Who will the San Francisco 49ers play next in the NFL Playoffs?

For the third season in a row, the San Francisco 49ers have punched their ticket to the NFC Championship Game.

The 49ers survived an upset scare from the Green Bay Packers on Saturday, winning 24-21 to keep their season alive.

It took a six-yard touchdown run from Christian McCaffrey with 1:07 remaining to put SF ahead after trailing by seven going into the fourth quarter.

There will be time to celebrate those heroics, then it's on to the next challenge.

The 49ers will play the Lions in NFC Championship Game

Sunday's matchup between the Lions and Buccaneers will set the stage for the NFC title game. Detroit is favored by six points, but the 49ers were 10-point favorites over the Packers and they nearly slipped up, so no one truly knows which team will go through.

If it's Tampa Bay, the 49ers will at least have a familiar game plan. They beat the Bucs on Nov. 19, 27-14, at Levi's Stadium. San Francisco sacked Baker Mayfield four times and picked him off once while Brock Purdy was nearly perfect with 333 yards and three touchdowns.

The Lions are a less familiar opponent. The last time Detroit and San Francisco faced off was in the 2021 season opener. Jimmy Garoppolo was the quarterback for the Niners that day.

Kyle Shanahan has now made it to the NFC Championship Game in four of his last five seasons. The question is whether he can find his way back to the Super Bowl. He's lost his last two chances to do so against the Rams in the 2021 playoffs and to the Eagles in the 2022 postseason.

The difference this time is the 49ers will get to host. The last time they hosted an NFC Championship Game, they took down the Packers and made it to Super Bowl LIV.

UPDATE: Detroit's win over the Bucs on Sunday officially sets up a matchup between the 49ers and Lions.