Falcons give Seahawks early Christmas gift by upsetting 49ers

The Seattle Seahawks are back in first place in the NFC West after the Atlanta Falcons defeated the San Francisco 49ers Week 15.

The Seattle Seahawks must really be on Santa Claus’ nice list because they got a massive Christmas present early this year. Entering Sunday, the Seahawks were firmly planted as the No. 5 seed and were in the playoff standings as a wild card, thanks to their loss last week to the Los Angeles Rams.

Now the Seahawks are back in first in the NFC West and improved all the way to the No. 1 seed, for now. Why? Because the nine-loss Falcons went on the road to defeat the conference and division-leading San Francisco 49ers 29-22 in the final seconds of the game.

The 49ers were sitting pretty at 11-2 and in the No. 1 seed, looking to tighten their grip on home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. Instead, Atlanta pulled off perhaps the upset of the year to send the 49ers tumbling all the way back down to the No. 5 seed and second in the West – where they were two weeks ago.

The Seahawks now move temporarily into the No. 1 seed, by virtue of the New Orleans Saints – who own the head-to-head tiebreaker over Seattle – not having played yet, as they will take on the listless Colts on “Monday Night Football.” Should the Saints prevail a game they are heavily favored to win, the Seahawks will drop to the No. 2 seed, but are still in the driver’s seat for a division title and first-round bye.

The good news doesn’t stop there, however. With a loss by the Rams – who were decimated 44-21 by the Dallas Cowboys – the Seahawks have officially punched their ticket to the postseason for a second-straight year, and for the eighth time in 10 years under Pete Carroll.

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