SANTA CLARA, Calif. _ The message from coach Kyle Shanahan to 49ers players coming off Sunday's disappointing loss to the Atlanta Falcons was simple: Win the next two games and the goal of reaching the No. 1 seed in the playoffs is accomplished.
"It pissed us off for a while," Shanahan said Tuesday. "(But) it's neat to be able to say to the team that 'Look guys, last week before we played them we controlled our own destiny. It was a tough loss that we feel we were good enough to win and didn't get it done, but we still control our own destiny.'"
Despite falling 29-22 to Atlanta, San Francisco can still get a first-round bye and home-field advantage by winning its games against the Rams on Saturday at home and at the Seahawks on Dec. 29, where the team hasn't won since 2011.
