New on Sports Illustrated: 49ers Claim NFC's No. 1 Seed After Stopping Seahawks in Wild Finish

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The NFC's No. 1 seed came down to the final seconds of the regular season and also a few inches.

Vince Lombardi's famous words about football being a "game of inches" proved to be right on Sunday night. The NFC West and No. 1 seed in the NFC came down to not only the final seconds of Sunday Night Football, but also a few inches.

With just seconds to play in the game, Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson hit tight end Jacob Hollister near the goal line on fourth-and-goal. But Hollister was held inches short of a game-winning touchdown by San Francisco’s Dre Greenlaw, giving the 49ers a 26-21 victory.

Wilson orchestrated a final drive to get Seattle near the goal line, but he needed to finish with 234 passing yards on the night, instead of 233, to give his team a victory. 

As a result of the wild finish, the 49ers (13-3) clinched the division title and locked up the NFC’s No. 1 overall seed and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.

Seattle (11-5) is the NFC’s No. 5 seed and will travel to Philadelphia for a wild-card game next weekend.

Jimmy Garoppolo finished with 285 yards passing in the victory, missing only four of his 22 pass attempts. He was aided by 128 rushing yards from San Francisco's deep backfield, the majority of which came from Raheem Mostert.

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