Every time I look at the San Francisco 49ers, I think of the Browns teams of the last half of the 1980s.

And for that reason, I think the Detroit Lions, who visit the 49ers on Sunday night in the NFC Championship Game, have a real chance to win despite the fact they are seven-point underdogs.

Those long-ago Browns of the Bernie Kosar era went to the AFC Championship Game three times in four seasons, all against the Denver Broncos. When they lost at home in “The Drive” game folliwing the 1986 season, blowing a perfect chance win and get to the franchise’s first Super Bowl, the pressure started to mount. It mounted even more the following year when, in “The Fumble” game, they lost another heartbreaker, this time on the road. By the time they got to the 1989 title game, the pressure was off the charts. The Browns knew that their window of opportunity was closing, and if they didn’t get it done in 1989, then the whole era may well come and go without them getting to the Super Bowl. When they didn’t win, fading in the fourth quarter, the disappointment was incredible.

The 49ers, similarly, are in the NFC title game for the third straight year. Two years ago, at home, they lost by three points to the Los Angeles, Rams, and last season, they got blown out by 24 points to the host Philadelphia Eagles. And here they are again, trying to kick down that door to the Super Bowl, and you know that the pressure on them is great. This might be the last chance, and they know it. Because of the salary cap, it’s hard to keep great teams together over a long stretch. The cap just doesn’t lend himself to that.

Will the 49ers rise to the challenge and let that pressure act as an incentive to get them over the hump and into the Super Bowl?

Or will it crush them, allowing the upstart Lions, who haven’t been this far in 32 years, to pull the upset and get to their first Super Bowl?

I don’t know, but, even though the 49ers won’t say it, the pressure is all on them.

Steve King