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From Gary Klein: The San Francisco 49ers took care of unfinished business.
A year after their Super Bowl dreams died because of an elbow injury suffered by quarterback Brock Purdy in the NFC championship game, the star-studded 49ers entered the season with a mission to return to the Super Bowl.
They achieved their goal Sunday, overcoming a 17-point halftime deficit to defeat the Detroit Lions 34-31 in the NFC championship game at Levi’s Stadium.
Purdy passed for a touchdown and scrambled several times for long gains, running back Christian McCaffrey rushed for two touchdowns and the defense forced a fumble and incomplete passes on several key fourth-down plays as the 49ers advanced to the Super Bowl for the eighth time.
The 49ers will play the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LVIII on Feb. 11 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.
It will be a rematch from the 2019-20 season, when the Chiefs defeated the 49ers in Super Bowl LIV in Miami. The five-time Super Bowl champion 49ers are seeking their first title since 1995, when they defeated the Chargers in Super Bowl XXIX in Miami.
The loss ended a dream season for the Lions, coach Dan Campbell and quarterback Jared Goff, who appeared to have the Lions on their way to their first Super Bowl appearance.
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From Sam Farmer: Travis Kelce caught everything Sunday.
Yet nobody could catch Kelce.
While the rest of the Kansas City players celebrated their 17-10 victory over the Baltimore Ravens — a win that sends the Chiefs to their fourth Super Bowl in five years — the star tight end quickly dressed and ducked out of the locker room, presumably to spend time with girlfriend Taylor Swift.
Taylor Swift kisses Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce after the AFC championship game. (Julio Cortez / Associated Press)
Not surprisingly, Swift created a huge hubbub on the field at M&T Bank Stadium, making her way down from a luxury suite to see the AFC championship trophy celebration from up close. She hugged and kissed Kelce, who delivered a spectacular performance with a game-high 11 catches for 116 yards and a touchdown.
Even when things should have gone wrong for Kelce, he somehow salvaged them. For instance, on third down early in the second quarter, Patrick Mahomes dropped back, scrambled around through a flock of Ravens defenders, then — as he was being bent in half by a hit to his waist — tossed an end-over-end pass toward his tight end.
Kelce made a diving, Superman-style catch for 10 yards, keeping the touchdown drive alive.
“Of course Travis ran the wrong route and he ended up getting the football,” Mahomes said, grinning and playfully rolling his eyes.
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NFL PLAYOFFS SCHEDULE
Super Bowl LVIII: Start time, teams, betting odds and halftime show
All times Pacific
Conference championship
Sunday’s results
AFC
No. 3 Kansas City 17, No. 1 Baltimore 10
NFC
No. 1 San Francisco 34, No. 3 Detroit 31
Super Bowl
Sunday, Feb. 11
at Las Vegas
Kansas City vs. San Francisco, 3:30 p.m., CBS, Paramount+
UCLA BASKETBALL
From Thuc Nhi Nguyen: Lying flat on her back, Kiki Rice covered her eyes. She rolled on to her side. She pounded the court with her fist.
Rice’s last-gasp three-point shot at the buzzer went off the glass and nearly bounced through the rim, but her career-best 25 points wasn’t enough to lead No. 2 UCLA to a comeback victory over Washington State at Pauley Pavilion on Sunday. The Bruins lost 85-82 after nearly erasing a 20-point, third-quarter deficit, suffering their third loss in the last two weeks.
“This one will be measured by everybody else on the outside by the end score, but it won’t be measured by that way for me,” UCLA coach Cori Close said as her voice shook and tears welled in her eyes. “What Kiki and the rest of her teammates, what they showed from the inside out, you have no idea.”
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From Dylan Hernández: You might not care for his sideline demeanor, you might not like how he criticizes his players, but Mick Cronin knows how to build winning teams, and the UCLA coach is doing it again in a season that was said to already be lost.
The same players Cronin blasted earlier this month have bought into what he’s teaching, and the Bruins have suddenly won three of their last four games.
Don’t count them out yet. Their season has just started.
They are still a sub-.500 team and will almost certainly have to win the Pacific 12 tournament to reach the NCAA tournament, but they’ve given themselves a real chance to do that by remaining in contention to be one of the four teams in the conference that earn a first-round bye.
USC BASKETBALL
Lauren Schwartz scored 21 points and Dalayah Daniels added a double-double to lead Washington to a 62-59 upset win over No. 11 USC on Sunday.
USC’s Kayla Padilla scored 20 points on six-for-nine shooting from three-point range to pull the Trojans within one late. JuJu Watkins scored 19 points but had an off-day shooting, making just eight of 27 shots.
Washington (13-6, 3-5 Pac-12 Conference) has won two of its last three games. USC (14-4, 4-4) has lost two of its last four.
KINGS
Brayden Schenn scored 1:04 into overtime to help the St. Louis Blues beat the Kings 4-3 on Sunday for their season-best fifth consecutive win.
Jordan Kyrou had a goal and two assists for St. Louis, which surrendered at least four goals in each of its previous four games against the Kings. Pavel Buchnevich and Nick Leddy also scored, and Joel Hofer made 30 saves.
Buchnevich intercepted a pass from Phillip Danault and then set up Schenn, who beat David Rittich for his 13th goal.
Danault, Adrian Kempe and Jaret Anderson-Dolan scored for the Kings, who dropped their fourth consecutive game. Rittich made 28 stops.
The Kings are 2-8-6 in their last 16 games after a 20-7-4 start to the season.
“I think we played a pretty solid game,” Kings coach Todd McLellan said. “We got roasted on a bad line change. That can be cleaned up. You take that out and cut the penalties back, I think we had a good chance of winning, but we didn’t do that.”
NBA
THIS DATE IN SPORTS
1950 — In an Associated Press poll of sports writers and broadcasters, Jack Dempsey is voted the greatest fighter of the past 50 years. Dempsey received 251 votes to 104 for Joe Louis.
1958 — The St. Louis Cardinals give Stan Musial a contract for $100,000, making him the highest paid player in the National League.
1963 — Eleven players and six officials are elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Jim Thorpe, Red Grange, Bronco Nagurski, Sammy Baugh, Dutch Clark, Johnny McNally, Ernie Nevers, Mel Hein, Pete Henry, Cal Hubbard and Don Hutson are the players. The six officials are Bert Bell, Joe Carr, George Halas, Curly Lambeau, Tim Mara and George Preston.
1971 — Hal Greer of Philadelphia becomes the sixth player in NBA history to score 20,000 points as the 76ers lose to Milwaukee 142-118.
1994 — Julio Cesar Chavez suffers his first loss in 91 fights when Frankie Randall knocks him down in the 11th round and wins the WBC super lightweight championship on a split decision.
2005 — Serena Williams fends off six break points in the fifth game of the second set, then wills herself to overcome an aching back in a 2-6, 6-3, 6-0 victory over Lindsay Davenport in the Australian Open final.
2005 — Irina Slutskaya joins the elite company of Katarina Witt and Sonja Henie by winning a sixth title at the European Figure Skating Championships.
2006 — Roger Federer wins his seventh Grand Slam title, overcoming an early challenge from unseeded Marcos Baghdatis to win the Australian Open 5-7, 7-5, 6-0, 6-2.
2012 — Lydia Ko becomes the youngest person to win a pro golf tour event by winning the Bing Lee/Samsung Women’s NSW Open on the ALPG Tour. She is 14 and 8 months, one year younger than the previous youngest person ever to win a professional golf tour event, Japan’s Ryo Ishikawa.
2012 — Novak Djokovic outlasts Rafael Nadal to defend his Australian Open title in the longest ever Grand Slam final and becomes the fifth man to win three straight majors in the Open Era. Djokovic completes a 5-hour, 53-minute 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, 6-7 (5), 7-5 victory over Nadal at 1:37 a.m.
2014 — Ben Scrivens sets an NHL record for saves in a regular-season shutout with 59 in a spectacular performance that help the Edmonton Oilers beat the San Jose Sharks 3-0.
2017 — Roger Federer wins his 18th major title by beating Rafael Nadal 6-4, 3-6, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 to capture the Australian Open.
2018 — Australian Open Men’s Tennis: Roger Federer beats Marin Čilic 6-2, 6-7, 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 to win his record 20th Grand Slam title.
2018 — Cleveland Indians announce they will remove “Chief Wahoo” caricature logo from uniforms in 2019.
Compiled by the Associated Press
Until next time…
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