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The Atlanta Falcons who many experts had picked at the beginning of the season as NFC favorites to reach the Superbowl travel cross country to take on the San Francisco 49ers. The Falcons of course are now left to only play for pride while the 49ers are once again in the playoffs with a win. The 49ers also still hold on to hope of winning the NFC West with yesterdays Arizona Cardinals victory over the Seahawks in Seattle, breaking the Seahawks 14 game home winning streak.
Tonight will also mark the 49ers final regular season game in the building that they have called home since 1971, Candlestick Park. The 49ers hold an 18, 4 and 1 record at home over the last three regular seasons and are coming off of a four game win streak. The 49ers can attribute their recent record to better play on the offensive side of the ball over those four games, specifically the play of staring quarterback Colin Kaepernick who has posted a 104.7 passer rating over that same period.
This will be the first meetup for these two teams since meeting up in last seasons NFC Championship game. The Falcons of course lost that game sending the 49ers to the Superbowl. They then followed it up with a woeful 2013 campaign that has them sitting at 4 and 10 going in to tonight. This season will also mark the first year the Falcons will miss the playoffs since Matt Ryan arrived in town for the 2008 season.
