The 49ers on Saturday night inched closer to the No. 1 seed in the NFC when the Cowboys knocked off the Lions 20-19 at AT&T Stadium.
Entering Saturday the 49ers were one game up on the Cowboys and tied with the Lions, but sitting in the No. 1 seed thanks to tiebreakers over the other 11-4 teams.
San Francisco needed three things to go their way to clinch the No. 1 seed in Week 17, allowing them to rest the final week against the Rams.
The first of those three things was a Dallas win over Detroit. That ensures that the 49ers would at worst be tied with the Lions by season’s end, and San Francisco is on track to have all the necessary tiebreakers over the Lions and Cowboys, both of which are 11-5 with one game to go.
Now the 49ers need to knock off the Washington Commanders, and get an upset win by the Cardinals over the Eagles. If those two things happen Sunday, San Francisco will clinch the top seed with homefield advantage throughout the playoffs and a first-round bye.
Both the 49ers-Commanders and Cardinals-Eagles games kick off at 10:00am Pacific Time.