep picking at it until they start getting explosives. They’ll lean on the run game and then play action pass, so we got our work cut out for us. This is going to be a tough game, so we know what we’re getting ready to walk into and we know we have to win and it’s on to the next one.”
Campbell understands the Lions must show up and handle their business against San Francisco to keep their dream of the NFC’s top seed alive. Even as St. Brown is amped up after last season, Campbell knows that should be motivation enough for his team.
