Shanahan Watch will last two more weeks for the coach-seeking 49ers.

With offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan dialing up plays for a high-scoring showcase, the Atlanta Falcons advanced Sunday to the Super Bowl by clinching the NFC title and routing the Green Bay Packers 44-21 in the Georgia Dome’s finale.

League rules prevent the 49ers from hiring Shanahan or announcing a potential deal until after the Super Bowl in Houston on Feb. 5. However, they are allowed to meet with him a second time this week, and that will take place Friday in Atlanta, perhaps along with general manager-candidate George Paton, a league source said.

Instead of coughing up a 17-0 lead in the NFC championship game like they did against the visiting 49ers four years ago, the Falcons kept showing why they’re the league’s highest-scoring team under Shanahan, their second-year coordinator. They led 24-0 at halftime and 31-0 early in the second half, drawing applause from not only their home crowd but several 49ers players on social media.

Wide receiver Torrey Smith tweeted: “The Falcons offense is balanced and gets EVERYONE involved EARLY.” Smith followed up by noting he wasn’t disrespecting the 49ers’ “good” offense, adding: “We just didn’t play well.”

Offensive tackle John Theus concisely summed up the Falcons show by tweeting, “Wow.” Left tackle Joe Staley, a 10-year veteran and the 49ers’ longest-tenured player, expressed his pleasure with a celebratory GIF on Twitter.

Had the Falcons lost Sunday, Jed York and the 49ers brass planned on flying Monday to Atlanta to presumably close a deal with Shanahan, who emerged as their No. 1 target at least since last Monday when New England’s Josh McDaniels withdrew from consideration. York has not commented on the three-week search, nor did he tweet anything about the Falcons’ win Sunday.

“He’s the odds-on favorite to take that San Francisco 49ers job, and they don’t have a quarterback on that roster like Matt Ryan,” Fox announcer Troy Aikman said during the fourth quarter of Sunday’s broadcast.

“If he does take the job, things are going to get a little bit tougher.”

Shanahan, 37, has never previously been a head coach, although his father, Mike, won back-to-back Super Bowls with the 1997-98 Denver Broncos coach after helping the 49ers win their last one in the 1994 season as their offensive coordinator.

Mike Shanahan is not expected to have a role in the 49ers reorganization after the Jan. 1 dismissals of coach Chip Kelly and general manager Trent Baalke.

“A lot of what Kyle Shanahan has learned offensively, you’d think it came from his father,” Aikman added. “He wanted to have a running game like Mike Shanahan had over the years with the Denver Broncos. But he learned a lot of his philosophy and offense from Jon Gruden.”

Kyle Shanahan’s first NFL coaching job was under Gruden as a Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive quality control coach in 2004-05.

WALTER PAYTON AWARD: Larry Fitzgerald, Eli Manning and Greg Olsen have been chosen as finalists for the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award that recognizes an athlete’s contribution to the sport and to society.

The winner among the Arizona Cardinals wide receiver, New York Giants quarterback and Carolina Panthers tight end will be announced on Feb. 4, the night before the Super Bowl, at NFL Honors in Houston. The Associated Press individual NFL awards also will be handed out then, on the eve of the Super Bowl.

STEELERS: A man has been arrested and charged with setting off an early-morning fire alarm at a Boston hotel that roused the visiting Pittsburgh Steelers ahead of their playoff with the New England Patriots.

Massachusetts State Police spokesman Dave Procopio says Pittsburgh’s team was staying at the Logan Airport Hilton hotel when a fire alarm went off at about 3:40 a.m. Sunday. Procopio says evidence suggests the pulled alarm was meant as a prank against the Steelers.

Twenty-five-year-old East Boston resident Dennis Harrison has been arrested and charged with disorderly conduct, disturbing the peace and pulling a false alarm.

Police say they found him walking on the hotel property. He’s been released on $100 bail.

WASHINGTON: The team is in negotiations to promote quarterbacks coach Matt Cavanaugh to offensive coordinator, a person with knowledge of the situation said.