Niners clinch NFC's No. 1 seed with win over Commanders, Eagles' loss to Cardinals

San Francisco is officially the cream of the crop in the NFC.

The 49ers clinched their conference's No. 1 seed on Sunday following their 27-10 win over the Commanders and the Eagles' 35-31 upset loss to the Cardinals, assuring themselves a first-round bye and home-field advantage throughout their hopeful journey to Super Bowl LVIII.

Head coach Kyle Shanahan's squad locked up the all-important seed two weeks after sewing up the NFC West and three weeks after becoming the first team in the league to punch a playoff ticket.

"It was awesome," Shanahan said after watching the Cardinals' win over the Eagles. "I didn't want to really pay attention to it or get our hearts broke but we did right there at the end and pulled it out. It was really cool to see."

The wave of success has been earned on both sides of the ball.

Brock Purdy has proven a perfect fit for Shanahan's system and, buoyed by a stellar supporting cast of Brandon Aiyuk, Deebo Samuel and George Kittle, delivered a tremendous second season under center.

Christian McCaffrey has perhaps been even better as the NFL's foremost difference-maker at running back.

And the defense behind Nick Bosa and Fred Warner finds itself as a top-three scoring unit for the second straight year.

Although this is San Francisco's third consecutive season heading to the playoffs, it's the first time since 2019 that the 49ers are doing so as the NFC's top seed.

"It's huge, just in terms of our bodies being able to rest and recover," Purdy said about having the No. 1 seed in the NFC. "There's a lot of our guys that have given so much this whole season week in and week out. To be able to get a little break is huge. We really haven't had one since the bye week. At this part of the season, I mean every