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49ers Won a Game of Inches to Clinch the NFC’s No. 1 Seed—and the NFL Playoffs Are Set

© Steven Bisig-USA TODAY Sports (Shanahan), Vera Nieuwenhuis/AP/Shutterstock (Wentz), Elise Amendola/AP/Shutterstock (Gesicki)

The 2019 NFL regular season would end, naturally, on a review. But before that, there was a furious, Russell Wilson-led comeback, a costly delay-of-game penalty that prevented us from watching Pete Carroll having to decide on whether to run Marshawn Lynch from the one again and, finally, a little-known 49ers rookie linebacker putting the brakes on the game’s final possession at his own six-inch line.

San Francisco had the second pick in April’s draft. Eight months later, the team finished with the second-best record in football.