The development of wide receiver Jameson Williams with the Detroit Lions has had several obstacles. But Lions quarterback Jared Goff has seen the growth of the former Alabama All-American from a deep threat/speedy decoy into a more professional pass-catcher.

“I think he’s just become a part of the offense now,” Goff said, “where we don’t have to just send him deep or just send him on certain routes to do certain things. Like he can run every route we’ve got and does a great job with it. And he’s developed really well this year and continues to get better. Every week, he gets better and better. He’s getting better and learning and improving, and it’s just a matter of time until he has one of those breakout games where everything comes together.”

From Detroit’s perspective, Sunday would be a good time for that to happen. The Lions play the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship Game at 5:30 p.m. CST Sunday at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California. FOX will televise the game.

Williams joined Detroit as the 12th pick in the 2022 NFL Draft, but he played only 78 offensive snaps during his rookie season because he had sustained a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his final college game – the CFP national-championship contest for the 2021 season. Williams wasn’t able to practice with his NFL teammates until Nov. 21, 2022, and made his debut on Dec. 4, 2022.

In 2023, Williams missed Detroit’s final two preseason games because of a hamstring injury, then he had to sit out the first four games of the regular season while serving an NFL suspension for violating the league’s gambling rules.

In 12 games during the 2023 regular season, Williams had 24 receptions for 354 yards and two touchdowns and ran three times for 29 yards and one touchdown. In the playoffs, he had two receptions for 19 yards in a 24-23 victory over the Los Angeles Rams on Jan. 14 and two receptions for 35 yards in a 31-23 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Jan. 21.

“I think it’s great,” Williams said of his chemistry with Goff. “We had multiple months to get it down. We got it down months ago, so I think it’s great.”

Only two teams yielded fewer points than San Francisco did during the 2023 regular season. While the 49ers finished 14th among the NFL’s 32 teams in passing yards allowed this season, San Francisco had the only defense in the league with more interceptions than touchdown passes allowed. Opponents threw 20 TD passes and 22 interceptions against the 49ers. In San Francisco’s 24-21 victory over the Green Bay Packers to open the playoffs on Jan. 20, the 49ers gave up two touchdown passes but also had two interceptions.

“I think they have a real physical team, a real physical defense, a real great defense,” Williams said. “But I think we got things to get around that, to work around that for sure. …

“I feel like they have a good offense. We have a good offense, too. It’ll be two high-pressure offenses going against each other. I feel like our defense is ready for the challenge, though.”

The winner of Sunday’s game will represent the NFC in Super Bowl LVIII on Feb. 11. The Lions lost to the Washington Redskins 41-10 on Jan. 12, 1992, in their only other appearance in the conference-championship game in the 55 seasons of the NFL’s AFC-NFC era.

“I’m just letting it come to me,” Williams said about the NFC title contest. “It’s just another game to me. I’m just going out there trying to win on Sunday. I don’t really try to think about it too much during the week.”

FOR MORE OF AL.COM’S COVERAGE OF THE NFL, GO TO OUR NFL PAGE

Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.