Lions star trolled 49ers fans way too early

San Francisco 49ers RB Christian McCaffrey pushes C.J. Gardner-Johnson away Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

Lions' C.J. Gardner-Johnson trolled 49ers fans by waving goodbye way too early

By Jeff Smith | Last updated 1/29/24

After the Detroit Lions went up 21-7 with 5:54 remaining in the second quarter of the NFC Championship game, very little went their way. The end result was a heartbreaking 34-31 loss to the San Francisco 49ers, who stormed back from a 24-7 halftime deficit with three second-half touchdowns.

Among the many things that fell apart for the Lions in the second half was a brutally early troll job from defensive back C.J. Gardner-Johnson. The safety had arguably the most ill-timed wave goodbye to the 49ers fanbase, which he was seen doing right after the Lions scored to go up 21-7, as B/R Gridiron highlighted.

CJ Gardner Johnson waved goodbye after the Lions went up 21-7 in the first half

They ended up giving up 27 straight to lose the NFC Championship pic.twitter.com/LejPrVHEby
— B/R Gridiron (@brgridiron) January 29, 2024

From that moment on, the 49ers outscored the Lions 27-0 before Detroit finally managed a touchdown to cut the lead back to three points with under one minute remaining in the fourth quarter.

It's brutal to see this for the Lions, but there's been no shortage of confidence from this team all season. That especially stands true during postseason play. Even so, Gardner-Johnson will almost certainly be reminded of this by 49ers fans for a long time.

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