The 49ers still control whether they finish with No. 1 seed in the NFC

The San Francisco 49ers fell from the NFC’s top spot after an upset loss to the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday, but they are still in play for the No. 1 seed

A regulation NFL football measures about 11 inches from end to end. For the San Francisco 49ers, that’s an inch too long and it could determine how the rest of their 2019 season turns out.

The 49ers lost to the Atlanta Falcons at home on Sunday on Julio Jones’ five-yard touchdown reception with two seconds left on the clock. Jones was initially ruled short of the goal line, but upon review it was determined he broke the goal line by the thinnest of margins. Such are the breaks upon which seasons are either made or broken.

The 49ers have every right to fell a little bit frustrated; they’re 11-3 this season, with all three of their losses coming on either the game’s final play or with under five seconds remaining. It’s been nearly 20 years since a team with 10 or more victories lost three games in the final seconds, the 2000 Philadelphia Eagles. With the loss to the 5-9 Falcons, the 49ers went from the No. 1 seed and home-field advantage through the playoffs to the fifth seed and facing the possibility of having to play three games on the road in the playoffs.

But the 49ers still have their own fate in their hands. Win their next two games, against the Los Angeles Rams next Saturday and on the road against the Seattle Seahawks in two weeks, and the 49ers will be back atop the NFC standings. The Seahawks are also 11-3 but currently have the tiebreaker by virtue of their Week 10 overtime win in Santa Clara; the 49ers boast a head-to-head victory over the similarly 11-3 Green Bay Packers.

The 49ers have one advantage over Seattle and Green Bay: they are much more dominant than their two NFC rivals. San Francisco is beating teams by an average of 15 points this season and has seven double-digit victories. Seattle, by contrast, is winning games by just five points on average and has one win by double-digits, while the Packers have four double-digit wins and an average margin of victory of eight points.

The 49ers’ next opponent, the reigning NFC champion Rams, looked like they were rounding into form the past few weeks before falling flat in Dallas on Sunday. Moreover, quarterback Jared Goff appeared to injure his thumb in the game which affected his accuracy. Then comes the rematch with Seattle after the two teams played what might be considered the game of the year six weeks ago.

The 49ers should be battle-tested by the time the playoffs come around. They’ve now played three straight games that came down to the final whistle, a loss to the Ravens two weeks ago that ended with a Justin Tucker field goal, and a 48-46 classic in New Orleans last Sunday where this time it was the 49ers having the ball last.

Tight end George Kittle was the biggest part of the 49ers offense on Sunday. He finished the game with 17 targets, the most by a tight end since the Eagles Zach Ertz in 2015. His 13 receptions were the most by a 49ers tight end since Eric Johnson in 2004. And while the fiery receiver didn’t take any positives out of the loss, he recognizes that it might prove beneficial for them going forward and that his team still controls their own destiny.

“When it’s in your control it’s a good feeling. You don’t have to rely on anyone else to lose,” Kittle said following the game on Sunday. “This is our first time in this position. Couldn’t get it done today, but I think we played a lot of really good football. I think we’ll definitely be back to that. Hopefully, this lights a little bit of a fire under us.”

Losses like the 49ers suffered against Atlanta are unexpected but do happen to even the best of teams. The 1994 version of the 49ers, the franchise’s last Super Bowl champions, lost at home 40-8 to an Eagles team that finished the season 7-9. That group rebounded from that to lift the Lombardi Trophy at the end of the year.

The 49ers aren’t there just yet, but how this season turns out is still very much in their own hands.