49ers Kicker, Raised As Lions Fan, Shares Dad’s Complicated NFC Title Game Rooting Interest
San Francisco 49ers kicker Jake Moody is a Michigan man through and through. The rookie played his high school football in Northville, Mich.—one of Detroit's western suburbs—and went on to a distinguished career with the Wolverines from 2018 to ’22.
This has appeared to pose a bit of a quandary for Moody's loved ones. Friday afternoon, Moody told NBC Sports Bay Area’s Jennifer Lee Chan he grew up a Detroit Lions fan and his family still had affection for the perennially snakebitten franchise—to the extent that his father predicted an NFC championship between the 49ers and the Lions in the summer.
"It obviously came true. I didn't believe him," Moody said. "Looking at the Lions, having grown up a Lions fan, I didn't think they would ever get this far. It is pretty cool."
Moody went on to make it clear where his father's sympathies would lie in the event Detroit pulled off the upset Sunday.
"Your dad said if the 49ers happen to lose, he will be throwing on the Detroit Lions gear. Will you be doing the same thing?" Chan asked.
"I will not," Moody said with a chuckle. "I am forever a 49er now. He's been a Lions fan for his entire life, and he's gone through a very long dry spell. ... He'll be doing it by himself. I'll still be proudly wearing 49er gear."
