The San Francisco 49ers are officially the top seed in the NFC. George Kittle, Kyle Juszczyk, and the 49ers clinched the feat with a commanding 27-10 win at the Washington Commanders. The two teams had been tied at ten apiece, but then rookie kicker Jake Moody hit a field goal just before halftime, and the visitors scored two more touchdowns in the second half to close out the game.
Their respective wives, Claire and Kristin, took to Instagram to celebrate with the following caption:
"Hellllyeahhh baby!!!" (while showing "one finger signs")
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Kittle had only 29 yards on three catches, but it was enough to push him over 1,000 yards for the third time in his seven NFL seasons. Meanwhile, Juszczyk aided Christian McCaffrey and Elijah Mitchell to a combined 144 yards (the latter also scoring), while also receiving three receptions for 23 yards.
What 49ers players, the coach said after team clinched NFC's top seed
After the game, the 49ers spoke about clinching the No. 1 seed in the NFC for the first time since 2019. Head coach Kyle Shanahan remarked that rebounding from a Christmas trashing against the Baltimore Ravens was worth the tough week they had:
"It takes a while to get everyone back going again, not just physically but also mentally. So I had a lot of concerns about that throughout the week... I was just pumped that they went out, didn't worry about anything else, and found a way to win today."
Quarterback Brock Purdy, who was intercepted four times in the aforementioned loss, was just happy to rebound himself (22/28 completed, 230 yards, and two touchdowns).
“To be able to come back and get the ball moving, throw it around to the guys, and obviously get the offense to flow again and feeling it - it felt good.”
And linebacker Fred Warner hilariously thanked the Commanders for clinching the top seed for them earlier than in the past:
“Back in ’19, it took us winning in Seattle on the very last play of the game to secure the 1 seed, and the fact that we were able to get it with one game left in the season is big.”
They conclude their regular-season campaign against the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday. Kickoff is at 4:25 p.m. ET on Fox.
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